96408 - Film Theories

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: knows the basic notions developed in the field of film theory in its historical phases; acquires a theoretical competence that allows him/her to reach a rich understanding of the film as a text; is able to trace the relationships between the theoretical debate on cinema and the history of arts in the twentieth century; is able to place the theoretical debate on cinema within the development of the human sciences in the twentieth century.

Course contents

Part 1. Classical Film Theories

Theories of montage

• Lev Kuleshov: making meaning with montage
• Sergej Ejzenštejn: montage as dialectics
• Dziga Vertov and the "theory of intervals"
• Esfir Shub and "factographic" editing

Theories of Photogénie

• The beauty of cinema according to Louis Delluc
• Jean Epstein and the photogénie of the imponderable
• Photogénie and "estrangement" (Victor Sklovsky)

Theories of Reproducibility

• Walter Benjamin: film and the end of the aura of the artwork
• André Bazin: from the aura of the image to the aura of the event

Part 2: Enrico Ghezzi, cinema, cinéphilie and the last days of humanity

• Fuoriorario, or cinéphilie on television
• Blob, or montage as a technique to subvert meaning
• Cinéphilie as collective history and auto/biography
• Cinema as the self-portrait of time
• Film and aura according to Ghezzi
• Ghezzi between film criticism and film philosophy
• Cinemas against cinema: Ghezzi with Guy Debord
• Ghezzi Filmmaker: The Last Days of Humanity (Enrico Ghezzi-Alessandro Gagliardo, 2023)
  
  

Readings/Bibliography

Readings and screenings are listed below in four different groups.

1) Lecture notes provided by the teacher:

• Che cos'è la teoria del cinema?
• Ricciotto Canudo: il cinema come settima arte
• La fotogenia secondo Louis Delluc
• La fotogenia secondo Jean Epstein
• L'avanguardia russa al tornante della Rivoluzione d'Ottobre
• Lev Kulešov, maestro del cinema sovietico
• Sergej Ejzenštejn: dal montaggio delle attrazioni al montaggio intellettuale
• Dziga Vertov, il kinokismo e la fabbrica dei fatti

2) Books and book chapters:

• Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility (1936)
• André Bazin, What Is Cinema? Vol. 1.

3) Readings for Part 2

• An anthology of essays by and around the work of Enrico Ghezzi will be provided at the beginning of the course on Virtuale.unibo.it

Assessment methods

The course involves the production of a piece of work, either individual or in a group, based on original research carried out using the materials (texts, films, interviews, archives) made available on Virtuale. The piece of work may take various forms, ranging from a short essay to a video essay. The exact procedures will be explained in class.

The final examination consists of an oral examination in which students will be required to discuss their project, linking it to the topics covered in the syllabus. The examination is designed to assess whether the following learning outcomes have been achieved:

• The ability to situate the key stages of film theory within their historical context, particularly the classical period.
• The ability to identify lines of continuity and points of discontinuity between the theories of the various authors examined.
• The ability to use the theoretical tools acquired during the course to analyse films.
• Mastery of the specific vocabulary of film studies.
• The ability to link the theoretical debate on cinema to the political and cultural history of twentieth-century Europe.

A presentation that is not only formally correct, but also critically informed, will be awarded the highest mark. A purely factual presentation will result in a moderate mark

Incomplete knowledge expressed in uncertain or inappropriate language will result in a pass at best. Identifying significant gaps in theoretical, critical and historiographical terms will result in a fail.

Teaching tools

Video projector, Internet connection, E-learning tools

Office hours

See the website of Monica Dall'Asta