This module considers the power of the visual to tell stories that challenge Western commercial cinema in the first instance, but more importantly, it examines the potential power of the filmmaker to represent the under-represented, marginalised and repressed in society – those who are on ‘the fringes of the frame’. It highlights the potential power and responsibility of the filmmaker to give witness to those who are powerless. The module focuses specifically on forms of representation that emphasise gender equality, post-colonial fracture, racial equality, resistance to repression, the legacy of trauma and the politics of memory. Finally, it considers how the filmmaker can create narratives of resistance that challenge dominant forms of representation.
A selection of the following will be covered:
- Narratives of resistance
- Agnès Varda – The art of Cultural Politics: Filming the outsider
- Re-imagining and reinterpreting the nature of resistance in Varda
- The Dardenne Brothers – Resistance as moral philosophy?
- The Dardenne brothers – Re-defining resistance
- Cinema, trauma & memory – Political documentary cinema in Chile
- Representing memory as absence in the work of Patricio Guzmán
- Political cinema: Social realism and resistance – Ken Loach
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A selection of the following will be covered:
Narratives of resistanceAgnès Varda – The art of Cultural Politics: Filming the outsiderRe-imagining and reinterpreting the nature of resistance in VardaThe Dardenne Brothers – Resistance as moral philosophy?The Dardenne brothers – Re-defining resistanceCinema, trauma & memory – Political documentary cinema in Chile Representing memory as absence in the work of Patricio GuzmánPolitical cinema: Social realism and resistance – Ken Loach
The module will be developed through a range of the following learning and teaching methods:
- Lectures, practical workshops
- Oral presentations, written critique
- Screenings and textual analysis
- Class discussions of documents including audio-visual material and relevant readings
- Independent reading and self-directed study
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Other Assessment(s) | 100 |