ES/AT/US315 GLOBAL CHALLENGES TO THE 21 ST CENTURY CITY: DESIGN AND THE PROMISE OF SUSTAINABILITY IES Abroad Berlin

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ES/AT/US315 GLOBAL CHALLENGES TO THE 21 ST CENTURY CITY: DESIGN AND THE PROMISE OF SUSTAINABILITY IES Abroad Berlin DESCRIPTION: Contemporary German film marks the beginning of a new era.

1 ES/AT/US315 GLOBAL CHALLENGES TO THE 21 ST CENTURY CITY: DESIGN AND THE PROMISE OF SUSTAINABILITY IES Abroad Berlin DESCRIPTION: Contemporary German film marks the beginning of a new era. While maintaining awareness of their traditions, a generation of young filmmakers has developed new forms of film aesthetics. At the same time, this turning point occurred on a specific date. Beginning in 1989, the symbolic date of fundamental changes in Europe and the bipolarized postwar world, a new desire for investigation and invention emerged. So, the most interesting films of this artistic and cultural new beginning display intriguing relations to the social and political transitions of their time. By scrutinizing these works, two related aspects are revealed: fascinating insights into a new generation of filmmakers and challenging perspectives on Germany in transition. Berlin has been at the crossroads of these developments. Having been the capital of five different states over the past one hundred years, Berlin embodies Germany s modern political history. Since the breakdown of the iron curtain, the city has sought to restore its status as one of the centers of the global film industry, as it was at the beginning of the 20 th century. A group of most inventive filmmakers has initiated the so called Berlin School of contemporary filmmaking. In short: Berlin is the place where one can not only observe contemporary German film, but also directly grasp its intriguing dynamics. In this course, we will examine major representatives of the contemporary German film scene. We will be dealing with distinguished movies (such as Run Lola Run, Good bye Lenin!, and The Life of Others) which we will analyze in their historical and aesthetic contexts. We will discuss filmmakers like Andreas Dresen, who grew up in East Germany, or Tom Tykwer, who comes from the West, or Fatih Akin, whose parents migrated from Turkey to Hamburg. On the one hand, we will learn about trends, schools and genres and about historical, and aesthetic developments of German cinema theoretically. On the other hand, we will also explore this theoretical and academic knowledge by performative research methods together with a German film actress and choreographer (Maike Möller). CREDITS: 3 credits CONTACT HOURS: 45 hours LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: English PREREQUISITES: None METHOD OF PRESENTATION: (Short) lectures Analyses of film scenes Discussions Films Performative research Moodle will be used to enhance students' learning experiences. REQUIRED WORK AND FORM OF ASSESSMENT: Course participation - 10 % Film scene analysis (theoretically & performatively) 20% Three response papers - 40 % Final exam- 30 % Course Participation (10%) Attendance of the seminar and film screenings, as well as active participation, is expected and required for full credit. If you cannot, for whatever reason, attend the seminar/film screening, please let me know either by contacting me via or one of the IES Berlin staff.

2 Response Papers (40%) You will write three response papers during the course in class (each around 1,500 characters in length; 1-1.5pgs) on a film we discuss in the seminar. - Every response paper has the following goals: 1) Identify, in your own opinion, the key scene or passage of the film in question. Justify your choice and describe the meaning of this particular scene or passage for the film in its entirety. Don t forget to take into account the visual means of your scene. 2) Formulate three questions for discussion in class that has resulted from your choice of the particular scene or passage. Film Scene Analysis (20%) Alongside one of your response papers, choose 2 to 3 technical elements (angles, framing, perspectives, etc) that contribute significantly to the film s overall effect, and analyze in some detail the contributions of each. When examining the specific technical elements, ask yourself the questions: What is the director s purpose or primary aim in making the film? Why did the director make the choices (s)he made? What effect do these choices have on the viewer? How do the separate elements of the film relate to and contribute to the theme, central purpose, and/or total effect? Your analysis should be around one to a maximum of two pages (double spaced), and please don t spend more than one short paragraph describing the plot of the film. Final Exam (30%) You will be required to write a 2,500-3,000 word research paper. - Topics: Any topic covered in class. You are welcome to use one of your scene analyses (theoretically or performatively) as a starting point, or to develop an individual topic relating to this course, but you need to make sure that you get my okay for it. Discuss your theses/structure of argument with me well in advance. - Research: Your paper should demonstrate two things: your ability to interpret a film and your ability to connect your interpretation to existing ideas/research. At least three secondary texts are required in your bibliography: they can relate directly to the text/film under consideration, or to its cultural and historical background, or to a theory that helps you interpret the text. LEARNING OUTCOMES: Overview of contemporary German film after 1989 Situating these films in the history of German film Analysis of contemporary films according to methods and criteria of film theory Combining theoretical insights with performative investigation Reflecting (with your mind and body) on filmic representations and socio-political contexts Experiencing film aesthetics by performative research Structuring and presentation of observations and thoughts on films and texts Scrutinizing a specific topic through question-driven short essays ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance and punctuality at all IES Abroad courses, including field studies and excursions, is necessary and mandatory. Students are responsible for signing the attendance sheet in each class, and for clearing absences with their professors. Absences can only be excused for valid reasons. Students are responsible for producing documentation of these reasons if necessary (i.e. a doctor s note). Absences for travel or visits of friends or family members are not excused. Unexcused absences affect students grades: an unexcused absence leads to a deduction of 3% of the overall grade and may negatively affect the participation

