CIEE Global Institute Rome Course name: Discovering Rome through Cinema Course number: CINE 3001 ROIT Programs offering course: Rome Open Campus (Communications, Journalism and New Media Track) Language of instruction: English U.S. semester credits: 3 Contact hours: 45 Term: Spring 2019 Course Description Rome, the Eternal City, has been and still is a source of inspiration for many Italian film directors. In fact, Rome is not only the capital of Italy but also the capital of the Italian film industry. Many successful movies have used Rome as the setting of their story, or are based on a script that was crucially inspired by the city in the first place. The course will focus on films made during the Neorealist period from 1944 through the 1950s the artistic movement that made Italian cinema world famous and continues to be influential today. Among the films we will watch and analyze are works by such directors as De Sica, Rossellini, Fellini, Pasolini, Moretti, and Sorrentino. By observing how these films have portrayed Rome and its people in a variety of ways, students have the opportunity, 1) to learn about the main social and cultural developments in 20th-century Italy and how they shaped Rome s urban environment, and 2) to explore how the Neorealists images of the city in turn have structured the perception of Rome inside and outside Italy to this very day. Learning Objectives This course will allow students to: Analyze the relationship between Italian post-wwii cinema and its historical and social context Understand the social implications of Italian Neorealist cinema through the representations of (Roman and Italian) society that the films convey Develop sophisticated and convincing interpretations of films watched Demonstrate a clear knowledge of the specific vocabulary and methods of film analysis
Demonstrate the ability to research and critically analyze film reviews published in national and international media Recognize, within the city of Rome, locations and sites popularized by Italian and international cinema Understand economic and legal issues as applied to movie shooting in Rome Course Prerequisites No specific prerequisites are needed for this course, besides a general interest in cinema as a cultural and social product. Methods of Instruction This course will combine lectures, class debates, walking tours, press reviews and conversations with guest speakers. Assessment and Final Grade Weekly Written Assignments: 25% Oral Presentation: 25% Final Exam: 30% Class Participation: 20% Course Requirements Weekly Film Reviews Students will be asked to write a weekly film review (5 in total) by analyzing, interpreting and commenting on specific movies with clear references to the directors poetics, the historical and cultural context, and the technical specifications, as discussed in class. The professor will provide extensive and precise guidelines.
Oral Presentation Presentations will be delivered during the last week of classes. Each student will present on a film that has not been the subject of a weekly film review. Presentations will provide background knowledge about the film s production and critical reception, and offer an interpretation of the work. The interpretation should include an analysis of how Rome is represented in the film. Final Exam Students will take a final exam at the end of the course. The exam (multiple choice test and short essays) will cover all topics discussed and analyzed in class. Participation Participation is valued as meaningful contribution in the digital and tangible classroom, utilizing the resources and materials presented to students as part of the course. Meaningful contribution requires students to be prepared in advance of each class session and to have regular attendance. Students must clearly demonstrate they have engaged with the materials as directed, for example, through classroom discussions, online discussion boards, peer-to-peer feedback (after presentations), interaction with guest speakers, and attentiveness on cocurricular and outside-of-classroom activities. Attendance Policy Regular class attendance is required throughout the program, and all unexcused absences will result in a lower participation grade for any affected CIEE course. Due to the intensive schedules for Open Campus and Short Term programs, unexcused absences that constitute more than 10% of the total course will result in a written warning. Students who transfer from one CIEE class to another during the add/drop period will not be considered absent from the first session(s) of their new class, provided they were marked present for the first session(s) of their original class. Otherwise, the absence(s) from the original class carry over to the new class and count against the grade in that class. For CIEE classes, excessively tardy (over 15 minutes late) students must be marked absent. Attendance policies also apply to any required co-curricular class excursion or event, as well as to Internship, Service Learning, or required field placement. Students who miss class for personal travel, including unforeseen delays that arise as a result of personal travel, will be marked as absent and unexcused. No make-up or re-sit opportunity will be provided.
