History and Theory of Cinema

A general introduction to the history and theory of cinema. It traces the key developments, movements, genres and creative figures of cinema, from its early days to the present, while exploring the basic tools of formal film analysis. Emphasis is given to historical, sociopolitical, economic, technological, cultural, and aesthetic contexts as well as to the specificities of cinema as a medium and its interactions with other arts.

Students will develop a general awareness of film history and be familiar with the basic language of film analysis and composition.

By the end of the course, students can expect to be familiar with:

• general historiographic issues specific to cinema
• the basic language of film aesthetics
• key trends, genres and creative individuals of cinema
• basic tools of formal film analysis

Week 1: The Birth of Cinema

Week 2: Historical Avant-gardes

Week 3: German Expressionism

Week 4: Soviet Montage

Week 5: Slapstick Comedy

Week 6: Classical Hollywood – The Coming of Sound

Week 7: Poetic Realism

Week 8: The Genre Film – Film Noir

Week 9: Italian Neo-Realism

Week 10: The French New Wave

Week 11: European Art Cinema – Auteur Cinema

Week 12: Documentary – In Search of the Truth

Week 13: New Hollywood

Bordwell, David; Kristin Thompson (1979). Film Art: An Introduction. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Ninth edition, 2009.

Thompson, Kristin; David Bordwell (1994). Film History: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill. Third edition, 2010.

The course consists of a series of lectures with the use of PowerPoint presentation and the inclusion of screenings of short films and of extracts of feature films. It encourages active participation and discussions

Enhanced by multimedia content.
The learning process is supported by the asyncrhonous e-learning platform e-class.

Assignment & Oral presentation