T Th 9.35-12.35pm, Location: 326 State Hall
Prerequisite: Please note that you MUST have taken Intro to Film (2450/2010) before  or an equivalent film class (see me if you have any qurstions about this)
Professor: Dr. Kirsten Moana Thompson  (313)577-3358 (office)
Office Hours Tuesday 4.30-5.30 pm or other times by appointment, Rm 9313 5057 Woodward, 9th Floor, English Department E-mail: kirsten_thompson@wayne.edu,  Instructor Web Page: http://www.english.wayne.edu/fac_pages/thompsonk/index2.html
Coursework: First assignment (Précis) 20%, class participation 20% ; 2nd assignment (annotated bibliography) 20 %; midterm (one week take home) 20 %; final paper  20 %.  Please note that these have been changed from assignments advertised for this class.

Assignments:  You will receive separate handouts outlining the instructions for these.
Assignment 1 (20 %): write a précis of the theoretical issues outlined in one of the readings (due Feb 1)
Assignment 2  (20 %): this will be to research and create a bibliography of one of the films in the class syllabus.  You must include at least 3 non-internet sources including  one journal article and 1 newspaper review.  To find listings of articles  on a specific film, go to the library, consult the film index listings for the specific film and/or year of its release, and then go to the journals section of the library and photocopy the article. (due Feb 24)
Assignment 3 (Midterm) 20 % : 5 page draft on one of the films engaging directly with at least 2  of the readings.  You will receive a series of questions and will have one week to turn in a five page draft. Due March 8
Assignment 4  (20 %): final 10 page  paper incorporating elements of midterm questions (Due April 23)
Class Participation (20 %): class attendance is mandatory and forms a part of your final grade.  You are not permitted to miss more than 2 classes without documented explanation  (e.g. doctor’s note).  In addition, you are expected to actively (verbally) participate in class discussions

Class textbook: World Cinema: Critical Approaches, eds. John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Note: this book is a theoretical rather than historical  overview.  It is a fairly difficult text, but class discussions will help you understand it.  Listed as (WC) in syllabus
Additional (online) readings for each week (for access information see email) at Electronic and Reserves page at http://reserves.lib.wayne.edu.  I will also distribute additional readings from time to time. Please also check blackboard and your official wayne email account regularly as I send all class emails through these.
Recommended but optional: Geoffrey Nowell-Smith  The Oxford History of World Cinema (Oxford University Press; Oxford) 1999 (Narrative history/user-friendly)  Purchase online from Amazon  etc (under $20).  It is not available at the university bookstore.  Read for general background interest and specific chapters relevant to course films.

PLEASE SWITICH OFF ALL CELL PHONES BEFORE ENTERING THE CLASSROOM.  NO CELLPHONE CONVERSATIONS PERMITTED IN THE CLASSROOM BEFORE THE CLASS BEGINS.  IF YOUR CELLPHONE RINGS IN CLASS  I WILL CONFISCATE IT FOR ONE WEEK!
Please do not walk out in the middle of films, and please do not start packing up to leave until the auditorium lights go up.  IN EVERY CLASS WE WATCH THE ENTIRE CONCLUDING CREDITS UNTIL THE END OF THE FILM. PLEASE WATCH THESE  AND REMAIN STILL UNTIL THE  LIGHTS ARE ON.

I INTRODUCTION JAN 11 & 13
A O Scott: “What is a foreign movie now?; chap 1 Stephen Crofts Concepts of National Cinema; Chap 18 Issues in World Cinema (WC);

THE PACIFIC/ NEW  ZEALAND
Screening: Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, 1994) NZ
Excerpts: The Piano (Jane Campion, 1992), possible second screening Utu (Geoff Murphy, 1983)
Readings: Kirsten Moana Thompson “Once Were Warriors: New Zealand's First Indigenous Blockbuster”, online; also Interview with Lee Tamahori at Official Film Site at http://www.finelinefeatures.com/warriors/

II SOUTH AMERICA/BRAZIL Jan 18 & 20
Screening: Cidade de Deus /City of God (Katia Lund & Fernando Mereilles, 2002) Brazil
Readings: chapter 25 South American Cinema (WC); Ryan Mottesheard “God is in the Details” Moviemaker # 49, online at http://www.moviemaker.com/issues/49/meirelles.html
Robert Stam “Third World Film and Theory” (online)

