QUEENS COLLEGE The City University of New York Department of European Languages and Literatures ITALIAN CINEMA 250w READING ITALY THROUGH FILM F: (9:15-1:15)/Powdermaker 302 Professor Eugenia Paulicelli/King 205A/ Tel: 718 997 5659/Email:
[email protected] Office hours: M: 1:00-2:00; 3:30-4:30 or by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will focus on the study of the contributions made by Italian filmmakers to the art form of cinema from early experimentation in neorealism in the 1940s till the present. Each time the course will focus on a specific topic and historical period. Students will learn the history of cinema in Italy, and will study the innovations in form, narrative and aesthetics introduced by Italian filmmakers. In particular, students will be trained to look at Italian cinema in a global perspective on account of its international breadth and the impact their technological innovations had on the history of global cinema. The film 1860 will introduce the cinema under Italian fascism so crucial for understanding not only the history of Italy but also of Europe and the impact the totalitarian regime had on world history. The students will also learn of the role played by fascist cinema in the reinterpretation of the Risorgimento and the subsequent phases of the unification of the Italian nation, an issue this that will be treated later in the course through other films produced in post-war Italy. In addition, 1860, although made in 1937, is important as a means to locate the first seeds of the aesthetic of neo-realism that will become known to the world through Roberto Rossellini, an author who will be studied in depth in the course.