The Contemporary World Cinema Project (*modified for remote learning, fall 2020)
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Description / Descripción
Inspired by ideas articulated by Dudley Andrew, Franco Moretti and Catherine Grant, this seminar will examine questions of contemporary world cinema from multiple perspectives (for example: What do international films look like? Why do they look that way? Who watches them?) by working back and forth between concepts of examining single, individual texts (what is this particular film trying to tell me?) and broader, globally relevant contexts (what do we learn when we examine many films in a similar manner?).
As part of that project, each student will study in detail a single international film of their choice made since the year 2010; in addition to some traditional writing and research projects, all students will craft an audiovisual essay – that is, a short 6- to 10-minute film that visually presents their argument concerning their film, in coordination with a curatorial piece between 500 and 1000 words. All of the pieces will be collected onto a single, public website which together will present our collective response to defining “world cinema.”