Unsung Heroes of European Cinema

Pre-requisites for enrolment

None.

Content of Course

Overview: A close examination of selected directors’ drive for innovation, in both technique and content. By analysing and discussing examples from different periods, we will also provide the tools for a wider understanding of innovative trends – making it clear that experimental and mainstream cinema need not exist in isolation from each other. By comparing different techniques and styles, the course also aims to provide a broader understanding of the practice of filmmaking, its evolution and its impact on both audiences and authors.

1. Introduction: Personal Style, Authorship and Film History.

2. Marcel L’Herbier: Experimental Cinema within Mainstream. Screening: Le bonheur (1934), 98 min.

3. Grigori Kozintsev: Between Eccentric Actors and Classical Adaptations. Screening: Hamlet (1964) 135 min.

4. Ermanno Olmi: Simple Men, History and Beliefs. Screening: Singing behind Screens (2003), 98 min.

5. Alain Tanner: From Swiss Society to Global Problems. Screening: Requiem (1998), 105 min.

6. Bo Widerberg: Swedish Cinema in the Shadow of Bergman. Screening: Victoria (1979), 89 min.

7. Andrzej Zulawski: Split Screens and Split Personalities. Screening: The Devil (1972), 106 min.

8. Werner Schroeter: Operatic Excess and the Syntax of Film. Screening: Day of the Idiots (1981), 110 min.

9. Michel Deville: Subversion of Genre. Screening: Raphaël (1971), 108 min.

10. Raoul Ruiz: Travel, Dreams and Reality. Screening: Three Crowns of the Sailor (1983), 110 min.

Teaching method(s)

Introductions, full screenings, group discussion.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand the continuity and disjunctions in the evolution of cinema as an art form;

• Describe camera work and narrative techniques;

• Identify various directorial styles;

• Perceive the degree to which cinema, and popular culture in general, is influenced by politics and ideology.

Sources

Core Readings

There are no books treating all the authors involved in a systematic manner. The main books in which individual authors are discussed are listed under Recommended Readings. The following title gives a good background and brief assessments of the work of some of the filmmakers.

Essential:

• Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (Ed.) 1997. The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Recommended:

• Brunetta, G. P., 2009. The history of Italian cinema: a guide to Italian film from its origins to the twenty-first century. Princeton, N.J. ; Oxford : Princeton University Press.

• Haltof, M., 2002. Polish national cinema. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books.

• Kozintsev, G., 1977. King Lear: The Space of Tragedy; The Diary of a Film Director. London: Heinemann.

• Larrson, M. and Marklund, A. (eds.), 2010. Swedish film : an introduction and reader. Lund, Sweden: Nordic Academic Press.

• Schaub, M., 1975. The New Swiss Film, 1963-1974. Zurich: Pro Helvetia.

• Vincendeau, G., 1996. The companion to French cinema, London: British Film Institute.

Web Sources

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/great-directors

Analysis of the work of some of the directors in the course.

Class Handouts

Excerpts from critical appraisal of the directors will be provided.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.