FILM HISTORY AND CRITICISM
The assessment method is primarily based on student participation in the form of a dialogue between the teacher and the students during the lectures and the seminars. At the end of the module students will be required to take an oral exam in which they will be asked to identify and put into context some excerpts from the films discussed in class and to answer questions related to the topics of the module.
The module is designed to provide a good understanding of film history and theory, from the birth of the cinematic apparatus to contemporary audio-visual production, through its most significant technological and stylistic developments.
The module will focus on: the birth of cinema in the context of the century of invention; the silent era and the development of stardom; the European avant-garde; the advent of sound; the genre system; Italian production and the Hollywood model; Fascist cinema; Italian Neorealism; production methods and directing styles after WWII; modern cinema and the new auteurs; the New Hollywood; introduction to the contemporary media landscape.
Paolo Bertetto (a cura di), Introduzione alla storia del cinema, UTET, Torino, 2008, pp. 432.
The following films will be discussed during the module:
Citizen Kane (O. Welles, 1941);
Sunset Boulevard (B. Wilder, 1950);
Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta, R. Rossellini, 1945);
The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups, Les Quatre Cents Coups, F. Truffaut, 1959);
The Player (R. Altman, 1992);
Hugo Cabret (M. Scorsese, 2011).
The module includes lectures and seminars. A selection of films will be screened during the seminars and they will be preceded by an introduction about the historical context and the technical characteristics of each work. This will be followed by a close analysis of some of the film's key features.
Prof Cardone will inform students about her office hours at the beginning of the module. For every request, students may contact her at this email address: cardone@uniss.it