Film & Television Studies: Contemporary Cinema

Introduction to basic film history, theory, and analytical skills. An historical overview of contemporary international cinema.

Open to Degree and PACE students crosslisted with FTS 1430 B; total combined enrollment = 100

In this course, we will explore how cinema from the 1960s to the present reflects and critiques the changing landscape of human existence within shifting global political, historical, and economic contexts. We will pay particular attention to how contemporary films engage with themes of collective trauma, fantasy, and desire. Through these lenses, we will analyze how filmmakers utilize narrative and cinematic form to delve into both individual and collective experiences. Our approach will draw from political, philosophical, and psychoanalytic methodologies, allowing us to investigate questions about memory and identity, societal power structures, and the ways cinema both shapes and is shaped by its surrounding world. A tentative list of films includes but is not limited to the following (subject to change): Alain Resnais, Hiroshima mon amour (1959) Chris Marker, La Jetée (1962) Ingmar Bergman, Persona (1966) Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Francis Ford Coppola, The Conversation (1974) Michelangelo Antonioni, The Passenger (1975) Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker (1979) Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing (1989) Wong Kar-wai, Chungking Express (1994) Abbas Kiarostami, A Taste of Cherry (1997) Jia Zhangke, Still Life (2006) Lars von Trier, Melancholia (2011) Julia Ducournau, Titane (2021)

One or two films per week and one screening notes (min. 250) One or two essays per week and one response paper (min. 250)

Weekly Screening Notes 20% Weekly Reading Response 20% Three Exams 60% (20% each)