Courses > 2017 Spring

Electives

CIMS 388 - LATIN AMERICAN FILM

SPAN 388 | LALS 388
401 | SEM | Román de la Campa | TR 3-4:30pm | EDUC 203

This course aims to familiarize students with some of the best cinematography of Latin America covering a broad set of themes, nations and time periods. In particular, we will look at films that explore the multiple roles of revolution and other utopian discourses, the spread of migratory displacement throughout the hemisphere, the focus on new gender formation and the “state to market” turn now prevalent under neoliberal globalization. In Latin America, film almost always bears the mark of national inscriptions. We will thus begin by probing how these themes inform national history, particularly in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Cuba, nations that developed a vibrant cinematography at various points in the 20th Century. But the main goal in this course is not only to look at film as national representation nor to stay within those four sites of production but also to study how these films articulate, complicate and at times contradict such certitudes. Film theory and criticism will therefore accompany the discussion of screened movies.The class will be taught in English. Students looking to receive major or minor credit in SPAN may submit their written work in Spanish. A minimum of two papers, 10-15 pages each, will be required.