Syllabus

Syllabus at a Glance

25 Jan (Th)

Introduction (PowerPoint)

Luis Buñuel: Auteurism, Exile and the Emergence of a National Cinematography (1930-1960)

30 Jan (Tu)

Films

Readings

Other resources

1 Feb (Th)

Feature film

  • Luis Buñuel, Los olvidados (The Young and the Damned, 1950; 77 min)

Readings

Other resources

6 Feb (Tu)

Feature film

  • Luis Buñuel, Viridiana (1961; 90 min; Warning: Sexual violence – 01:24:00)

Readings

Other resources

  • The History of Cutting – The Soviet Theory of Montage: Building on the works of D.W. Griffith and the development of “continuity editing” in early film history, Soviet silent filmmakers would pioneer new innovative ideas about editing that moved film from an extension of theater into a mature and powerful artistic medium.  Montage theory was very influential in the 1950s and 60s, when such film artists as Alfred Hitchcock and the French new wave (nouvelle vague) directors refined and developed montage further. Where might we see the echoes of this technique in Buñuel’s Viridiana?
  • A supplementary page with images from Viridiana

13 Feb (Tu)

Feature film

  • Luis Buñuel, El ángel exterminador (Exterminating Angel, 1962; 95 min)

Assignment

  • Review 1 (submit via Moodle according to instructions posted there)

Other resources

The Spanish Postwar: Authoritarianism and Dissidence (1950s)

15 Feb (Th)

Feature film

  • Luis García Berlanga, ¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall! (Welcome Mr. Marshall!, 1953; 78 min)

Readings

Other resources

22 Feb (Th)

Feature film

  • Juan Antonio Bardem, Muerte de un ciclista (Death of a Cyclist, 1955; 88 min)

Readings

Other resources

27 Feb (Tu)

Assignment

  • Analysis 1 (timed, to be completed through Moodle, according to instructions posted there)

Constructing Democracy in the Shadows of the Past (1970-1990)

29 Feb (Th)

Feature film

  • Carlos Saura, Cría cuervos (Cría, 1975; 110 min)

Readings

Other resources

7 Mar (Th)

Feature film

  • Víctor Erice, El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive, 1973; 95 min)

Readings

Other resources

26 Mar (Tu)

Feature film

  • Mario Camus, Los santos inocentes (The Holy Innocents, 1984; 107 min)

Readings

Other resources

28 Mar (Th)

Feature film

  • Icíar Bollain, Te doy mis ojos (Take My Eyes, 2003; 109 min; Warning: Gender abuse and violence)

Other resources

Assignment

  • Review 2 (submit via Moodle)
2 Apr (Tu)

Feature film

  • Vicente Aranda, Amantes (1990; 103 min; Warning: Sex and Nudity)

Other resources

4 Apr (Th)

Analysis 2: Cinema and Democracy (see Moodle)

Persisting Auteurism: The Almodovar effect

9 Apr (Tu)

Feature film

  • Pedro Almodóvar¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This?, 1984; 101 min)

Readings

Other resources

11 Apr (Th)

Feature film

  • Pedro Almodovar, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1988; 90 min)

Readings

Other resources

16 Apr (Tu)

Feature film

  • Pedro Almodóvar, Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother, 1999; 101 min)

Readings

Other resources

18 Apr (Th)

Feature film

  • Pedro Almodóvar, Volver (2004; 121 min)

Readings

Analysis 3: Pedro Almodóvar’s auteurism (see moodle)

Transcending the National: Seeing, Remembering and Knowing in the Age of Globalization

23 Apr (Tu)

Feature film

  • Isabel Coixet, La vida secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of Words, 2005; 115 min)

Other resources

25 Apr (Th)

Feature film

  • Alejandro Amenábar, Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes, 1997; 117 min)

Other resources

30 Apr (Tu)

Feature film

  • Alex de la Iglesia, La comunidad (Common Wealth, 2000; 105 min)

Other resources

2 May (Th)

Feature film

  • Guillermo del Toro, El Laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth, 2006; 118 min)
7 May (Tu)

Analysis 4: The Problematics of Seeing in Contemporary Spanish Cinema (see Moodle)

14 – 17 May

Term paper (optional): Reality and Representation in Spanish Cinema (submit no later than May 17 via Moodle)