Module Identifier EL10520  
Module Title INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN FILM  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Rob Stone  
Semester Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters)  
Other staff Dr Andrew Hussey, Dr Paul Cooke, Mr Adriano Vincentelli  
Course delivery Lecture   10 Hours  
  Seminar   10 Hours  
Assessment Continuous assessment   50% 2 assessed essays of a comparative nature (1,500-2,000 words) 50% Dossier compiled by students during course incorporating lecture notes and ten pieces of film appreciation (300-400 words each)   100%  

Brief description


This module is intended for students who are interested in the film history and culture of Europe. The module provides an opportunity for students to learn about the development of film in Europe and in particular countries. Lectures will outline the major social and political changes which were influential in the making of these countries' films, and seminars will be of a comparative nature, thereby allowing students to develop and express their own understanding of European film in the production of a dossier which will be submitted as part of their continuous assessment. A series of twelve film screening (with subtitles) will run parallel with thelectures, and all of thefilms will be available on the computer server for easy and repeated viewing by the students. Second and third year modules in Spanish, French and German cinema already complement this module, though the introduction of this module will also prompt the restructuring of those modules (and the gradual introduction of others) in the creation of a newdegree scheme in European Film Studies that will most likely be complemented by studies in languages and/or theoretical film studies.

Learning outcomes


Students will have a thorough grounding in the cultural history of film-making in Europe. They will be familiar with the political and social contexts in which these films were made, and they will have a good general knowledge of major film-makers. They will also have developed their skills in the field of comparative study.

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Background
Cook, David. (1996) A History of Narrative Film. USA: W W Norton Press
Ed. Braudy, Leo. (1992) Film Theory and Criticism. Oxford University Press
Ed. R Dryer & G Vincendeau. (1992) Popular European Cinema. Routledge
Ed. Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. (1996) The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford University Press
Thompson, Kristin & Borwell, David. (1994) Film History. An Introduction. McGraw Hill
Sorlin, Pierre. (1991) European Cinemas, European Societies 1939-1990. Routledge
Frodon, Jean-Michel. (1995) L'Age Moderne du cinema francais (French). Flammarion
Forbes, Jill. (1989) The Cinema in France (French). Routledge
Agamben, Giorgio. (1998) Image et Memoire (French). Hoebeke
Debord, Guy. (1992) La societe du spectacle (French). Gallimard
Debord, Guy. (1999) In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (French). Gallimard
Armes, Roy. (1970) French Cinema since 1946 (French). Zwemmer Ltd
Brown, Royal. Focus on Godard (French). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall
Durgnat, Raymond. Nouvelle Vague: The First Decade (French). London: Motion Publications
Graham, Peter (ed). The New Wave: Critical Landmarks (French). London: BFI
Hayward, Susan. (1993) French National Cinema (French). London: Routledge
Monaco, James. (1976) The New Wave (French). New York: OUP
Vincendeau, Ginette (eds). (1996) The Companion to French Cinema (French). London: BFI
Eisner, Lotte H. (1973) The Haunted Screen (German). Oxford
Elsaesser, Thomas. (1989) New German Cinema (German). New Brunswick
Kracauer, Siegfried. (1947) From Caligari to Hitler (German). Princeton
Manvell, Roger. (1973) The Masterworks of German Cinema. London
Sandford, John. Chaos and Control in the Weimar Film (German) pp. 311-23. German Life and Letters, 48
Sorlin, Pierre. (1996) Italian National Cinema 1896-1996. London, Routledge
Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey; Hay, James; Volpi, Gianni. (1996) The Companion to Italian Cinema (Italian). Cassell & the British Film Institute
Bordwell, David. (1993) The Cinema of Eisenstein (Soviet). Cambridge: Harvard UP
Isenstein, Sergei. (1949, 1977) Film Form. Jay Leyda tran. (Soviet). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Kenez, Peter. (1992) Cinema and Soviet Society 1917-1953. Cambridge: Harvard UP
Leyda, Jay. (1973) Kino: A History of Rusiian and Soviet Film (Soviet). London: Unwin
Pudovkin, Vsevolod. Film Technique and Film Acting (Soviet). London: Vision Press
Taylor, Richard; Christie, Ian (eds). (1988) The Film Factory: Rusiian and Soviet Cinema in Documents: 1896-1939 (Soviet). London: RKP
Youngblood, Denise. (1991) Soviet Cinema in the Silent Era, 1918-1935 (Soviet). Austin: U of Texas P
Edwards, Gwynne. (1995) Indecent Exposures. London: Marion Boyars
Kinder, Marsha. (1993) Blood Cinema.. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University Press
Hopewell, John. (1986) Out of the Past: Spanish Cinema after Franco (Spanish). London: BFI Books
Jordan, Barry and Morgan-Tamosunas, Rikki. (1998) Contemporary Spanish Cinema. Manchester University Press
Stone, Rob. (2001) Inside Film: Spanish Cinema. Longman