Lecture 1 Let’s Start at the Beginning: Or, What IS Central Europe?

Screening: Jiří Menzel, Closely Watched Trains. (CZ)

Keywords: Central Europe, History, Ethnicity

Required Readings:

Milan Kundera, “The Tragedy of Central Europe”

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, “Introduction” p.1-7,

Tony Judt, Borderlands, “The Coming of the Cold War” pp. 140-149

Lecture 2 What is ‘National’ Cinema, and How Do We Talk About It?

Screening: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos – The Little Shop on Main Street (SK)

Keywords: Nationalism, Movie Making

Required Readings:

Ľubica Mystríková, The Cinema of Central Europe, “Obchod na korze, A Shop on the High Street” pp. 97 – 105

Andrew Higson, Film and Nationalism “The Concept of National Cinemas” Pp. 52-67

Lecture 3 Politics and Form

Screening : Věra Chytilová, Daises (CZ)

Keywords: Formalism, Subversion, Gender

Readings:

Peter Hames, The Czechoslovak New Wave “Věra Chytilová” p.183-201

Zdena Skupinová, „Sedikrásky / Daisies” p. 129-136

David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction, p.406, 428.

Supplemental Reading:

Egon Bondy, Selected Poems, Vaclav Havel, et al. “Charta 77”

Lecture 4 Politics and Films: The Art of the Trial

Screening: Jan Nemec, Report on the Party and the Guests (CZ)

Keywords: Allegory, Dissidence, Show Trials

Readings:

Peter Hames, The Czechoslovak New Wave – “Jan Nemec” 167-183, Franz Kafka, "Before the Law”

Lecture 5 A New Wave of Seeing (Midterm 1 Due on Friday)

Screening: Pavel Juráček, Josef Kilián, Case for a Rookie Hangman

Keywords: Visuality, Experimentation

Readings: Martin Esslin— “The Theatre of the Absurd”

Lecture 6 Surreal Slovakia: The Slovak Avant-Garde

Screening: Juraj Jakubisko, Birds, Orphans, and Fools (SK)

Keywords: Ethnocentrism, The Slovak Problem

Peter Hames: The Czechoslovak New Wave “The Slovak Wave: Juraj Jakubisko, Elo Havetta, and Dušan Hanák” p.212-223

Martin Votruba, “Historical and National Background of Slovak Filmmaking”, KinoKultura. http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/votruba.shtml

Lecture 7 The Genre Film in the New Wave

Screening: Oldřích Lipský, Limonádový Joe (or the Horse Opera) (CZ)

Keywords: Genre, Spectacle, Escapism

Readings:

Thomas Schatz, “Film Genre and the Genre Film”

Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle, (excerpts)

Lecture 8 Folklore and Fantasy: Slovak Surrealism Revisited

Screening: Elo Havetta, Party in the Botanical Garden (SK)

Keywords: Visual Culture, Folklore, Magical Realism

Readings:

Jana Dudková, “Celebration in the Botanical Garden” KinoKultura.

http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/dudkova.shtml

Lecture 9 Black Comedy

Screening : Miloš Forman, The Firemen’s Ball (CZ)

Keywords: Black Humor, Farce, Slapstick

Required Readings:

Peter Hames, The Czechoslovak New Wave “The Forman School: Milos Forman” pp.106-127

Milena Jelinek, “An Interview with Miloš Forman” Cross Currents.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/crossc/anw0935.1985.001/319:ANW0935.1985.001:25?page=root;rgn=subject;size=100;view=image;q1=Forman%2C+Milos

Lecture 10: Slovakia Lost in Time (Midterm 2 Due on Friday)

Screening: Dušan Hanák, Pictures of the Old World (SK)

Keywords: Slovakia, National Identity, Nationalism,

Required Reading:

Karel Plicka - “Songs of the Slovak Mountains”

Alexander Dubček, “Action Program”

Lecture 11: Slovak Fracturalism

Screening: Štefan Uher, The Sun in A Net

Keywords: Lyricism,

Required Reading:

Nick Hudáč, “Seeing the Truth Through Smoked Glass” https://eefb.org/archive/october-2014/the-sun-in-a-net/

Lecture 12: On the Wind, A Storm Darkly Gathers

Screening: Juraj Herz, The Creamator

Keywords: Lyricism, Surrealism, Expressionism

Required Reading:

Die Brücke Manifesto, Ladislav Fuks, “The Creamator” (Excerpts)

Final Paper Due January 10