ITAL1029/MCM World Cinema in Italy (at the Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival)
Description: This intensive summer course introduces students to World Cinema and its history through an original contextualized approach: within the framework of an International film festival hosted by one of Europe’s most renowned centers for film restoration, the Cinema Ritrovato at the Cineteca of Bologna. Looking at World Cinema as a polycentric global phenomenon, students become acquainted with a wide range of mainstream, art house, alternative, experimental and avant- garde films. Primary materials include a broad selection of recently restored films ranging from the silent period to world classics. Students will also attend a workshop at the Bologna Cineteca, learning how to write, shoot and edit a short film under the direction of one of Italy’s young award winning directors. Lectures and seminars in English taught by Brown and University of Bologna film scholars and public screenings (all films in original language, subtitled).
Educational goals
On successful completion of this course unit, students will: a) apply basic analytical skills to a range of world cinema production; b) have a fundamental grasp of the textual and contextual analysis of films; c) have a critical understanding of the aesthetic, historical and ideological dimensions of World Cinema; d) become acquainted with fundamental technical and cultural issues relating to film production, restoration and preservation
Assessment
Written assignments: Two 1,500/2,000-word analytical papers=40%. Final project=40%. Participation in class discussions and other activities: 20%.
Brown faculty: Massimo Riva (Professor of Italian Studies), Philip Rosen (Professor of MCM) University of Bologna faculty: Giacomo Manzoli (Associate Professor of Film Studies) Bologna Cineteca faculty: director Adriano Sforzi (Assistant: Valeria Castelli).
As their final project, students will work in teams on the production of a short video- journal in digital format, chronicling their experience as festival spectators- observers. The Cineteca workshop will cover in particular techniques of cinema- verité or “observational cinema”: the video will also include group or individual interviews, discussions of the films viewed, etc. An edited version of the video- journals will will be presented on July 18 (see weekly program).
Pre-departure film list and general reference readings:
Films recommended My Voyage to Italy (1999, directed by Martin Scorsese); Open City (1945, directed by Roberto Rossellini); Paisà (1946, directed by Roberto Rossellini); La Dolce Vita (1960, directed by Federico Fellini) (Restored versions of Paisà and La Dolce Vita, will be shown on the big screen, along with masterpieces from silent cinema of a century ago, at the Cinema Ritrovato on Tour mini-fest, Martinoff auditorium, Granoff Center for the Arts, April 15-17, 2014)
Cindy Wong, "History, Structure and Practice in the Festival World" (from: Film Festivals: Culture, People, and Power on the Global Screen, Rutgers U.P., 2011); Marjike De Valck, "Film Festivals as Sites of Passage" (from: Film Festivals from European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, Amsterdam U.P., 2007). Both these books, of which we will discuss excerpts, provide good background reading and are available through the Brown OCRA [http://dl.lib.brown.edu/reserves/]; use vpn.brown o library proxy to connect from off-campus or Bologna. A very useful web resource for scholarship about film festivals is at: http://www.filmfestivalresearch.org/. A useful resource to familiarize yourself with basic critical tools for film analysis and writing about film is found here: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/
Program Draft January 10, 2014 (the Cinema Ritrovato program with screening times will be available in late Spring)
Monday, June 16. Arrival in Bologna. Brown Center open 8AM-8PM.
Tuesday June 17. Morning: Brown Center, 10:30AM-12PM (with Prof. Riva) (pizza lunch provided). Orientation and introduction to the course. Practical matters. Afternoon: 4PM, tour of the city. 7:30PM, Welcome dinner.
Wednesday June 18. Morning: Cineteca, Via Riva di Reno, 72, 10AM-12PM. Tour of the Cineteca. Projection of materials from the Chaplin and Pasolini Archives. Techniques of Restoration. The Laboratory of “Immagine Ritrovata.” (http://www.immagineritrovata.it/en/). Afternoon: Brown Center, 4:30-7:00 PM (pizza dinner provided). Discussion of My Voyage to Italy (USA/1999, 246'), (esp. part 1, chapters 1-10 and 17-20; part 2, chapters 1-2, 9-10, 13 and 15-17) and pre- departure readings.