3 grade. Please note that for classes involving a field trip or other external visit, transportation difficulties are never grounds for an excused absence. It is the student s responsibility to arrive at the announced meeting point in a punctual and timely fashion. Students who miss 25% or more of class sessions will receive a final grade of F for the course. Missed tests cannot be taken at another point in time except in case of documented illness. Students who are late for exams have no right to take extra time. If you are granted an excused absence from an examination (with authorization, as above), your instructor and center director will decide how you will make up the assessment component (by make-up examination or extra coursework). Late submission of term papers and other work is not accepted unless an extension due to illness or an emergency is approved. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Students are expected to abide by the IES Abroad Academic Integrity Code. Assigned papers need to be properly and amply footnoted where appropriate, with all sources attributed. Poorly written and grammatically sloppy papers will be judged more severely. CONTENT: Week Content Homework/Reading Material/Assignments Week 1: Week 2: Before the Wende Film: Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire; Wim Wenders, 1987) 6/12 Introduction 6/13 Screening of Himmel über Berlin, Discussion of Himmel über Berlin 6/14 Theoretical & performative approaches to Himmel über Berlin, How does it feel like to be dead and human in West-Berlin in the late 80 s? Goodbye, DDR! Films: Coming out (Heiner Carow, 1989, DDR) Good bye, Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003) 6/19 Discussion of Coming out 6/20 Screening of Good bye, Lenin! Discussion of Good bye Lenin!, Film scene analysis and first performative approaches to Good bye, Lenin! 6/21 Performative research, Preserving home sweet home (country) in a Plattenbau? Introductory Text Stephan Brockmann, from A Critical History of German Film (Rochester: Camden House, 2010): pp ; Homework, please do read for 6/13 David Bordwell/Kristin Thompson, The Significance in Film Form, Perspective, Frame, Editing, in Film Art: An Introduction (9th ed.), N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 2010, 56-77, 186, , Homework, please do watch for 6/19 Coming out (Heiner Carow, 1989) David Brandon Dennis, Coming Out into Socialism: Heiner Carow s Third Way, from A Companion to German Cinema,55-81 Please do read for 6/20 Seán Allan, Ostalgie, Fantasy and the Normalization of East-West Relations in Post-Unification Comedy, in David Clarke (ed.), German Cinema since Unification, London 2006, pp Kapczynski, Negotiating Nostalgia: The GDR Past in Berlin is in Germany and Good Bye, Lenin! The Germanic Review 82(2007), pp

4 Week 3: Moving Through the City Films: Lola rennt (Run, Lola, Run; Tom Tykwer, 1998) Nachtgestalten (Nightshapes; Andreas Dresen 1999) 6/26 Discussion of Lola rennt 6/27 Screening of Nachtgestalten, Performative approaches to moving, running and standing still as aesthetic devices 6/28 Discussion of Nachtgestalten and Lola rennt, What makes Germans move before the turn of the century? Mary-Elizabeth O Brien, Amnesia, Nostalgia, and Anamnesis as Reaction to the Wende, from Post-Wall German Cinema and National History: Utopianism and Dissent, pp Homework, please do watch for 6/16 Lola rennt (Run, Lola, Run; Tom Tykwer, 1998) Homework, Please do read for 6/16 Ingeborg Majer O Sickey, Whatever Lola wants, Lola Gets (Or Does She?): Time and Desire in Tom Tykwer s Run Lola Run. Quarterly Review of Film & Video, 19: Stephen Brockman, Lola Rennt (1998) or Cool Germania, from A Critical History of German Film, pp Claudia Mesch, Racing Berlin: The Game of Run Lola Run. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3.3 (2000) Homework, please do watch for 7/03 Gegen die Wand (Head-On; Fatih Akin, 2004) Homework, please do read for 7/03 Rob Burns, Turkish-German Cinema: From Cultural Resistance to Transnational Cinema, in: David Clarke (ed), German Cinema since Unification, London 2005, pp Stephen Brockman, Gegen die Wand (2004) or Germany Goes Multicultrual, from A Critical History of German Film, pp

