Class Policy Film 3402: European Film and Culture Film and the Italian Aesthetic Program Director: Suranjan Ganguly Program Dates: May 20-June 7 Class meetings: Monday to Friday, 9:30am-1:00pm with some exceptions (see syllabus). Course Description: This interdisciplinary course, set in Rome, will provide students with an opportunity to study the relationships between film, art, and culture within the context of Italian society. We will watch full-length feature films that focus on certain aspects of Italian art and architecture, then examine some of the actual sites/art works in order to learn about the nature of representation. Format: Screenings (on DVD), reading assignments, excursions, in-class discussions, and on-site lectures. Required Texts, etc.: 1. Gilles Lambert Caravaggio, Taschen 2. Allesandro Angelini Piero della Francesca, Riverside 3. 2 blue books. Readings: All assigned readings can be accessed on Canvas. Please see syllabus for reading assignments. Videostreaming: All 5 films will be videostreamed on Canvas. Course work and deadlines: You will take an exam (June 6), keep a journal and undertake a research project. The last two are due on Sept. 9 by 3:00pm (but you can turn them in as as soon you’re done. E-mail them as a Word attachment (no other formats please)to [email protected]. Late work will not be accepted. Those, graduating in August, must submit both assignments no later than July 20. Please also send them by e-mail--same as above. Grade percentages: 1 exam : 20% Journal: 35% Research Project: 45% Attendance: In such a high-intensive course, missing a single class, screening, or excursion equals missing a whole week of classes during the regular semester. Accordingly, I will take off a full letter grade for each absence. Only exceptional circumstances like a serious illness will count for an excused absence. You need to provide me with documented evidence. Please try not to leave the classroom, unless it’s absolutely urgent. There will be a 5-10-minute break every day. Class will start on time--coming late is not acceptable. No food in the classroom. Beverages are fine. Specific Program Policies: 1. No vehicle rentals of any kind. 2. No visitors during the three weeks. 3. No overnight guests. 4. No excessive alcohol consumption. 5. No noise violations in your residence. Violation of these policies could lead to expulsion from the program. On site-lectures: On-site lectures can sometimes prove challenging since you will be sharing a public space with other people. Please form a group and stay together. Journal: You will write a total of 3 entries, each at least 3 1/2 pages in length, Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced. Total: 10 1/2 (or more) pages. Each entry must start on a new page. Number the pages. The journal should not be written at the end of the semester but as you make our way through the course. It should be a personal and at the same time critical response to the films and artists you will study as well as the sites you will visit. Your entries will cover the following (one entry for each item): Films: Write on any one: Caravaggio, Nostalghia, and Voyage to Italy Excursions: Write on these two excursions: 1. Caravaggio's paintings in Rome. 2. Piero della Francesca’s work in Arezzo and Monterchi. Research Project: Below is a list of sites that appear in the films you will watch. You need to write on any three of them. Take good notes while you're there. *EUR (Metro: EUR Fermi) *The Trevi Fountain *The Campidoglio *Pompeii Directions on writing the paper: 1. Establish the setting in detail, based on your direct experience of the place and its milieu. Focus on architecture, environment, space, design, decorative elements (if any), etc. When applicable, address the historical and cultural significance of the place. In short, describe the setting in specific terms along with your personal response (your thoughts and impressions). Think of yourself as a guide helping your reader discover a place he/she has not visited. Consider taking photographs and including them as supplementary materials at the end of the essay, NOT in the text. 2. On your return to Boulder, visit Norlin and look up materials on the sites which deal with their history, art, and culture. 