Thursday June 19. Morning: DAMS, via Barberia 4, 9:30-12:30, lesson with Prof. Manzoli. Introduction to the History of the Cinema Ritrovato: the Italian and Bolognese context. Festivals and Post-Cinema. Festivals as Valorization of Archiving and Restoration. Global Cinephilia. Reading assignment: [links/pdfs on OCRA]: Di Chiara, Francesco, and Valentina Re (2011). “Film Festival/Film History: The Impact of Film Festivals on Cinema Historiography. Il cinema ritrovato and beyond." Afternoon: free.
Friday, June 20. Morning: DAMS, via Barberia 4, 9:30AM-12:30PM, lesson with Prof. Manzoli. The Cinema Ritrovato 2014 program, sneak preview: The Cinema of 100 years ago (1914); Chaplin at the Essanay (http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/filming/articles/210-Essanay-Chaplin-Brand); Riccardo Freda: a Retrospective (http://antagonie.blogspot.com/2013/10/masters- of-italian-horror-riccardo-freda.html). Afternoon: free.
Saturday, June 21. Excursion to Ferrara.
Sunday June 22. Free.
Monday, June 23. Morning: Cineteca, Sala Cervi 10AM-12PM. First Workshop with director Adriano Sforzi and his assistant Valeria Castelli. Filming the Real. Techniques of Observational Cinema (based on Ermanno Olmi’s Ipotesi Cinema – Hypothesis Cinema at the Cineteca). Assigned Viewing (before the workshop): “Autoritratto Italiano” [Italian Self-portrait] documentary produced by Ipotesi Cinema, Cineteca Bologna and Rai Tre, presented at the Venice Film Festival, Mostra del Cinema di Venezia in 2004 http://www.docume.org/page/schedafilm.asp?id=85. “Memory Locations,” a collective reflection about cinema and reality - subtitled version: https://vimeo.com/39244932 . Afternoon: free.
Tuesday, June 24. Morning: Cineteca, Sala Cervi, 10AM-12PM; Sala Set, 12-1PM. Second Workshop: Introduction to Editing Techniques. The rest of the afternoon is free.
Wednesday, June 25. Morning: DAMS, via Barberia 4, 9:30AM-12:30PM, lesson with Prof. Manzoli. The Cinema Ritrovato 2014, sneak preview: The Cinema of William Wellman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Wellman; http://web.archive.org/web/20110104090330/http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/onli ne/wellmanextra.htm); Hitler at the Movies and Homage to Werner Hochbaum (http://www.moma.org/pdfs/docs/press_archives/5660/releases/MOMA_1978_00 96_88.pdf?2010); Polish Cinemascope, Golden India (Bollywood in the 1950s), Japan Speaks! Afternoon: free. Evening: Piazza Maggiore, 10PM, Toward the Cinema Ritrovato: screening TBA.
Thursday, June 26. Morning and afternoon: Excursion to Parma. Evening: Piazza Maggiore, 10PM, Toward the Cinema Ritrovato, screening TBA.
Friday, June 27. Cineteca, International conference: The Birth of Chaplin's Tramp.
Saturday, June 28-Saturday, July 5. Cinema Ritrovato Festival (Program to be announced)
Sunday, July 6-Monday July 7: Free.
Tuesday, July 8. Morning; Post-festival discussion with Prof. Rosen. Afternoon: Cineteca, Sala Set, 10:00-12:30/2:00-5:00. Review of raw footage and first cut of video-journals with Adriano Sforzi. Wednesday, July 9. Morning and Afternoon: Cineteca, Sala Set: 10:00-12:00/2:00- 5:00. Editing of video-journals with Adriano Sforzi.
Thursday, July 10. Morning and Afternoon: Cineteca, Sala Set: 10:00-12:00/ 2:00- 5:00. Editing of video-journals with Adriano Sforzi.
Friday, July 11. Morning: free. Afternoon: Brown Center, presentation of final projects. Farewell party.
Saturday, July 12. Program ends. Departure.