At the end of the module, students will have a basic knowledge of cinema history and filmic syntax. In addition, they will be able to detect and deconstruct the forms of mediations that shape landscape narratives.
Part A will moreover provide up-to-date methodological frameworks of analysis for film and visual products, while part B will offer an understanding of aesthetic structures, narratological functions, and cultural constructions of space in films set in Italy and in the United States.
None; the course will be taught in English. Part A will be taught by prof. Giuseppe Previtali (University of Bergamo) and Part B by prof. Gloria Pastorino (Farleigh Dickinson University, US).
Part A: Lectures that will encourage the active participation of the class. Collective vision and commentary of relevant audiovisual passages.
Part B. Lectures are structured around the analysis of the four films watched before attending class and clips from films other than the ones assigned, and call for active participation of students. Film excerpts are screened in class in order to interpret scenes for content, intent, and composition.
Part A: Written examination. The students will be asked to answer four open questions in no more than 120 minutes. The questions will deal with the content of the module and the course’s filmography. The knowledge of the syllabus' contents, the appropriate use of a specific terminology and the ability to autonomously apply the learnt concepts will equally define the final evaluation
Part B: In-class written exam (2 hours) for students who have attended the course in person and feel prepared to take the exam right away (strongly suggested). For non-attending students the exam will be a take-home set of questions that require a close analysis of the films students are supposed to watch per syllabus, informed by the readings assigned. Exams that reproduce superficial information found on the internet about film plots and production gossip will be penalized. AI-generated answers will yield a zero and raise a red flag for future assignments.
Students who do not take the exam in person right after the end of classes in December, will be required to e-mail the professor to request the exam (to be completed in 24 hours) and submit it at least ten days before taking the other part of the exam with Professor Previtali.
Part A: Introduction to Film Studies / Looking at Italian Landscapes (34 hours)
This part of the course will provide an introduction to the field of film studies focusing on key aspects of filmic style, also showing how it evolved from its early days to the postdigital scenario. The discussion of specific feature of film grammar will also take into account its historical evolution, focusing for instance on early cinema, classical Hollywood film, the rise of modern cinema and the digital turn. A strong emphasis will also be devoted to the Italian context, showing how landscape has been variously framed in its recent history. From the land of ruins depicted by the Neorealism to the lunar spaces of Antonioni and other auteurs up to Sorrentino’s and Garrone’s latest urban explorations, the category of space has always played a crucial role in the identification of this national cinematography. Part of the module will offer the students the chance to see how the film industry can become an active component of an effective touristic campaign, in the field of the so-called film-induced-tourism.
Part B (20 hours): Seen from Afar: Italy and the US in Film.
This seminar analyses how American films from the 1950s on create an idealized image of Italy and Italians, determining cultural referents and identity through the usage of iconic monuments or floating signifiers (such as the Vespa or gelato in Roman Holiday). As a point of comparison, we will also look at how Italian cinema re-defines American myths and tropes, such as the Western.
Attendance is not mandatory, but encouraged and recommended. Textbooks will be available at the University Library (Sant'Agostino's building), while the movies to watch will be available at Fondazione Alasca (inside Via Pignolo's building).