5 Week 4: Differences of Class, Gender and Ethnicity Films: Gegen die Wand (Head-On; Fatih Akin, 2004) Auf der anderen Seite (On the Edge of Heaven, Fatih Akin, 2007) 7/03 Discussion of Gegen die Wand 7/04 Screening of Auf der anderen Seite, Performative approaches to walls, borders and border crossings 7/05 Discussion of Auf der anderen Seite and Good bye, Lenin!, Impossible homecomings for Turkish- Germans and East-Germans? Homework, please do read for 7/04 Rob Burns, Turkish-German Cinema: From Cultural Resistance to Transnational Cinema, in: David Clarke (ed), German Cinema since Unification, London 2005, pp Stephen Brockman, Gegen die Wand (2004) or Germany Goes Multicultrual, from A Critical History of German Film, pp Daniela Berghahn, No place like home? Or the Impossible homecoming in the films of Fatih Akin, New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 4.3(2006): Week 5: Dramatizing the DDR Film: Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others; Florian Henckel v. Donnersmarck, 2006) 7/10 Screening of Das Leben der Anderen 7/11 Performative Analysis of Das Leben der Anderen, Staging a key scene of Das Leben der Anderen (workshop) Homework, please do read for 7/12 Stephen Brockmann, Das Leben der anderen or the Power of Art, A Critical History of German Film, Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House, Homework, please do watch for 7/17 Er ist wieder da (Look who s back; David Wnendt, 2015) Week 6: 7/12 Discussion of Das Leben der Anderen and Der Himmel über Berlin, Transformative power of the Others? Look who is back Film: Er ist wieder da (Look who s back; David Wnendt, 2015) 7/17 Theoretical and performative approaches to Er ist wieder da, who actually is back? 7/18 No class 7/19 Finals

6 REQUIRED READINGS: All texts will be available in a reader. RECOMMENDED READINGS: In addition to the required reading above (in the reader and Moodle), the following texts, among others, can be found in the IES library: Brockmann, Stephen. A Critical History of German Film. Rochester, NY: Camden House, Print. Clarke, David, ed. German Cinema: Since Unification. London: Continuum, Print. Frey, Mattias. Postwall German Cinema: History, Film History, and Cinephilia. New York: Berghahn Books, Print. Hodgin, Nick. Screening the East: Heimat, memory, and nostalgia in German film since New York: Berghahn Books, Print. Naughton, Leonie. That Was the Wild East: Film Culture, Unification, and the New Germany. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, O Brien, Mary-Elizabeth. Post-Wall German Cinema and National History: Utopianism and dissent. Rochester, NY: Camden House, Print. Ward, Janet. Post-Wall Berlin: Borders, Space and Identity. London: Palgrave Macmillan, Print. Jacques Ferrier, The Sensual City: The Artificial Enabling the Sensual, in the Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/Summer 2009, #30. M. Hegger, M. Fuchs, T. Stark, M. Zeumer, Energy Manual: Sustainable Architecture (Berlin: Birkhäuser, Edition Detail, 2008). Michael Larice and Elizabeth Macdonald, eds., The Urban Design Reader: Second Edition (New York: Routledge, 2013). Mohsen Mostafavi, ed., Ecological Urbanism, (Baden: Harvard University GSD, Lars Müller Publishers, 2010). Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, Heather Boyer, Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change (Washington DC: Island Press, 2009). Phillip Oswalt, ed., Shrinking Cities Volume 1: International Research (Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2005). David Owen, Green Metropolis (New York: Riverhead Books, 2009). Jeff Speck, Walkable Cities (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012). PERFORMATIVE STUDIES Performative research units with the Berlin choreographer and actress Maike Möller FILMOGRAPHY Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire; Wim Wenders, 1987) Coming Out (Heiner Carow, 1989) Lola rennt (Run, Lola, Run; Tomy Tykwer, 1998) Nachtgestalten (Nightsshapes; Andreas Dresen, 1999) Good Bye, Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003)

7 Gegen die Wand (Head-on; Fatih Akin, 2004) Das Leben der Anderen (The Life of Others; Florian Henckel v. Donnersmarch, 2006) Auf der anderen Seite (On the Edge of Heaven; Fatih Akin, 2007) Er ist wieder da (Look who s back; David Wnendt, 2015)

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

FU/BEST Program. Name: Dr. Philipp Stiasny. address: Course title: Contemporary Cinema in Germany and Europe Name: Dr. Philipp Stiasny Email address: fubest@fu-berlin.de Course title: Contemporary Cinema in Germany and Europe Course number: FU-BEST 13 Language of instruction: English Contact hours: 45 ECTS-Credits: