FILM 162 Spring 2012
Film Authors | Female Filmmakers Prof. Shelley Stamp Mon & Wed 3:30 – 6:30 pm [email protected]| 459-4462 | Communications 107 Communications Studio C Office Hours: Fridays 12:00–2:00 pm & by appointment Course Website: http://people.ucsc.edu/~stamp/162female
TA Ian Paul [email protected] Office Hours: Mondays 2:15–3:15 pm | Global Village Café @ McHenry
Course Description This course will examine the extraordinary, but often unsung, contributions that female filmmakers have made to world cinema, concentrating on the careers of three generations of women with significant bodies of work in feature filmmaking. We will consider the varied national, cultural, institutional and economic contexts in which their work was made and circulated.
Course Components Attendance and participation (10%): Attendance at all class meetings and screenings is required. Active participation in class discussion will count favorably in your final evaluation; repeated absences will have a negative impact on your grade.
Readings: Articles and interviews are assigned for each filmmaker, providing background information on their films, their careers, and the contexts in which their work was made. PDFs or urls of all readings are posted on the class website. Plan on having readings completed prior to the date they appear on the syllabus. Lectures and discussions will assume your familiarity with concepts presented in the readings.
Wikipedia Project (30%): Your first project will be to create or expand a Wikipedia page dedicated to a female feature filmmaker, researching and writing new material, finding new images, creating new links, then posting to Wikipedia. More detailed instructions will follow. Ø Due electronically Monday, May 7
Research Paper (30%): Your major work for the course will be a 3,000-word research paper on a topic related to the work and/or career of a female feature filmmaker or filmmakers. The paper should contextualize your own original film analysis with detailed research into historical and/or theoretical readings related to the filmmaker(s)’s body of work. Suggested topics will be circulated, but you are encouraged to pursue your own area of interest. Ø Due in class Wednesday, June 6
Final Exam (30%): The final exam will be a short-answer/essay exam covering all lectures, screenings and readings in the class. Eligible students should request special exam accommodations within the first two weeks of class. All others must write the final at the assigned date and time: Ø Monday, June 11, 12:00-3:00 pm
FILM 162 | Female Filmmakers Spring 2012
Class Policies Disability Resources: If you qualify for classroom accommodations because of a disability, be sure to get an Accommodation Authorization from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) and submit it to Professor Stamp within the first two weeks of the quarter. Contact the DRC at 459-2089 (voice), 459-4806 (TTY), or http://drc.ucsc.edu for more information.
Laptop Policy: Computers are permitted for note-taking purposes only during lectures. All other electronic devices must be turned off during lectures and screenings. Students caught texting, websurfing, talking on the phone, playing games or otherwise interfering with lectures and screenings will be asked to leave and will have electronic privileges suspended for the remainder of the quarter.
Lateness Policy: All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the dates indicated above. Extensions can only be granted in exceptional circumstances and only with the prior permission. Essays submitted late without an extension will be accepted only at the discretion of your TA; if accepted, they will be subject to a penalty of one grade step per day (i.e., a B paper would become a B- if submitted one day late, a C+ if submitted two days late, a C if submitted three days late, etc).
Unauthorized Sale of Course Notes: Please be aware that UCSC policy stipulates that students may be disciplined for selling, preparing, or distributing course lecture notes for any commercial purpose. http://news.ucsc.edu/2010/11/course-notes-notehall.html
Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct: Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. Students caught plagiarizing the work of others, submitting identical papers, cheating on exams or committing any other act of academic misconduct will be referred to their College Provost for disciplinary action. http://www.ucsc.edu/academics/academic_integrity/undergraduate_students/
Any act of academic misconduct will result in failure of the class.
