Spring 2011 Film-related Graduate Seminars

Antonioni and Fellini: The Challenge of (Post)Modernist Cinema
Instructor: Giancarlo Lombardi (visiting professor from the Graduate Center/CUNY)

This course will juxtapose the rich and complex film production of two Italian auteurs, Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni. While Fellini and Antonioni’s films differ in style, narrative preference, and political orientation, they evidence a common self-reflexive concern for the relationship of cinematic images, sounds, and stories. Neorealism will serve as a starting point for an analysis of Fellini’s postmodern negotiation of autobiographical surrealism as well as Antonioni’s peculiar reframing of cinematic modernism.  This course will analyze Antonioni and Fellini’s most important films, placing their work in (film) historical contexts, and theorizing their interest in the aesthetics of cinematic representation and the politics of storytelling. Course requirements: Each week, students will be expected to watch a movie at home. They will also participate in weekly online discussions on the Blackboard discussion board. At the end of the course, they will submit a final paper (15-20 pages).

Fridays, 11-1:40; IT-204 (CAC)