Annotation
Surrealism and Eastern and Central European Cinema
Summer Term 2017
The Surrealism and Eastern and Central European Cinema course consists of two 90-minute seminars and one film screening a week.
Mondays: Seminar 1 (5.30pm-7pm), Film Screening (7.10pm-; film times vary) ROOM 326
Tuesdays: Seminar 2 (5.30pm-7.15pm) ROOM 326
!! Students who sign up for the course must be able attend both the seminars +and+ the film screenings !!
Instructor: Richard Capes
Email: ceno_bite@yahoo.com
Description
What is the relationship between surrealism and cinema? How has this relationship changed since the surrealist movement first emerged in the early 1920s? And what makes a particular film or film maker surrealist? These are some of the key questions explored in Surrealism and Eastern and Central European Cinema, a course that aims to chart the history of surrealist filmmaking, with a focus on surrealist films produced in Eastern and central Europe from the mid-1960s to the present day. Students will develop an in- depth understanding of key concepts related to surrealism, which they will use to analyse and evaluate a variety of surrealist films, such as Juraj Herz's The Cremator (1969), Jan Švankmajer's Alice (1988), and Béla Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies (2000). In addition, they will also examine the influence of central and Eastern European surrealist films on filmmakers from outside the region, such as David Lynch (Blue Velvet [1986]) and the Quay brothers (Institute Benjumenta [1995]).
The course consists of two seminars a week (one of 90-minutes; the other, of 105-minutes) and a film screening (film times vary).
Course Goals
to enable students to evaluate the political/philosophical/aesthetic aims of surrealist filmmakers to enable students to use key concepts from surrealism to analyse film texts
to explore the development of surrealist filmmaking in central and Eastern Europe
to examine the influence of central and Eastern European surrealist films on film makers from outside the region
Required Reading
'First Surrealist Manifesto' by André Breton
'Alice's Adventure in Wonderland' and 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' by Lewis Carroll 'The Story of the Eye' by Georges Bataille
'Philosophy in the Boudoir' by The Marquis de Sade (also known as 'Philosophy in the Bedroom') 'Valerie and Her Week of Wonders' by Vítězslav Nezval
'The Death of Ivan Ilych' by Leo Tolstoy
Secondary Reading
'The Age of Gold: Surrealist Cinema' by Robert Short
'Dada & Surrealism' by Robert Short
'The Shadow and Its Shadow: Surrealist Writings on the Cinema' by Paul Hammond (ed.) 'What is Surrealism?' by André Breton
'Second Surrealist Manifesto' by André Breton
'The Unsilvered Screen: Surrealism on Film' by Graeme Harper
'Surrealism and Cinema' by Michael Richardson
'Dada and Surrealist Film' by Rudolf E Kuenzli
'Dada and Surrealism: A Very Short Introduction' by David Hopkins
'Manifestoes of Surrealism' by André Breton
'The Czechoslovak New Wave' by Peter Hames
'The Cinema of Jan Svankmajer: Dark Alchemy', edited by Peter Hames
'Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition' by Peter Hames
'The Interpretation of Dreams' by Sigmund Freud