Study Center in Lisbon, Portugal Course name: Portuguese and Brazilian Cinema Course number: CINE 3003 LILC Programs offering course: Lisbon Language and Culture Language of instruction: English U.S. Semester Credits: 3 Contact Hours: 46 Term: Spring 2018 Course meeting times: Mondays 2:00-5:45 pm Course meeting place: Room 606 (Tower B) Professor: Tiago Baptista Contact Information: tiago.baptista@fcsh.unl.pt Course Description This course is a comparative survey of Portuguese and Brazilian contemporary cinema. Key films and filmmakers from the 1960s onwards will be analysed, always taking into account the differences and similarities between the political and cultural contexts of the two countries. Two distinct examples of international art cinema, Portuguese and Brazilian films have historically engaged with new modes of production and new aesthetics in order to challenge the limiting notions of national, modern, and world cinema, as well as to negotiate alternative representations of class, race, and gender relations. Sharing a common interest in the intersection of fiction and documentary, these films have expanded the notion of cinematic realism, thus becoming a central node of the on going debates about the contemporary history and the national and cultural identities of Portugal and Brazil. Learning Objectives This course aims at providing students with the basic tools for a scholarly approach to Portuguese and Brazilian contemporary cinema through in-class film analysis and discussion. At the same time, students will learn about the historical and cultural context in which analysed films were produced and distributed. Students will also learn about major international film movements and theories and how helped shape Portuguese and Brazilian cinema from the 1960s to the present time. Course Prerequisites There are no course prerequisites.
Attendance and Class Participation CIEE students are required to attend all classes. Absences are not allowed. If you are sick, you must inform your professor and provide a doctor s note to the Resident Director. Half a point will be subtracted to your final grade if you miss 5 hours of classes. A point will be subtracted to your final grade if you miss 6 hours of classes. Two points will be subtracted to your final grade if you miss 7 hours of classes. You will fail the course if you miss more than 7 hours of classes. Methods of Instruction The course combines lectures, screenings, and class debates. Lectures will provide students with basic information about the history of Portuguese and Brazilian cinema, basic theoretical concepts, and key film analysis tools. Students will be responsible for presenting and organising class discussions about all the movies in the syllabus. Screenings and suggested reading assignments will provide the basis for class debates about individual movies. Assessment and Final Grade 1. Oral presentation+report: 20% 2. Critical review: 20% 3. Reaction paper: 20% 4. Film analysis: 30% 5. Attendance and class participation: 10% Course Requirements Oral presentation (+written report) Students must present one of the films in the syllabus. Presentations must include a brief synopsis of the film, background information about the director, and highlight the key ideas and most striking cinematic devices of the film. Presentations can be made in groups of up to 3 elements. All the members of the group must intervene during the presentation, which must not exceed 30. Every group must submit a written report that summarizes their oral presentation. Critical review All students must write a critical review of one of the assigned readings. Reviews must identify key concepts and factual information, indicate problems in the authors arguments, and formulate at least one question not answered by the article. This is an individual written assignment. Max. 2000 words.
Reaction papers All students must write a reaction paper about all the individual films watched in the classroom: total = 6 reaction papers. Papers must include a detailed description of one sequence of the film; a short critical appreciation of the film; and a comparison with other sequence or film the students are familiar with. Reaction papers are due the week following the screening of the film. This is an individual written assignment. Max. 1000 words (per individual reaction paper). Film analysis All students must write a comparative essay about two of the films covered in the syllabus. One Brazilian film and one Portuguese film must be included. Students are expected to use the film analysis skills learned in class to go beyond a purely thematic or narrative analysis. Essays must identify the most significant cinematic devices used by the directors and link those devices with the most relevant issues addressed by the film and discussed in the course. Essays must focus on at least one specific sequence from each of the analyzed films. This is an individual written assignment. Specific research questions will be provided according to the chosen film. Outlines of this assignment can be reviewed and commented by the teacher. Max. 5000 words. 