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Class Schedule
First Generation
Mon Apr 2 Agnès Varda, Cinécriture, and the French New Wave
Cleo from 5 to 7 (France, 1962) 90 mins
Read: Flitterman-Lewis, “Agnès Varda and the Woman Seen” “Agnès Varda: A Conversation”
Wed Apr 4 Margarethe von Trotta, Feminist History and New German Cinema
Marianne and Juliane (Germany, 1981) 106 mins
Read: Seiter, “The Personal is Political: Margarethe von Trotta’s Marianne and Juliane” “Invaded by Memories of Germany’s Past: An Interview with Margarethe von Trotta”
Mon Apr 9 Márta Mészáros and Post-Soviet Cinema
Diary for My Children (Hungary, 1982) 106 mins
Read: Portuges, “Re-Reading History: The Diary Trilogy” “Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times: Márta Mészáros Interviewed”
Wed Apr 11 María Luisa Bemberg, Historical Allegory and Cinema after Dictatorship
Camila (Argentina, 1984) 107 mins
Read: Williams, “In the Realm of the Feminine: María Luisa Bemberg’s Camila at the Edge of the Gaze” “An Interview with María Luisa Bemberg”
Mon Apr 16 Marleen Gorris, Feminist Filmmaker
A Question of Silence (The Netherlands, 1982) 92 mins
Read: Williams, “A Jury of Their Peers: Questions of Silence, Speech, and Judgment in Marleen Gorris's A Question of Silence” “The Lighter Side of Feminism: An Interview with Marleen Gorris”
Wed Apr 18 Claire Denis and the Post-Colonial Moment
Chocolate (France, 1988) 105 mins
Read: Hayward, “Claire Denis’s ‘Post-Colonial’ Films and Desiring Bodies” “Moving Toward the Unknown Other: An Interview with Claire Denis”
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Mon Apr 23 Agnieszka Holland, Transnational Auteur
Olivier, Olivier (France, 1992) 110 mins
Read: Lugo de Fabritz, “Agnieszka Holland: Continuity, the Self, and Artistic Vision” “An Interview with Agnieszka Holland: The Politics of Ambiguity”
Second Generation
Wed Apr 25 Ann Hui and the Hong Kong New Wave
Night and Fog (Hong Kong, 2009) 122 mins
Read: Ho, “Women on the Edges of Hong Kong Modernity: The Films of Ann Hui” “Interview with Ann Hui: On the Edge of the Mainstream”
Mon Apr 30 Deepa Mehta, Feminism and Post-Colonialism in India
Fire (India/Canada, 1996) 108 mins
Read: Moodley, “Postcolonial Feminisms Speaking Through an ‘Accented’ Cinema: The Construction of Indian Women in the Films of Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta” “Maps and Movies: Talking with Deepa Mehta”
Wed May 2 Jane Campion’s Women
Sweetie (Australia, 1989) 97 mins
Read: Gillet, “More than Meets the Eye: The Mediation of Affects in Jane Campion’s Sweetie” “Jane Campion is Called the Best Female Director in the World. What’s Female Got to Do with It?”
Mon May 7 Euzhan Palcy, Filmmaking in the African Diaspora
Sugar Cane Alley (Martinique/France, 1983) 103 mins
Read: Petty, “Collision of cultures: occulted Caribbean histories in Sugar Cane Alley” “Conversation with Euzhan Palcy”
Ø Wikipedia project due electronically today
Wed May 9 Susanne Bier, Dogme 95, and Contemporary Danish Cinema
After the Wedding (Denmark, 2006) 120 mins
Read: “Susanne Bier” “Interview with Susanne Bier”
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Mon May 14 Kathryn Bigelow in Contemporary Hollywood
Strange Days (US, 1995) 145 mins
Read: Rascaroli, “Steel in the Gaze: On POV and the Discourse of Vision in Kathryn Bigelow's Cinema” “’Momentum and Design’: Interview with Kathryn Bigelow”
Third Generation
Wed May 16 Samira Makhmalbaf and New Iranian Cinema
The Apple (Iran, 1998) 86 mins
Read: Danks, “The House that Moshen Built: The Films of Samira Makhmalbaf and Marzieh Meshkini” “The Girl Behaves Against It: An Interview with Samira Makhmalbaf”
Mon May 21 Kasi Lemmons and Contemporary African American Filmmaking
Eve’s Bayou (US, 1997) 109 mins
Read: Foster, “Kasi Lemmons’s Eve’s Bayou as Conduct Text” “Interview with Kasi Lemmons”
Wed May 23 Sofia Coppola, Post-Feminist?
The Virgin Suicides (US, 1999) 97 mins
Read: Woodworth, “A Feminist Theorization of Sofia Coppola’s Post-Feminist Trilogy” “Interview with Sofia Coppola”
Mon May 28 Memorial Day
No class.
Wed May 30 Lucrecia Martel and New Argentinian Cinema
The Headless Woman (Argentina, 2008) 87 mins
Read: Losada, “Lucrecia Martel’s La mujer sin cabeza: Cinematic Free Indirect Discourse, Noise-scape and the Distraction of the Middle Class” “An Interview with Lucrecia Martel”
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Mon June 4 Andrea Arnold in Post-Thatcher Britain
Red Road (England, 2006) 113 mins
Read: Marcus, “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes: Red Road and Look” “Interview: Andrea Arnold”
Wed June 6 Kelly Reichardt Now
Meek’s Cutoff (US, 2010) 104 mins
Read: “The Way West: A Feminist Perspective. An Interview with Kelly Reichardt”
Ø Final Research Paper due in class today
Final Exam: Monday, June 11, 12:00-3:00 pm
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