Attendance policies also apply to any required class excursion, with the exception that some class excursions cannot accommodate any tardiness, and students risk being marked as absent if they fail to be present at the appointed time. Unexcused absences will lead to the following penalties: Percentage of Total Course Hours Missed Equivalent Number of Open Campus Semester classes Minimum Penalty Up to 10% 1 content classes, or up to 2 language classes 10 20% 2 content classes, or 3-4 language classes More than 20% 3 content classes, or 5 language classes Participation graded as per class requirements. Participation graded as per class requirements; written warning Automatic course failure, and possible expulsion Please note this schedule is subject to change if opportunities arise to enhance the curriculum. Weekly Schedule Week 1 Rome Through Cinema Readings: Bondanella, Part Two: Chapter 3 Masters of Neorealism: Rossellini, De Sica, and Visconti (pp. 61-97); Marcus, Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, Chapter Two: De Sica s Bicycle Thieves: Casting shadows on the visionary city. Session 1 Introduction to the Course The syllabus will be presented and reviewed, with emphasis on assessment methods and course requirements. How Rome has been one of the iconic locations of Italian cinema since the end of World War II. Screenings: scenes from several films and from Martin Scorsese s documentary My Voyage to Italy(2001). The Postwar Era in Rome: Neorealism A watershed in the evolution of modern cinema: the moment in Italian
cinema known as Neorealism. After World War II and the end of the Mussolini regime, Italian cinema stimulated social, political and cultural change. Themes, poetics, styles, main directors and emblematic examples will be analyzed and interpreted. Introduction to The Bicycle Thieves (1948), directed by Vittorio de Sica. Screening and debate: The Bicycle Thieves (1948) Assignment due: Film Review 1 Bicycle Thieves (1948) Week 2 Rome in Cinema: Reality versus fairy tale. Readings: Bondanella, Part Two: Chapter 5 The Break with Neorealism (pp. 140-156); Kezich T., Federico Fellini. His life and work, Chapter 3: Rome; Chapter 11: Discovering Italy; Chapter 15: It All Happened in Five Minutes The White Sheik; Chapter 18: Reality is a Fairy Tale; Chapter 21: A Kindly Soul of the Streets The Nights of Cabiria. Session 1 Rome, the Open City : Sceneries, symbols and stories from Neorealism to the break with it. By analyzing scenes from movies by Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City, 1945), Luchino Visconti (Bellissima, 1951) and Federico Fellini (The White Sheik, 1952, and The Nights of Cabiria, 1957) students will be able to recognize and interpret the symbolic role of specific locations and buildings in Rome, while analyzing historical and cultural elements of change in Italian cinema, beyond social realism. Session 2 Film screenings and debate: Bellissima (1951) by Luchino Visconti, and Roman Holiday (1953) the romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler. Both films were shot on location and at Cinecittà Studios. The critical reception will be analyzed through reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines. Session 3 Field Study: Cinecittà Studios. Built in 1937 during the Fascist era, the studios are considered the hub of Italian cinema. Historical and political aspects will be discussed during this session. Assignment due: Film Review 2 Bellissima or Roman Holiday
Week 3 Rome in Pasolini s Films Readings: Bondanella, Part Three: The Golden Age of Italian Cinema. Chapter 8. Neorealism s Legacy to a New Generation and the Italian Political Film (pp. 231-237); Rhodes G.D. Stupendous, Miserable City: Pasolini s Rome. Excerpts. Session 1 Pier Paolo Pasolini: cinema, literature and politics The biography, poetics and aesthetics of Pasolini will be analyzed through his poems and essays, in order to understand the complexity of his cinema. Film screening and debate: Accattone(1961) and excerpts from Mamma Roma (1962), written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Critical reception will be analyzed through reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines. Session 2 Walking tour: Students will participate in an interactive tour to the locations used as setting for De Sica s masterpiece and for the film Pasolini dedicated to Rome, among them Piazza Vittorio, the Quadraro and the Pigneto neighborhoods, and the Church of San Giovanni Bosco. Assignment due: Film Review 3 Accattone Week 4 Rome at the heart of two landmark films: La Dolce Vita and La Grande Bellezza Readings: Bondanella, Part Three: The Golden Age of Italian Cinema Fellini: The Director as Superstar. (pp. 285-298). Kezich T. Federico Fellini. His life and work, Chapters 21, 22,23, 24, 25, 26 on La Dolce Vita. Interviews and reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines on The Great Beauty. Session 1 Fellini s and Sorrentino s Rome: magic and dreams Two different journeys through Rome to explore and discover the city s and Italy s cultural transformations from the 1960s up to the present. Rome plays a key role in these two films that attracted major international
