FU/BEST Program. Name: Dr. Philipp Stiasny. address: Course title: Contemporary Cinema in Germany and Europe

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1 Name: Dr. Philipp Stiasny address: Course title: Contemporary Cinema in Germany and Europe Course number: FU-BEST 13 Language of instruction: English Contact hours: 45 ECTS-Credits: 5 U.S. semester credits: 3 Course description The course invites students to explore and critically reflect upon the current state of German cinema in a European context. It falls into three parts: the first part will introduce students to historical, cultural, and critical paradigms pertaining to the current situation of European cinema. If it can be arranged, the second part will discuss a selection of German and European films screened at the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival. The third part will then focus on films (co-)produced in Germany and distributed across several European countries. The three parts will cover the following subjects: film and authorship; art cinema vs. popular cinema; the concept of national cinema; the formation of history, memory, and cultural identity in film; film production and film policy; film culture and the role of film festivals. Students will be introduced to a number of key post-wall German and European films from 1990 to the present. They will acquire knowledge of theoretical discourses and critical concepts relevant to understanding and appreciating formal aspects of European cinema, and to examining contemporary German films in relation to their historical and cultural contexts. Please note: Each weak after the regular session the film for the coming week will be screened. Attending these viewing sessions from approx to 9.00 p.m. is mandatory. Student profile Second-semester sophomore or above Prerequisites None Course Requirements - 1 -

2 Attendance and participation (incl. 1 Independent Project report): 20% Oral presentation in class: 10% Midterm exam: 20% Final exam: 20% Term-Paper: 30% Literature Photocopied course reader Course schedule Sessions Session 1 Topics, Readings, etc. Topic: Introduction: Issues in European Cinema. Reading: Ginette Vincendeau, Issues in European Cinema, in: J. Hill and P. Church Gibson, eds., The Oxford Guide to Film Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp ; Tim Bergfelder, National, Transnational or Supranational Cinema? Rethinking European Film Studies, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 27, no. 3 (Autumn 2005), pp Session 2 Video: TODO SOBRE MI MADRE / ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (Spain 1999, dir. Pedro Almodóvar, 100 Min.). Topic: The Concept of National Cinema. Reading: Ian Jarvie, National Cinema: A Theoretical Assessment, in: M. Hjort, S. McKenzie (eds.), Cinema and Nation (London: Routledge, 2000), pp ; Susan Hayward, Framing National Cinema, in: M. Hjort, S. McKenzie (eds.), Cinema and Nation (London: Routledge, 2000), pp ; Lúcia Nagib, Towards a positive definition of World Cinema, in: Stephanie Dennison, Song Hwee Lim (eds.), Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture and Politics in Film (London: Wallflower Press, 2006), pp Session 3 Video: Clips from a variety of films. Topic: European Art Cinema and the Director as Auteur. Reading: Warren Buckland, Film Authorship: The Director as Auteur, in Film Studies (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998), pp ; Thomas Elsaesser, European Culture, National Cinema, the Auteur and Hollywood, in European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2005), pp ; Anton Kaes, New German Cinema, in G. Nowell-Smith, ed., The Oxford History of World - 2 -