II ASIAN CINEMA/Dissent in Historical Narratives/CHINA Jan 25 & 27
Screening: Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991) China/Hong Kong
Reading & Discussion: Aristedes Gazetes “Third Cinema and Post-Colonial Narratives in Africa, Latin America and Asia”  (online)
Screening: Ying xiong/aka Hero  (Zhang Yimou, 2002) China
Reading:  c. 20 Chinese Cinema WC; “A Brief History of the Hong Kong Martial Arts Film” Bright Lights Film Journal online at http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/31/hk_brief1.html (2 pages)

III HONG KONG Feb 1 & 3
Screening: In The Mood For Love/ Huayang Nianhua (Wong Kar Wai, 2000) Hong Kong
Reading: chap 21 Hong Kong Cinema (WC); Amy Taubin” “In the Mood for Love” Sight and Sound November 2000, available online at http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/reviews/detail.php?id=401; Robert Stam “The Cult of the Auteur” (online).  Précis due ( Feb 3)

IV INDIA FEB 8 & 10
Screening: The World of Apu (Satyajit Ray, 1959) Readings: c. 3 “Realism, Modernism and Post-Colonial Theory”; c. 19 WC Indian Cinema; “Satyajit Ray”  web page at http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Cinema/SRay.html; “The World of Apu” webpage at http://www.satyajitray.org/films/apursan.htm
IST ASSIGNMENT DUE: Bibliography of Film

V JAPAN Feb 15 & 17
Screening: Rashômon  (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
Reading:  c. 23 Japanese Cinema (WC); Aristedes Gazetes “Postwar Japanese Cinema: 1950-1990”

VI ITALY Feb 22 & 24
Screening: Roma, città aperta/aka Rome Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945) Italy
Reading: c 8 Italian Post-war Cinema (WC); c. 12”European Film Policy and the Response to Hollywood”  (WC pp 94-101) Bibliography Due (Feb 24)

VII GERMANY March 1 & 3
Screening: Triumph des Willens/Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefenstahl, 1934) Germany
Die Macht der Bilder/  The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (Ray Müller, 1993) Germany
Reading: chap 4 The Documentary (WC), chap 6 Issues in European Cinema (WC); Aristedes Gazetes “Postwar German Cinema” (online);  Susan Sontag “Fascinating Fascism”(I will distribute this)
MIDTERM ( one week take home essay due March 8)
 VIII GERMANY March 8 & 10
Screening: Das Schreckliche Mädchen/aka The Nasty Girl (Michael Verhoeven, 1990)
Marianne and Julianne aka Die Bleirne Zeit/Dark Times (Margaretha von Trotta, 1981)
Reading: Roy Grundmann Review of Nasty Girl, Cinéaste 18, No. 2 (1991): 49-51; chap 10 German cinema (WC); Ellen Seiter “The Personal is Political: Margaretha Von Trotta’s Marianne and Julianne” Journal of Film and Video 37.2 (online) ; see also Baader Meinhof informational site at http://www.baader-meinhof.com/timeline/index.htm

March 14-19 Spring Break

IX SPAIN March  22 & 24
Screening: Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988) Spain
All About My Mother (1999, Almódovar)
(recommended extra viewing Bad Education  (Almodóvar, 2003)  playing at the Main theater in JANUARY
Readings: Marsha Kinder “Pleasure and the New Spanish Cinema: A Conversation with Pedro Almodóvar”  Film Quarterly 41 1 (Fall 1987): 33-44;  Rikki Morgan ‘Dressed to Kill” Sight and Sound April 1992  (both online)

* Note : I will be out of the country March 29- April 3 so there will be a week just of screenings and I will give the lectures for these films when I return

X  USSR March 29 & 31
Screening: Idi i smotri/Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985)
AFRICA/SENEGAL
Screening: Xala (Sembene Ousmane, 1974)

XI/Lectures for USSR & AFRICA I/SENEGAL April 5 & 7
Readings (for Come and See): Josephine Woll “He came,he saw...An overview of Elem Klimov's career”, Kinoeye, Vol 4 , Issue 4 13 Sept 2004 available at http://www.kinoeye.org/04/04/woll04.php and Adrian Danks “Don’t Look Back” review at http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/02/20/come.html
Readings (For Xala): Aaron Mushengyezi “Reimaging Gender and African Tradition?
Ousmane Sembène's Xala revisited”
online at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v051/51.1mushengyezi.html. ; chap 24 African Cinema (WC)

XII AFRICA II/ALGERIA April 12 & 14
Screening: Battle for Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1965)
Readings: chap 3 Realism Modernism and Postcolonial Theory (WC); Gary Crowdus: “Terrorism and Torture in The Battle of Algiers” Cinéaste Summer 2004 (online)