attention. Fellini s La Dolce Vita (1960) became synonymous with Art Cinema, Sorrentino s The Great Beauty (2013) won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in the 2014 Academy Awards. Session 2 Film screening and debate: La Dolce Vita (1960) by Federico Fellini, and The Great Beauty (2013) by Paolo Sorrentino. The critical reception will be analyzed through reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines. Session 3 Walking Tour: Students will participate in an interactive tour of the locations used as setting for Fellini s and for Sorrentino s film, such as St. Peter s Square, Castel S. Angelo and the Tiber banks, the Trevi fountain, Piazza Navona, Via Veneto. Assignment due: Film Review 4 La Dolce Vita (1960) or The Great Beauty (2013). Week 5 Laughter and Tears in Rome: The Commedia all Italiana. Readings: Bondanella, Part Three, Chapter 7: Commedia all Italiana Comedy and Social Criticism (pp. 180-188; 205-211; Part Four: Generational Change in the Contemporary Italian Cinema, Chapter 16: The third wave. Nanni Moretti (pp. 520-526); Paolo Virzì (pp. 563-565). Session 1 Italian-style Comedy An overview of the most popular film genre in Italy, from its legacy to Neorealism to its subsequent reinvigoration, modernization and personalization over a span of 40 years. Key figures, models, codes will be studied, analyzing scenes from different movies by Monicelli (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958), by Scola (We All Loved Each Other Very Much, 1974), and by Virzì (Caterina in the Big City, 2003; Your Whole Life Ahead of You, 2008). Walking Tour: Students will participate in an interactive tour of locations where several scenes from Italian comedies were shot. Session 2 The Cinema of Nanni Moretti
An independent, opinionated and humorous film perspective on Italian society by a Roman-born filmmaker. Scenes from his most important films. Film screening and debate: Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), 2012. The critical reception will be analyzed through reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines. Assignment due: Film Review 5 Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope) 2012. Week 6 (Re)viewing Rome: a multifaceted portrait of the city Session 1 Your movie about Rome Oral presentations and debate. This session will be dedicated to contrasting and comparing the images of the city constructed by the different movies examined during the course, and the current representations of Rome through international cinema. Students will be encouraged to reflect upon their own perception of the city before and after the course. Readings Session 2 Final Exam Bondanella P. A History of Italian Cinema. London and New York: Continuum, 2009. Print. Kezich T. Federico Fellini. His life and work. New York: Faber and Faber, 2006. Print. Marcus M. Italian film in the light of Neorealism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. Print. Rhodes G.D. Stupendous, Miserable City: Pasolini s Rome. University of Minnesota Press, 2007. Print.
Media Resources Accattone (1961) Pier Paolo Pasolini Bellissima (1951) Luchino Visconti Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) Mario Monicelli Caterina in the Big City (2003) Paolo Virzì Her All Life Ahead (2008) Paolo Virzì La Dolce Vita (1960) Federico Fellini Mamma Roma (1962) Pier Paolo Pasolini My Voyage to Italy (2001) - Martin Scorsese s documentary Roman Holiday (1953) William Wyler Rome, Open City (1945) Roberto Rossellini The Bicycle Thieves (1948) Vittorio De Sica The Nights of Cabiria (1957) Federico Fellini The White Sheik (1952) Federico Fellini Un Americano a Roma (1954) Stefano Vanzina We All Loved Each Other Very Much (1974) Ettore Scola We Have a Pope (2012) Nanni Moretti Further reading materials will be assigned on a week-by-week basis. Professor will provide a complete list of complementary readings, media sources and articles published in national and international media in order to stimulate class debates and activities.