Module description
This module offers an introduction to key aspects of film history and film cultures in Spain from the Transition years to democracy (1973-1982) to the present day. Drawing on methodological topics such as film style, authorship, genre, and gender, the course has a dual focus: on the one hand, it looks at the challenges to the idea of nation that shaped film history after the Civil War and during the Transition in order to contextualise the transformations that Spanish cinema undergoes in the 1990s; on the other, the module explores the new configurations (digital, transnational) that have come to shape the label "Spanish cinema" in the 21st century, in the context of the global image markets. All required viewing is available with English subtitles.
All films are subtitled in English. All mandatory reading is in English.
Assessment details
- Participation (10%)
- Essay 1 [1000 words (30%)
- Essay 2 2000 words (60%)
Educational aims & objectives
The module aims to introduce and interrogate the diversity of practices, forms and modes of representation that have shaped cinematic production in the Spain of the democracy, with a focus on contemporary reconfigurations of national identity. Core topics studied in the module typically comprise: - Film historiography and political context - Censorship and oppositional practices in auteur cinema - Film and sub- cultures in the Transition - 'Realisms' and issues of quality - Documentary filmmaking and experimental cinemas - Issues of industry and policy since the 1990s - History and memory - Regional identities and peripheral locations - Spanish cinema in the global era: new auteurs, genres, stars.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practicable skills appropriate to a 5 module . More specifically, students will be able to demonstrate: - A clear understanding of the socio - historical issues and political debates shaping contemporary film production in Spain - An ability to discuss the range of aesthetic forms and discursive strategies that typify film production of the last thirty years. - A knowledge of the most salient directors, genres and modes of representation that shape contemporary Spanish cinema.