1 point will be deduced for each day the essay is overdue. Only printed copies of the essays will be accepted. Plagiarism is the intended or unintended appropriation of another person s work or ideas. Assignments with traces of partial or full plagiarism will be graded with a 0 (zero). Schedule 1. Introduction 2. Portuguese & Brazilian cinema overview BAPTISTA, Tiago, Nationally Correct: The Invention of Portuguese Cinema, P: Portuguese Cultural Studies, vol. 2 (2010): 3-18. SHAW, Lisa and DENNISON, Stephanie, Filmmaking and the dictatorship (1964-84) and Cinema and redemocratisation (1984-2006) in Brazilian National Cinema (London & New York: Routledge, 2007), 29-40. COSTA, João Bénard da, Stories of the Cinema (Lisbon: INCM/Europália 91, 1991) [available at the CIEE office] STAM, Robert, VIEIRA, João Luiz and XAVIER, Ismail, The Shape of Brazilian
Cinema in the Postmodern Age in Brazilian Cinema (expanded edition), ed. Randal Johnson & Robert Stam (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 387-472. 3. Key concepts: national/modern/world cinema HIGSON, Andrew, The Concept of National Cinema (1989), in A. Williams (ed.), Film and Nationalism (NJ: Rutgers UP, 2002), 52-67. BORDWELL, David, The art cinema as a mode of film practice (1979), in C. Fowler (ed.), The European Cinema Reader (London: Routledge, 2002), 94-102. DENNISON, Stephanie and Song Hwee LIM, Situating world cinema as a theoretical problem, in Stephanie Dennison and Song Hwee Lim (eds.), Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture and Politics in Film (London: Wallflower Press, 2006), 1-15. 4. A CIDADE DE DEUS/CITY OF GOD Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, 2002 (120 ) MCCLENNEN, Sophia A., From the Aesthetics of Hunger to the Cosmetics of Hunger in Brazilian Cinema: Meirelles City of God symploke, vol. 19, nos. 1-2, 2011: 95-106. NAGIB, Lúcia, An interrupted utopia in Brazil on screen. Cinema Novo, New Cinema, Utopia (London & New York: IB Tauris, 2007), 101-114. SHAW, Lisa and DENNISON, Stephanie, The Nation in Contemporary Cinema in Brazilian National Cinema (London & New York: Routledge, 2007), 101-114. 5. JOGO DE CENA/PLAYING Eduardo Coutinho, 2007 (100 ) CRITICAL REVIEW DUE RAMOS, Fernão Pessoa, What is documentary mise-en-scène? Coutinho s
mannerism and Salle s mauvaise conscience Studies in Documentary Film, 2014, vol. 8, No. 2, 143-155. LINS, Consuelo, The Cinema of Eduardo Coutinho Studies in Documentary Film, vol. 1, no. 3, 2007, 199-206. 6. O SOM AO REDOR/NEIGHBORING SOUNDS Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2012 (131 ) VAZ DA COSTA, Maria Helena Braga e, Social and Cinematic Landscape in Neighboring Sounds Mercator (Fortaleza), vol. 14, no.3, 2015, 27-43. MARSH, Leslie L., Reordering (social) sensibilities: Balancing realisms in Neighbouring Sounds Studies in Spanish & Latin American Cinemas, 2015, vol. 12, no. 2, 139-157. CUTLER, Aaron, Recife breathes: Kleber Mendonça Filho on Neighboring Sounds CinemaScope 50, 2012. 7. JUVENTUDE EM MARCHA/COLOSSAL YOUTH Pedro Costa, 2006 (156 ) RANCIÈRE, Jacques, The politics of Pedro Costa in Pedro Costa Retrospective at Tate Modern, 2009. Available here: http://www.diagonalthoughts.com/?p=1546. OLIVEIRA, Ana Balona de, «Rooms of Colossal Bones: Pedro Costa's Trilogy», Mute Magazine, June 26, 2008. RANCIÈRE, Jacques. Ventura s letter, originally published in French in Trafic 61, Spring 2007. Available here: http://www.diagonalthoughts.com/?p=1790. 8. MORRER COMO UM HOMEM/TO DIE LIKE A MAN João Pedro Rodrigues, 2009 (134 ) FILM ANALYSIS OUTLINE DUE (OPTIONAL) BUTLER, Judith, Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions, in J. Butler, Gender Trouble (New York: Routledge, 1990), 175-193.
To Die Like a Man: Interview With João Pedro Rodrigues & Alexander David, Twitchfilm.com, September 2009. HOLDEN, Stephen, The Anguish of Identity, The New York Times, 7 April 2011. LIM, Dennis, Spotlight João Pedro Rodrigues, Cinema Scope, 2009. 9. TABU Miguel Gomes, 2012 (113 ) MEDEIROS, Paulo, Post-imperial nostalgia and Miguel Gomes Tabu Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 18:2, 203-216. GUEST, Haden, Miguel Gomes s tale of doomed love and faded hopes in Portugal s colonial past, Film Comment, November/December 2012. PERANSON, Mark, Festivals Berlin: A Few Crazy Thoughts on Tabu, Cinema Scope, 50 (Spring 2012): 62-68. PINKERTON, Nick, Tabu s Brilliant Look at Colonial Fantasy. Let s Go Native, The Village Voice, 26 December 2012. SANTOS, Boaventura Sousa, Between Prospero and Caliban: Colonialism, Postcolonialism, and Inter-identity, Luso-Brazilian Review 39:2, 2002: 9-43. 10. Fieldtrip to Cinemateca Portuguesa FILM ANALYSIS DUE