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The Wars and Revolutions of the 20Th Century Inspired Russian Directors to Create Spectacular Films Renown for Their Cutting

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The Wars and Revolutions of the 20Th Century Inspired Russian Directors to Create Spectacular Films Renown for Their Cutting FLM 98 Kristen Edwards, Ph.D. Preliminary Syllabus The wars and revolutions of the 20th century inspired Russian directors to create spectacular films renown for their cutting edge artistry, revolutionary technique, and political propaganda. As Lenin famously said, “of all the arts, for us cinema is the most important,” thus the Soviet state supported the innovative work of world famous directors such as Sergei, Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Andrei Tarkovsky and Nikita Mikhalkov. We will analyze the artistry and political message of ten classic Russian films from a variety of genres (drama, action, war, epic, comedy, science fiction). Most of the films explore the themes of war and revolution, and all of them challenge viewers to ponder social injustice and utopian ideals Wherever possible, I have included links to films listed in the syllabus. Mosfilm, the studio that produced the majority of the films during the Soviet period, has made many of these films available on YouTube. When watching the earlier silent films at home, please look them up on Wikipedia or on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for general background information. http://www.imdb.com/ For text information, please see course webpage. Grading Options: • Letter Grade o 6-8 page research paper and 5 minute class presentation are required. • Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) o Attendance at 7 class meetings and 2 film viewings are required. • No Grade Requested (NGR) o No work is required and no credit shall be received. Class Schedule: NOTE: We will watch each week’s film in class. I will give a brief introduction to the director before the film, and we will have class discussion after the film. For several weeks of the class, I have recommended additional films and included links to those films. Week 1 Film: The Dying Swan (Evgenii Bauer, 1917) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcSH7HyOfck Read: Beumers, ch. 1 The Beginnings of Russian Cinema (1908-19) Morley, A Life for a Life (scanned article) Watch at home: A Life for a Life (Bauer, 1916) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Seyt0MRVtw Week 2 Film: Strike (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ke_-BnkvE Read: Beumers, ch. 2 Revolutionary Cinema, or Cinema for the Masses (1919-29) Taylor, The Strike (scanned article) Watch at home: Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUef84ybXk Week 3 Film: Chapaev: (Georgi and Sergei Vasilyev, 1934) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol_jvK6CQIU Read: Beumers, ch. 3 The Purges, the Second World War and the Cold War, or How Stalin Entertained the People (1930-53) Hutchings, Chapaev (scanned article) Week 4 Encounter at the Elbe (Grigori Aleksandrov and Aleksei Utkin, 1949) Week 5 Film: The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatazov, 1957) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0yO6Q9NQyg Read: Beumers, ch. 5 The Thaw – New Beginnings, New Lives (1954-66) Watch at home: Ballad of a Soldier (Grigorii Chukrai, 1959) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0zr877200s Week 6 Film: War and Peace (Sergei Bondarchuk, 1966) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4EcRSoOG_w Week 7 Film: Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG9Anstjlro Read: Beumers, ch. 5 The Stagnation: Mainstream and Auteur Cinema (1967-82) Watch at home: Ivan’s Childhood (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1962) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-cOMy9k-6s Week 8 Film: Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985) Read: Beumers, ch. 6 Glasnost and Before (1983-92) Week 9 Film Burnt by the Sun (Nikita Mikhalkov, 1994) Read: Beumers, ch. 7 Post-Soviet Russian Cinema (1992-2000) Week 10 Film: How I Ended This Summer (Aleksei Popogrebskii, 2010) Read: Beumers, ch. 8 Cinema in the Putin Era (2001-8) Russian Cultural Evening – Dinner at local Russian restaurant and hopefully a Russian blockbuster like Stalingrad (Bondarchuk, 2013). Details TBA in January. Russian Cultural Events Jan-Feb 2013 Slavyanka Mens Russian Chorus Bay Area concerts on 1/17, 1/19, 1/25, 1/26 YouTube link to Slavyanka music (start at 1:30): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeEby6wJtXQ Russian Festival at the Russian Center of San Francisco, 2/21-2/23 http://www.russiancentersf.com/ .
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