Courses > 2005 Spring

Electives

CINE 232 - Luso-Brazilian Film

PRTG 240 | LTAM 240
401 Saulo Gouveia | TR 1:30-3pm

This course will survey films from different Portuguese-speaking countries. Still unknown to many viewers, Luso & Brazilian films include a variety of genres and styles. We will explore films from the cultural perspective of Portugal, Cape Verde, Mozambique, and Brazil. The first segment of this course will expose students to theoretical approaches to the study of film. The second segment of the course will focus on Portugal and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. We will also discuss emblematic Portuguese filmmakers such as Manuel de Oliveira and African writers whose work has been translated to the screen such as Mia Couto and Germano de Almeida. The third segment will focus on Brazilian films produced since the mid 1990’s. In the early 1990s, there was a virtual collapse of Embrafilme (the state agency that funds most Brazilian films). Brazilian cinematic production only resumed around 1995. Throughout the last 8 years numerous quality films have been released, many of them directed by a new generation of filmmakers. Films like Cidade de DeusCarandiruOnibus 174 present a critical view of political, social and economic issues in post-dictatorial Brazil. Most of the films also provide commentaries on (and are themselves part of) the effects of economic and cultural globalization. Inequality, corruption, poverty, violence, crime, drugs, and prejudice are themes that permeate all of these films. The course will be conducted in English.