The course examines how selected postwar European cinema movements and filmmakers have used film as a way to represent the past. The main focus is on issues - aesthetic, cultural and industrial - arising from the representation of history in film. Chronologically the course extends from a retrospective view of Stalinism in Burnt by the Sun to the present; it also includes cult art-house films whose historical contexts are still of particular significance (Hiroshima, mon amour). The interplay between fact, fiction and memory foregrounds the role of film in creating or perpetuating cultural myths via historical themes. Discourses addressed include national identities, the aestheticisation of fascism and the limits of representation. The course will combine the symbolic dimension of (political) history with the social dimension of (film) art. In this it complements Postwar European Cinema: Films and Directors (FILM2004).

On satisfying requirements for this course students will have gained:

1. refinement of skills in analysing films as texts;
2. an introduction to a body of films challenging the global dominance of Hollywood;
3. an awareness of issues relating to national vis-a-vis transnational cinema movements, 'European' vs. 'local';
4. insight into the interrelationship between film and history, in the European context.

One 1500 - 2000 word critical essay, due mid-semester, weighted 45%; a second 1500-2000 word critical essay, due end of semester, weighted 55%.

One 1-hour lecture, one 1-hour tutorial and a 2-hour film screening per week.

In addition students would be required to spend up to 5 hours per week reviewing films and doing tutorial and other supplementary reading.

For Film Studies major, Intro to Film Studies FILM1002 and Intro to Film Genres FILM1003, or two courses from the Faculty of Arts or permission of the Coordinator.

There is no language prerequisite. Films not in English are subtitled.

Forbes, Jill and Street, Sarah, European Cinema: An Introduction.