3. Analyze how each setting appears on film by watching the relevant sequences. How are they cinematically rendered? What are their specific functions? What are their new thematic and visual contexts? What are the issues that revolve around them? In other words, focus on how each site has been transformed on film and what they now represent. Your paper should be 12 (or more) pages long. Please consult 4-5 secondary sources. These should be scholarly essays (as opposed to reviews and write-ups) available in print or online. The assigned readings will not qualify. Please type double space with margins on the left. Use Times New Roman, 12-point font. Provide a title page. Number the pages. When using secondary sources, please be sure to follow standard documentation procedures, otherwise you'll be guilty of plagiarism. All sources should be documented in the body of the essay and in the Works Cited page. The title page and Works Cited Page are separate from the essay and not part of the required number of pages. Syllabus MAY Mon. 20 Orientation VERSIONS OF ROME: ARCHITECTURE AS SETTING In this section, we'll examine different representations of Rome on film followed by a visit to some of the actual sites. We'll focus on how setting is used as symbol and metaphor to describe social and cultural realities as well as specific emotional and psychological states. For example, both films deal with alienation as a major feature of Italian urban life and culture in the 50s and 60s (with special emphasis on Roman bourgeois society). Major architectural sites appear in all of them, serving both as a backdrop to the lives of the characters as well as a form of discourse which reveals the emotional and spiritual sterility of the protagonists. We will explore how film defines this condition through the use of setting. Tue. 21 Screening: Federico Fellini: La Dolce Vita (Italy, 1959, 180 min.) Wed. 22 Discussion of La Dolce Vita 2:30-5:00 PM Screening: Michelangelo Antonioni: L'eclisse (Italy, 1962, 125 min.) Readings: William Burke "La dolce vita" Thu. 23 Discussion of L’eclisse Readings: William Arrowsmith "L'eclisse" Piero della Francesca slide show Bring Angelini text to class. Readings: The Legend of the True Cross. Fri. 24 Research day. Students will visit architectural sites on their own. Weekend: No classes. ART INTO FILM This section will focus on how certain filmmakers draw on painting, both conceptually and formally, when they make their films. We will analyze how Derek Jarman's film on Caravaggio borrows its style entirely from the latter's paintings. In fact, many of his compositions are modeled on well- known works by the artist. The light in the film also corresponds to Caravaggio's light. In this way, form and content come together to embody the spirit of this gay painter. Jarman's film is strongly reflexive, exploring the process of creativity itself as well as what it takes--in economic and sexual terms--to be an artist. To trace the many visual and other correspondences between the film and the paintings, we will study Caravaggio's work in Rome. Andrei Tarkovsky's Nostalghia, set in Italy, was partly inspired by Piero della Francesca's paintings of the Virgin Mary. In fact, the opening sequence is set in a chapel in Monterchi which contains Piero's Madonna del Parto. Tarkovsky also identifies deeply with the transcendental vision that inspired the painter's work and tries to translate it onto film. Thus it is crucial that students see some of Piero's major works in Arezzo and Monterchi. Mon. 27 Excursion Tue 28 Screening: Andrei Tarkovsky: Nostalghia (Italy, 1983, 126 min.) Readings: Vida Johnson & Graham Petrie "Nostalghia" Synopsis of Nostalghia (optional) Wed. 29 Discussion of Nostalghia Readings: Vida Johnson & Graham Petrie "Nostalghia" Caravaggio slide show Bring Lambert text to class JUNE Thu. 30 Excursions Fri. 31 Research day. Students will visit architectural sites on their own. Weekend: No classes. Mon. 3 Screening and discussion: Derek Jarman: Caravaggio (UK, 1986, 87 min.) Readings: Synopsis of Caravaggio William Pencak "Caravaggio and the Italian Renaissance" ART, LANDSCAPE, AND A WOMAN'S SEARCH FOR SELF Tue. 4 Screening and discussion: Roberto Rossellini: Voyage to Italy (Italy, 1953, 83 min.) Readings: Peter Brunette "Voyage to Italy" In Roberto Rossellini's film there is a conjunction of art, history, and landscape--all filtered through a woman's consciousness. In the second half of the film, the female protagonist, whose marriage is falling apart, visits several important sites in and around Naples. Her journeys--to Cumae (the Cave of the Sibyl), Solfatara, and the ruins of Pompeii--constitute an inner voyage of discovery. Rossellini tries to capture her complex thought process almost entirely through visual means as she encounters the artifacts of ancient civilizations and reflects on art as well as her life and marriage. In order to fully understand the nature of her epiphanies, we will retrace her steps, visiting each of the sites so that we can identify with her point of view and focus on how these moments are represented on film. Wed. 5 Excursion Thu. 6 Exam Farewell dinner Fri. 7 Excursion .