UMASS COURSES: GRADUATE
FALL 2011
Course information to be updated. SEE DRAFT Spring 2012 Courses
UMASS Graduate Film Studies Certificate Course Requirements:
- one course in film theory
- a minimum of two courses taken outside the student’s degree-granting department and college
- a minimum of two courses with an international or intercultural focus
* Category notations are specified at the end of each course description.
N.B. See the complete list of Graduate Film Studies Certificate requirements.
COMM 793A - S- QUESTIONS OF NATIONAL CINEMA
Anne Ciecko
Cap. 15
Mo 3:35PM - 6:25PM South College 108
This seminar focuses on the concept of national cinema--and related issues of regional, transnational, diasporic, postcolonial/neocolonial, "small nation," and "stateless" cinemas. The political economy of global cinema and the phenomenon of international coproductions will also be considered. Readings will address a wide variety of theoretical debates, as well as industrial and critical perspectives; multiple filmic case studies will also be examined.
Course Eligibility*: Doctoral and Masters graduate students, all majors, no prerequisites.
UMass Graduate Certificate course:
Dept/College: Communication / Social & Behavioral Sciences
GERMAN 697F - ST- DEFA/GDR FILMS
Barton Byg
Cap. 20
Mo 6:00PM - 9:00PM Herter Hall room 217
Reception of and scholarship on GDR film since German unification. Practical considerations of undergraduate survey course design on DEFA. The "canon" of DEFA films and problems/alternatives it suggests. Programming, curatorship and international film distribution in the U.S. Recent scholarship on "national cinemas" and transnational approaches. Documentary as a challenge to studio-based and feature film
Film and art; film and music. Visitors tentatively scheduled this fall:
Holger Teschke, author, director and dramaturg (Berlin, Ernst Busch Academy)
Sean Allan (University of Warwick, UK)
Juergen Boettcher (Filmmaker, painter -- Berlin)
Lukas Boettcher (filmmaker, installation/media artist -- Berlin)
Guenter "Baby" Sommer (musician performing in Boettcher films and in FAC series with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith)
Gerd Kroske, filmmaker -- Berlin
UMass Graduate Certificate course:
Dept/College: German & Scandinavian Studies / Humanities & Fine Arts
SPAN 597SW SCREENWRITING WORKSHOP: HOW TO CREATE ORIGINAL FEMALE CHARACTERS
Inés París
(1 credit)
Nov. 1 - Nov. 4
4:00PM - 7:00PM at UMass (Continuing Ed) and Smith College
This exciting five days intensive screenwriting workshop is taught by visiting scholar Inés París, an Award Winning film director and screenwriter from Spain, with a broad teaching experience at international institutions. Through her comedies — A mi madre les gustan las mujeres (My mother likes women); Semen, una historia de amor (Semen, a love story); and Miguel and Williams, among others — Inés París promotes social criticism and attacks stereotypical gender roles in contemporary society. Founder and President of CIMA (Association of Women in the Audiovisual), Inés París has been a fundamental figure in Spain to raise awareness about the situation of women in the Film Industry. By bringing her practical experience to the classroom, Inés París’s goal in this workshop is twofold. On one end we will analyze patriarchal gender stereotypes in cinema and in tv series and, on the other, we will work to create stories with original female characters that deconstruct and overcome patriarchal gender constraints.
Class is taught in Spanish with English translation. Students with no knowledge of Spanish are welcome. Spanish Majors and Minors will do their written assignments in Spanish. [Course flyer.]
UMass Graduate Certificate course:
Dept/College: Spanish / Humanities & Fine Arts
SPANISH 697WF - 01 ST- WOMEN AND FILM
Barbara Zecchi
Cap: TBA
Th 4:00PM - 6:30PM, Herter Hall room 640
A close examination of the evolution of Spanish cinema by women directors through the viewpoint of gender and feminist film theories. This class will highlight women’s mainly gynocentric cinematic scope and engage several of the most recurrent topics that shape women’s films (such as violence against women, the depiction of the female body, and the rejection of traditional female roles, among others) in comparison with how these same themes surface in hegemonic cinema (i.e. both Hollywood and Spanish male-authored production). Furthermore this class will outline the historical evolution of female cinema: 1) Film-makers who worked before the Civil War and were silenced by Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, 2) Those who had to negotiate their production within the regime’s censorship, and 3) A third group that, in democracy, contributes to a “boom” of women behind the camera. By tackling the so-called gender-genre debate, this class will analyze how each group uses (or subverts) different male-dominated cinematic forms (such as neo-realism, the road movie, the film noir, etc.), thus shaping a female discursive “difference” in each period. Taught in Spanish.
UMass Graduate Certificate course:
Dept/College: Spanish / Humanities & Fine Arts
