FT3WCC-World Cinema: Creative Peaks

Module Provider: Film, Theatre and TV
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:6
Terms in which taught: Autumn term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2021/2

Module Convenor: Mr Mark Player
Email: m.player@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

‘World Cinema: Creative Peaks’ looks at film history and geography through a democratic and inclusive approach. Rather than separating Hollywood from the rest of the world, it frames World Cinema as a polycentric phenomenon with peaks of creation in different places and periods. Instead of establishing primacies and hierarchies, it identifies common tropes and cross-pollinations beyond national and cultural borders. Focusing on new realist movements and new waves from around the world, the module will analyse productions from France, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Iran, as well as from the Inuit and other indigenous populations, demonstrating how they compare and inter-relate.  

Aims:

The aims of this module are: 

• To expose students to the main theories relating to world cinema; 


• To train students on productive ways of understanding world cinema, away from centre-periphery binarisms and ethnocentric views of film history and geography; 


• To locate and study common tropes and cross-pollination across a number of film productions and movements from the world’s six continents, defined as ‘creative peaks’; 


• To develop students’ ability to locate, analyse and inter-relate such creative peaks across film history and geography; 


• To develop students’ critical and analytical skills; 


• To contextualise films within real-world issues, such as migration, climate change, race and gender. 

Assessable learning outcomes:

By taking this module students should be able to: 

• Demonstrate solid knowledge of different theories of and approaches to world cinema; 


• Demonstrate close familiarity with a number of world cinema’s creative peaks and their aesthetic and political contributions; 


• Articulate and apply to a variety of films, including those not studied in the module, concepts relating to influence, intertextuality, genre, cita tion, remake, self-reflexivity and medium awareness; 


• Develop critical awareness of concepts of classicism and modernity as applied to cinema; 


• Demonstrate an understanding of film history and geography beyond evolutionary and hierarchical approaches; 


• Articulate, criticise and apply a number of different theories of and approaches to world films; 


• Conduct comparative analysis of films across different places and periods; 


• Develop critical skills conducive to career development in the fields of film criticism and film scholarship.

Additional outcomes:

The module will serve as a useful complement to all other modules taught in the undergraduate course. It will provide students with critical, analytical and interpretative skills and tools to deal with a variety of films and cultural traditions. It will enable them to articulate text and context when looking at regional, national and transnational films, both of narrative and non-narrative nature. It will provide them with an overarching vision of extensive processes of cross-pollination across the history and geography of film. And it will expose them to original and cutting-edge theories in the world-cinema research field.  

Outline content:

The module will start with an overview of existing theoretical approaches to world cinema, including: 

• Deconstructing Eurocentrism (Ella Shohat & Robert Stam); 


• A polycentric approach to film studies (Lúcia Nagib); 


• An Atlas of World Cinema (Dudley Andrew); 


• World Cinema and Feminism (Patricia White); 


• World Cinema and Indigenous Cultures. 

Weekly topics may include: 

• Neorealism and Iranian cinema; 


• Inuit and Australian indigenous cinemas; 


• New Latin American cinemas: Brazil, Argentina and Mexico; 


• Cinephilic cross-pollinations: Wim Wenders, Raúl Ruiz and Walter Salles; 


• French and Japanese nouvelle vagues; 


• New German Cinema and Brazilian Cinema Novo; 


• Chinese Fifth Generation and the New Taiwan Cinema; 


• Threatened landscapes: Andrei Zvyagintsev, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Abderrahmane Sissako, Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra; 


• Contemporary peaks and the role of film festivals. 

Global context:

This module addresses global issues by definition. Film analyses will include questions of genre, minorities, migration, colonialism and censorship, across a range of cultures, nationalities and periods.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

Within the two-hour class, a range of teaching styles will be used and may vary from week to week. Blended learning may be resorted to, including remote sessions and pre-recorded lectures. Where appropriate, lectures will be used to establish contexts and introduce issues for discussion and debate. The dominant teaching form will be the seminar, which will concentrate primarily on close analysis of films, including film clips and powerpoint slides, and discussion of critical approaches and co ntexts. Seminars will require preparation in the form of weekly screenings and specified critical reading. Short, assessed presentations by students (individually or in groups) will be made in response to pre-set questions. This module can be taught entirely online in Covid times, if required. 

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures	9
Seminars	9
Tutorials	9
External visits	10
Guided independent study:
Wider reading (independent)	50
Exam revision/preparation	50
Advance preparation for classes	33
Preparation for presentations	30
Total hours by term	200	0	0
Total hours for module	200

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Written exam	80
Oral assessment and presentation	20

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

1 x presentation = 20% 

1 x film review = 20% 

1 x essay = 60% 

Formative assessment methods:

In-class feedback.

Penalties for late submission:

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/qualitysupport/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:

40 % overall.

Reassessment arrangements:

Submission of additional coursework.

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1. Required text books: None


2. Specialist equipment or materials: None


3. Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear: None


4. Printing and binding: None


5. Computers and devices with a particular specification: None


6. Travel, accommodation and subsistence: None

Last updated: 12 October 2021