Cinescapes; Time: Space and Identity (MLC2245)

Staff	Dr Fiona Handyside - Convenor
Credit Value	30
ECTS Value	15.00
NQF Level	6
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
Duration of Module	Term 1: 11 weeks;

Module aims

This module aims to build on the theoretical debates addressed in level 1 (EAF1501), asking students to engage critically with a number of key issues in contemporary film theory. It uses films from a variety of geographical, cultural and historical locations in order to explore the complex relationship between film theory and film practice and to illuminate the ways in which film can function as an object of philosophical questioning. In particular, it address questions of space and setting; the representation of time and its relation to history and memory; and the way in which film articulates and contests ideas concerning gender, sexuality and race.

ILO: Module-specific skills

1. demonstrate an informed understanding of a number of key debates in contemporary film theory and an ability to apply theoretical paradigms to film
2. demonstrate an informed understanding of a variety of films relevant to theoretical debates in Film Studies
3. demonstrate understanding of the role of films as sites for the construction and contestation of certain ideological and philosophical notions

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

4. demonstrate an informed understanding of a number of key debates in contemporary film theory and an ability to apply theoretical paradigms to film
5. demonstrate an informed understanding of a variety of films relevant to theoretical debates in Film Studies
6. demonstrate understanding of the role of films as sites for the construction and contestation of certain ideological and philosophical notions

ILO: Personal and key skills

7. through seminar work and group presentations, demonstrate communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups.
8. through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, a capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and a capacity to write clear and correct prose.
9. through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
10. through research, seminar discussion, and essay writing demonstrate a capacity to question assumptions, to distinguish between fact and opinion, and to critically reflect on their own learning process.
11. through sequence analysis, demonstrate their ability to analyse film as an audio-visual medium

Syllabus plan

1. Why Theory? 2. Space and Setting 1: Cityscapes 3. Space and Setting 2: Beachscapes 4. Space and Setting 3: African Cinema 5. Time and Memory 1: Narrative and Time 6. Time and Memory 2: Cinema as Time Travel 7. Time and Memory 3: Cinema and Time Pressure 8. Time and Memory 4: Representing history and trauma 9. Identity 1: Sisters on Screen 10. Identity 2: Race and post-colonial cinema 11. Identity 3: Queer bodies

Teaching is by weekly one-hour lecture and two-hour seminar. Students will also attend one film screening per week. Seminar attendance is compulsory and students will be expected to participate in class discussion. The Exeter Learning Environment is used for the dissemination of module content, in particular readings and assessment tasks.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
110	190	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	22	weekly one hour lecture
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	44	weekly two hour seminar
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	44	weekly film screening
independent study	190

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
class presentation	20-25 minutes	1-6, 7,11	Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up and verbal feedback from tutor during seminar

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
sequence analysis	35	1500 words	1,2,4,5,6,8,9,10,11	Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up and verbal feedback from tutor during seminar
essay	65	3500 words	1-3, 4-6, 8-11	Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up and verbal feedback from tutor during seminar

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
sequence analysis
essay

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Primary texts Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wei, 1997) The Green Ray (Eric Rohmer, 1986) Guelwaar (Ousmane Sembene, 1992) The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones, 2005) Sunless (Chris Marker, 1982) A Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997) A Ma Soeur (Catherine Breillat, 2001) Querelle (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982) I Can't Sleep (Claire Denis, 1994) Ararat (Atom Egoyan, 2002) Selected secondary texts Linda Williams and Christine Gledhill, eds ReInventing Film Studies (Oxford University Press, 2000) Phil Powrie, ed Continuity and Difference: French Cinema in the 1990s (Oxford University Press, 1999) Derek Schilling, Eric Rohmer (Manchester University Press, 2007) Mark Shiel, Cinema and the City: Film and Urban Societies in a Global Context (Blackwell, 2001) Andrei Tarkovskii, Sculpting in Time: Reflections on the Cinema (University of Texas Press, 1987) Indicative

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/search.php?search=MLC2245

Available as distance learning?

Key words search

cinescapes, time, space, identity,