Comparative Literature 313A: Contemporary Cinema
SLN 11635 5 credits; W credit

Contemporary Cinema
and the International Film Festival Circuit

The course explores the cinematographic, industrial, and ideological conditions of recent filmmaking, with an emphasis on postsocialist ideology and form, new forms of realism, transnational trends, the role of international film festivals, and the conscious revision of cinematic traditions.

During weeks 1-8, class will meet for four meetings every week—two for screenings and two for lectures. The last two weeks are devotd to watching films at teh Seattle International Film Festival.

This is a core course in the film studies track. Students are expected to be familiar with basic terms in film history and criticism.

TIME AND PLACE:	MTWTh 1:30-3:20 JHN 111
Instructor:	Yomi Braester
	office: C-504 Padelford
	office hours: by appointment
	e-mail: yomi@u
TA:	Sima Daad
	E-MAIL: simad@u
CLASS EMAIL (messages accepted only from UW accounts!)	clit313a_sp12@u

Assignments
Policies and Procedures
Class Schedule

Assignments

Readings and film viewings:
All readings must be completed on time. Students are required to attend the screenings. Readings are available on e-reserve; efforts will be made to place all films on reserve at the Odegaard Media Center.

Assignments:

Reading reports: Fourteen 250-word reports, summarizing the respective readings. (One can be missed without penalty.) Due on the dates listed below.

Film reports: Twenty critical reviews, each 250 words long, each on a different film watched in class (12) or at SIFF (8). Submission of at least 16 reports is a condition for passing the course. Due dates and guidelines posted on Catalyst.

Curatorial group assignment:
- Watch the three films assigned to your group
- The group votes on which of the three films will be screened in class.
- The group explains its choice to the class. The group will briefly present to the entire class all three films, giving specific examples from the films to demonstrate the reasons for the screening choice.
- Each group members should be ready to explain his/her vote, to the entire class or in a smaller group discussion.

Final essay: Each student will submit a 5-6-page final essay, connecting a SIFF film to the concerns of the class (details TBA).

Presentation and paper: paper due two weeks after the presentation; at least 1,000 words long.

Final paper: 5-page paper, relating two SIFF films to concerns raised in class. Details TBA.

Grading:
Reading reports 14 (P/F basis for each) = 20 points
Film reports (12+8) (P/F basis for each; 18 a prerequisite for passing the course) = 20 points

Curatorial group assignment = 30 points
Final paper = 30 points
Failure to submit 18 film reports on time will result in an F grade for the course

Policies and Procedures

Late submissions must be pre-approved by the instructor or they will not be accepted. Extensions for reading responses, make-up classes, and extra screenings will be available only in very special cases, where the students can demonstrate circumstances beyond their control.
All assignments, except in-class commentary, must be typed. Please use Times New Roman font, size 12, double-spaced.
The course strictly adheres to UW’s rules on plagiarism.
Students with disabilities are encouraged to inform the instructor, who will do his best to provide the relevant accommodations.

CLASS SCHEDULE (subject to changE; READINGS WILL BE ADDED IN DUE TIMe)

NOTE: Readings are available on electronic reserve, here

week 1

3/26 Mon	Seminar: What is "contemporary cinema"? For slides viewed in class, see here
3/27 Tue	Screening: Emir Kusturica, Underground (1995) (167/194 mins) PART I
3/28 Wed	Screening: Emir Kusturica, Underground (1995) (167/194 mins) PART II

3/29 Th

Seminar: post-communism and fantasy Read for today: "Kusturica's Underground"; "Sarajevo"

week 2
4/2 Mon	Screening: Lars Von Trier, Breaking the Waves (1996) (153 mins) (PART I)
4/3 Tue	Screening: Lars Von Trier, Breaking the Waves (1996) (153 mins) (PART II)
4/4 Wed	Seminar: Dogme 95 and minor cinemas Read for today: Hjort, selected essays
4/5 Th	Seminar: Is cinephilia dead? Read for today: Movie Wars, Introduction and Chapter One
week 3
4/9 Mon	Screening: Sweet Mud (90 mins) or Good Bye Lenin (121 mins) or In the Heat of the Sun (128 mins)
4/10 Tue	Seminar: What nostalgia? Read for today: Enns, "The Politics of Ostalgie"
4/11 Wed	Screening: 12:08 East of Bucharest (89 mins) or Police, Adjective (115 mins) or Kontroll (105 mins)
4/12 Th	What actually happened? Read for today: Pop, "The Grammar of New Romanian Cinema"
week 4
4/16 Mon	Screening: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (150 mins) or The World (143 mins) or Khadak (104 mins)
4/17 Tue	No class
4/18 Wed	Seminar: Post-socialist dolrums Read for today: Sneath, "Mongolia in the Age of the Market"
4/19 Th	Seminar: The international festival circuit and globalization Read for today: Iordanova, "The Film Festival Circuit"; Stringer, "Global Cities and the International Film Festival Economy"
week 5
4/23 Mon	Screening: Oldboy (120 mins) or Sopyonje (112 mins) or The Man without a Past (97 mins)
4/24 Tue	Seminar: Across time barriers Read for today: rottentomatoes.com on Oldboy
4/25 Wed	Screening: Waltz with Bashir (90 mins) or Nightwatch (114 mins) or Open Your Eyes (117 mins)
4/26 Th	Seminar: Remembering the future Read for today: rottentomatoes.com on Waltz with Bashir
week 6
4/30 Mon	Screening: Ten (94 mins) or Or, My Treasure (100 mins) or A Separation (123 mins)
5/1 Tue	Seminar: Less is more Read for today: "Whither Iranian Cinema" (collected essays)
5/2 Wed	Screening: Divine Intervention (92 mins) or Bamako (115 mins) or Calendar (74 mins)
5/3 Th	Seminar: Battles for recognition Read for today: "Elia Suleiman"
week 7
5/7 Mon	Screening: The Hole (95 mins) or Still Life (111 mins) or Sex, Lies, and Videotape (100 mins)
5/8 Tue	Seminar: Cinematic borrowings Read for today: "The Institutionalization of American Independent Cinema"
5/9 Wed	Meeting with SIFF programmers
5/10 Th	Screening: Dil Se (163 mins) or The Company (155 mins) or The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (139 mins)
week 8
5/14 Mon	end screening
5/15 Tu	Seminar: Transnational blockbusters Read for today: Kim, "Cine-Mania or Cihephilia?"
5/16 Wed	Screening: Hate (96 mins) or Hollywood, Bollywood (105 mins) or Ringu (96 mins)
5/17 Th	Seminar: Cinema without borders Read for today: "La Haine: Framing the ‘Urban Outcasts’" SIFF BEGINS
week 9	SIFF - no class meetings
week 10	SIFF - no class meetings
Exam week:	Assignments: All remaining film reports and second essay due June 3 (directly by email).