(Group B) European Directors
Delivery: Distance Learning (Online)
This optional module introduces students to some of the major European directors across both art cinema and popular mainstream cinema. Students will study these directors in the historical, cultural and economic context of the director's national cinema, and will consider how these directors work within, but also (and where appropriate) beyond, the framework and confines of their national cinema. The module will also question the notion of the auteur in both the context of popular and art cinema.
Deadlines
Applications to the Film MA Programme from new students: Thursday 31st July 2008
Module registration for all new students: Friday 5th September 2008
NB: new students please see modules for Group A
Module registration for existing students (Group A): Monday 1st September 2008
Module registration for existing students (Group B): Friday 5th September 2008
Module overview
How to apply
Course preparation
Learning / Teaching Methods
This module is delivered via the internet using an online educational environment called WebCT. Students will be given a username and password to log in to the course, and a 'unit' of course material will be released every week for the first eight weeks for students to work through. Class discussions on the material will take place in the online forum. The final two weeks of the module are intended for private study and writing of the module assessment, although tutors will still be available via the discussion forum during this period.
Class discussions are asynchronous - i.e. students do not need to be online at a 'set' time - they can leave and collect messages from the online discussion environment at a time suitable for them.
A chat room facility is also available. This is entirely optional, but students can arrange a mutually convenient time to communicate with each other 'instantly', by means of this facility, if they would like more immediate contact with others studying this subject.
Assessment
To gain credits for this module, students must successfully complete one essay of 5000 words on a director (or directors) selected from those studied during this module. The essay is worth 100% of the module mark.
Key Reading
There are no compulsory texts for this module but a list of recommended reading will be issued at the start of the course.
Key Films
There are no compulsory films for French, British or Italian but a list of recommended films will be issued at the start of the course. The following films are required for Spanish cinema and will be covered in the order listed. However, students may concentrate on the cinemas / resources available to them in their location and will not be expected to see all the key films if they cannot realistically acquire them.
Spanish Directors
- Los olvidados / The Forgotten (1950)
- Nazarín (1958)
- Viridiana (1961)
- Tristana (1970)
- Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón / Pepi, Luci, Bom and other girls on the heap (1980)
- ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? / What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)
- Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios / Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
- Todo sobre mi madre / All About My Mother (1999)
Intended Outcomes
By the end of the module students should have gained:
- Knowledge of the film work of some of Europe's leading post-war filmmakers, whether art cinema or popular.
- Knowledge of how to approach the oeuvre of the selected filmmakers, having looked at their major preoccupations (aesthetically and contextually speaking) and the ways in which their cinema reflects a national consciousness.
