93229 - Seminar: Representation of Social Issues in Latin American Movies (LM)

Learning outcomes

The seminar has the dual purpose of providing useful tools for understanding the various social realities and their related issues through their documentary representations, while also offering basic skills in organizing and planning a cultural event in its distinct phases.

Course contents

Seminar held by Dr. Héctor Rodríguez de la O

The seminar has the dual purpose of providing useful tools for understanding the various social realities and their related issues through their filmic representations, while also offering basic skills in organizing and planning a cultural event in its distinct phases.

Presentation of a themed film forum featuring 3 to 4 works curated by students from the Bachelor's or Master's Degree programs.

The task will involve both the actual organization of the event and the planning, presentations, screenings, and post-screening debates on the works presented to the public.

Presentations may be given in Spanish or Italian, as well as the possible creation, translation, or revision of subtitles (if necessary and not already available in the required language).

Students' work must be done in groups of 4 or 5 people per film. Each group will produce an original text of approximately 1,500 words designed as a brochure for the presentation of the film. In addition, they will also design promotional materials for the film forum, posters, and various advertisements for both the Department/University bulletin boards and social media and/or institutional websites.

Readings/Bibliography

General topics:
Mexico-U.S. border, dynamics of power, and representation of the "other" in cinema, migration.

Texts/Bibliography
AA. VV. Historia general de México. Versión 2000, México, El Colegio de México, 2000.
ARMENDARES, Pedro Enrique, La política migratoria de Trump. Impactos para los migrantes mexicanos y sus comunidades, México, Senado de la República. Instituto Belisario Domínguez, 2018.
ASHCROFT / AHLUWALIA, Edward Said, Londres, Routledge, 1999.
DURAND, Jorge, Historia mínima de la migración de México-Estados Unidos, México, El Colegio de México, 2016.
HENDERSON, Timothy J., Beyond Borders. A History of Mexican Migration to the United States, West Sussex, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
IGLESIAS TURRION, Maquiavelo frente a la gran pantalla. Cine y política, Madrid, Akal, 2013.
RUFFINELLI, J., América Latina en 130 películas, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar, 2010.
SAID, Edward, Orientalismo, London, Penguin Books, 1991.
SAID, Edward, Culture and Imperialism, London, Vintage Books, 1994.
VÁZQUEZ / MEYER, México frente a Estados Unidos. Un ensayo histórico, 1776-2000, México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2001.

Filmography (for study and selection):

El viaje de Teo, by Walter Dohener, México, 2008.
Rompe el alba, by Isaac Artenstein, EE.UU. / México, 1988.
El Norte, by Gregory Nava, EE.UU., 1983.
The Border, by Tony Richardson, EE. UU., 1983.
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, by Robert M. Young, EE. UU., 1982.
Lone Star, by John Sayles, EE. UU., 1996.
Touch of Evil, by Orson Welles, EE. UU., 1958.
Crossing Over, by Wayne Kramer, EE. UU., 2009.
Babel, by Alejandro González Iñárritu, EE. UU., 2006.
The Alamo, by John Wayne, EE. UU., 1960.
Duel in the Sun, by King Vidor, EE. UU., 1946.
Sicario, by Denis Villeneuve, EE. UU., 2015.
Traffic, by Steven Soderbergh, EE. UU., 2001.
My Family, by Gregory Nava, EE. UU., 1995.
Alambrista!, by Robert M. Young, EE. UU., 1977.
A Better Life, by Chris Weitz, EE. UU., 2011.
The Forever Purge, by Everardo Gout, EE. UU., 2021.
A Day Without a Mexican, by Sergio Arau, 2004.

Teaching methods

Seminar activities; organization of the film forum; production of film presentations and introductions

Assessment methods

Students will be invited to work in groups; they will be required to organize the film forum "events," both in terms of the purely organizational and communication aspects, as well as in the production of critical material for the audience's enjoyment of the films.

Office hours

See the website of Edoardo Balletta