3 Cinema (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp Session 4 Video: DER HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN / WINGS OF DESIRE (Germany/France 1987, dir. Wim Wenders, 122 Min.). Topic: History and the Heritage Film. Reading: Sheldon Hall, The Wrong Sort of Cinema. Refashioning the Heritage Film Debate, in: Robert Murphy (ed.), The British Cinema Book (London: BFI Publishing, 2009, 3rd edition), pp ; Rosalind Galt, Mapping European Cinema in the 1990s, in The New European Cinema: Redrawing the Map (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), pp. 1-25; Mary P. Wood, Theme park Europe?, in Contemporary European Cinema (London: Hodder Arnold, 2007), pp ; David Archibald, Correcting Historical Lies: An Interview with Ken Loach and Paul Laverty, Cineaste, vol.32, no.2 (Spring 2007), pp Session 5 Video: THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (Great Britain/Ireland/France/Germany/Italy/Spain 2006, dir. Ken Loach, 127 Min.). Topic: The European Film Festival Culture / Berlinale Visit Reading: Marijke de Valck, Berlin and the Spatial Reconfiguration of Festival: From European Showcases to International Film Festival Circuit, in Film Festivals: History and Theory of a European Phenomenon That Became a Global Network (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007), pp ; Nick Roddick, Eastern Promise. What has inspired Romanian cinema s new wave?, Sight & Sound, vol. 17, no. 10 (October 2007) Session 6 Session 7 Video: 4 LUNI, 3 SAPTAMÂNI SI 2 ZILE / 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (Romania/Belgium 2007, dir. Cristian Mungiu, 109 Min.) Midterm Exam Topic: European Co-Productions. Reading: Randal Halle, German Film, European Film: Transnational Production, Distribution and Reception, Screen, vol. 47, no. 2 (Summer 2006), pp ; Rosalind Galt, Back Projection: Visualizing Past and Present Europe in Zentropa, Cinema Journal, vol. 45, no. 1 (Fall 2005), pp Video: EUROPA/ZENTROPA (Denmark/France/ Germany/Sweden 1990, dir. Lars von Trier, 112 Min.)

4 Session 8 Topic: Re-Unification Comedy and the Renaissance of Popular Cinema. Reading: Eric Rentschler, From New German Cinema to the Post-Wall Cinema of Consensus, in: M. Hjort and S. McKenzie, eds., Cinema and Nation (London: Routledge, 2000), pp ; Stephen Brockmann, DER BEWEGTE MANN (1994) or West German Self-Absorption, in: A Critical History of German Film (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2010), pp ; Sabine Hake, Post-Unification Cinema, , in: German National Cinema (London and New York: Routledge, 2008, 2 nd edition), pp Session 9 Video: DER BEWEGTE MANN / MAYBE... MAYBE NOT (Germany 1994, dir. Sönke Wortmann, 93 Min.). Topic: The New Auteur Cinema: Tom Tykwer. Reading: Ian Garwood, The Autorenfilm in Contemporary German Cinema, in: T. Bergfelder, E. Carter, and D. Göktürk, eds., The German Cinema Book (London: BFI Publishing, 2002), pp ; Owen Evans, Tom Tykwer s Run Lola Run. Postmodern, Posthuman or Post-Theory?, Studies in European Cinema, vol. 1, no. 2 (2004), pp Session 10 Video: LOLA RENNT/ RUN LOLA RUN (Germany 1998, dir. Tom Tykwer, 79 Min.). Topic: Contemporary German Cinema and the Cultural Memory Discourse. Reading: Anton Kaes, History and Film: Public Memory in the Age of Electronic Dissemination, in: Bruce A. Murray and Christopher Wickham, eds., Framing the Past: The Historiography of German Film and Television (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), pp ; Nick Hodgin: Aiming to please? Consensus and consciousness-raising in Wolfgang Becker s Good Bye, Lenin! (2003), in: P. Cooke, C. Homewood (eds.): New Directions in German Cinema (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011), pp Session 11 Video: GOOD BYE, LENIN! (Germany 2003, dir. Wolfgang Becker, 121 Min.). Topic: Cultural Identity and Migrant Cinema. Reading: Daniela Berghahn: No place like home? Or impossible homecomings in the films of Fatih Akin, in: New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, vol. 4, no. 3 (2006), - 4 -

5 pp ; Asuman Suner, Dark Passion, Sight & Sound, vol. 15, no. 3 (March 2005) Session 12 Video: GEGEN DIE WAND / HEAD-ON (Germany 2004, dir. Fatih Akin, 121 Min.). Topic: The Cinema of the Berlin School Reading: Jaimey Fisher: German Autoren dialogue with Hollywood? Refunctioning the horror genre in Christian Petzold s YELLA (2007), in: P. Cooke, C. Homewood (eds.): New Directions in German Cinema (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011), pp ; Marco Abel, The Cinema of Identification Gets on my Nerves: An Interview with Christian Petzold, Cineaste, vol. 33, no.3 (Summer 2008) Session 13 Video: YELLA (Germany 2007, dir. Christian Petzold, 88 Min.) Final Exam - 5 -