Special Topics in Film History: World Cinema in a Global Context

This course will provide a survey of 21st century world cinema as an investigation into the institutional and theoretical frameworks that inform its production. Texts studied will include “art” films (Martel’s The Headless Woman), popular cinema (Bollywood, African video films), and everything in between (Meirelles’s City of God). Theoretical topics to be considered include the relationship between global/local markets and audiences, cinematic constructions of national or post-national identity in global age, evolving approaches to reception and interpretation, and shifts in representation and distribution brought about by new media.

Sample reading list:
Paul Julian Smith, Transnational Cinemas: The Cases of Mexico, Argentina
Melissa Thackway, Africa Shoots Back
N. Frank Ukadike, Video Booms and the manifestations of ‘first’ cinema
Natasa Durivicová and Kathleen E. Newman, World Cinemas, Transnational Perspectives
Hamid Dabashi, Close-Up: Iranian Cinema Past, Present, and Future
Andrew Higson, The Limiting Imagination of National Cinema
See instructor for complete list

Faculty

Sections

F01 (Screenings) & S01 (Seminar)

Screenings — Thursdays, 7:30 - 9:40 p.m.
Seminar— Thursdays, 1:30 - 4:20 p.m.

Instructor(s)

Michael Gillespie