XIII  April 19 & 21 (Final Classes)
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain/aka Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) France
Final Draft of 10 page Paper due April 21
 
University Classes end April 25
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THE FINE PRINT
Note on Grading: All assignments MUST be submitted for successful completion of the course.
Failure to submit one or more assignments will result in a final grade of C or worse.
Grading: A= 96-100
A-  90-95
B+ 85-89
B 80-84
B- 75-79
C+ 70-74
C 65-69
C- 60-64
D+ 55-59
D 51-54
F  (E) 50 and below
The English Department attendance policy is as follows
Students enrolled in any English course must attend at least one of the first two class sessions of the term in order to maintain a place in the class.  If a student does not show up for the first 2 classes he/she is not permitted to register for this class.
Other Policies:
1.  There are no makeup screenings of films, so if you must miss a screening, try to rent the videotape or DVD version (with correct ASPECT RATIO—i.e. widescreen letterboxed). Ademany has most of the class titles.  Attendance at film screenings is a requirement of the course.
2.  In previous courses, I have received some complaints about talking and noise during film screenings, so please use common sense and be courteous to others during screenings.  Please don’t talk during the films (or during class discussion, for that matter).  I don’t object to food and drink in the screening room, as long as you eat quietly.  PLEASE take all trash out with you when you leave the room.  Also, please keep in mind that the end of a film is just as important as the beginning.  3.  All written assignments for the course are due in class.  Please do not leave papers for me at the English Department, unless you have first secured my permission.  (This is to prevent papers from getting lost, and please do not slide papers under my office door!) NO papers by email or fax.
4.  Please photocopy your papers prior to submitting them, or keep a backup copy on computer.  If your paper gets lost, I will ask you for the backup copy. Computers or printers  crashing  are not acceptable excuses
5. GRADING SCHEDULE: I will try to return assignments as soon as possible, but it will usually take me at one week to grade a given paper or test.
6.  Handing in an assignment late will result in loss of points, unless a valid excuse is provided.  For every two days the assignment is late, the score drops by half a letter grade.  Except for dire emergencies, I will not accept papers that are more than 2 weeks late.
7 .  Makeups for missed tests or quizzes require a valid excuse, and under most circumstances I will ask for written documentation about the reason for absence (doctor’s receipt, auto repair bill, etc.).  If for some reason you miss a test, PLEASE notify me as soon as possible—generally within 1 or 2 days.
8.  If you cannot make it to a scheduled office meeting with me, please call to cancel as soon as possible.
9. PLAGIARISM.  Plagiarism (unacknowledged use of another person’s work) and cheating are both serious offenses.  Like most American universities, Wayne State Univ. has a fairly severe policy about penalties for both.  Evidence of plagiarism (or fabrication of sources) or cheating will result in a zero for the assignment and an F for the class.  Prior to submission of the final paper, students will be given the opportunity to discuss what constitutes plagiarism. PLAGIARISM INCLUDES ALL UNACKNOWLEDGED USE OF SOURCES, INCLUDING THE INTERNET.
An instructor, on discovering such an instance WILL give a failing grade on the assignment or for the course.  The instructor has the responsibility of notifying the student of the alleged violation and the action being taken.  Both the student and the instructor are entitled to academic due process in all such cases.  Acts of dishonesty may lead to suspension or exclusion.
10. Students must put away ALL papers, notebooks, clipboards, and books during tests.  You will be given paper for the test.  I will circulate around the classroom during exams.  CHEATING WILL RESULT IN AN F FOR THE TEST AND CLASS
11. Writing Standards.  Although I can provide some writing tips, this class is too large for extensive individual tutoring in basic writing techniques.  Students who  have difficulties with English grammar or spelling should contact the Writing Center for assistance: 313/577-2544; 337 State Hall.  Hours of operation vary from semester to semester.  You will be penalized if your writing standards are insufficient for university work
12. Personal Problems/  Physical or Mental Health
If you feel overwhelmed or stressed out, there is always help available at the WSU Counseling Services at 1001 Faculty Administration  Building --call (313)577-3398.  Alternatively there is the Detroit-Wayne Community Mental Health Emergency Telephone Service (313)224-7000 (24 hour service).  Don't drop your classes--talk to someone first!  If you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed or seriously stressed, TELL your professors in your classes so they can help you if you are having difficulties.  If you have a physical or mental impairment that may interfere with your ability to complete successfully the requirements for this course, please contact EAS in Room 583 of the SCB to discuss appropriate accommodations on a confidential basis. Telephone: 577-1851.