Three of the following: |
AHT 371 | Topics in Art History |
Topics in Art History vary from year to year. They are advanced courses on specific topics not normally offered, and they may require additional pre-requisites or permission of instructor. |
CLCS 230 | Science / Fiction: Envisioning the Possible |
Science fiction narratives may be defined as speculative fictions, ideal allegorical vehicles eliciting theoretical reflection on the state of contemporary culture and society and motivating social reform. As such, the main objective of this course is to consider several major contemporary socio-cultural issues through the unique lens provided by writers and filmmakers of the science-fiction tradition. The issues, allowing for variances from year to year, will include questions regarding gender and Otherness, the hypothesized deterioration of a human-world bond, modern apocalyptic anxieties, genetic engineering, intersections of ideology and communication technologies. Authors and filmmakers may include: Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Ursula Le Guinn, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, William Gibson; Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, Andrew Niccol, Jean-Luc Godard, Lana and Andy Wachowski |
CLCS 242 | Representations of Poverty in Literature |
This course looks at poverty as it is portrayed in contemporary literature, film, television, painting, music and street magazines. Students will explore how these representations compare to economic and social indices such as income, Living Standards Measurement surveys, welfare statistics, poverty indexes and poverty determinants. For these latter determinants the class will take Switzerland, a country in which the extremes of poverty and riches are quite subtle, as our case study. The overall goals of this course are 1) to compare different forms of representation and to recognize and be able to distinguish among the many faces and facets of poverty in a wealthy nation and 2) to critically explore the ideologies underlying mainstream representations of "the poor" or "the marginalized" and to ask how effective such representations are in triggering social change. |
CLCS 250 | Ecocritical Approaches to Film |
This course approaches film from an ecocritical perspective to explore how the medium of film articulates relations between the environment and human rights. In recent decades, scholars have increasingly examined how film represents ecological issues and humans' involvement with those issues, particularly with regards to environmental disaster and climate change. The course aims to make students familiar with those debates by examining a variety of film genres -- blockbuster, documentary, animation, among others -- to offer a survey in reading film ecocritically, from a human rights’ perspective. Students will gain experience in analyzing films as texts and in applying ecocritical theory to those films and the ethical issues surrounding them, from production to narrative, and distribution to reception. Screenings, theoretical readings, class discussion, video-making and writing assignments will help students develop a critical awareness of how film tells the story of our complex relation with the environment against the backdrop of contemporary human rights regimes. |
FRE 374 | Introduction to French Cinema |
The course examines French films from Jean Vigo's Zero de conduite (1933) to Robert Bresson's Un condamne a mort s'est echappe (1956). It explores the art of cinematography while considering the aesthetics, historical, political, sociological, and psychoanalytical frames within which each movie was realized. It furthermore provides students with analytical tools to enable them to develop their own personal approach when viewing, discussing, and writing about a film. |
FRE 376 | French Cinema: The New Wave |
The French New Wave was a major turning-point in the history of French Cinema. It gave birth to a new way of approaching cinematography as a whole. This course centers on New Wave film directors Chabrol, Truffaut, Resnais, Godard and Varda, and examine closely their cinematographic creed, theoretical preoccupations, similarities and differences. Movies will be partially watched outside of class. |
GER 376 | Screening Swissness: An Introduction to Swiss-German Film |
This course will trace the development of Swiss-German film over the last several decades paying close attention to motives such as gender, the tension between city/countryside, ideas of Swiss identity, depictions of foreigners, and Swissness. Swiss-German film made its entry on the international stage in the thirties, with films that reacted to the threat of war and critically reflected on the notion of the Geistige Landesverteidigung, or the spiritual resistance, a concept, which should become a rallying call during World War Two. The fifties and sixties with the so-called Gotthelf Filme, in which Jeremias Gotthelf's novels and stories were brought to the big screen in beautiful black and white renditions that fuelled the national imaginary with more soothing notions of what it meant to be Swiss followed the earlier critical stances. A host of related Heimatfilme-films in which the nineteenth century Heile Welt depictions of Gotthelf were transposed into the 20th century with little regard for changing political landscape. The seventies and eighties then saw rather more reflected takes on what it meant to be Swiss: films, like for instance Rolf Lyssy's Die Schweizermacher, that explored the arduous process of procuring a Swiss passport, and is thought of today as a break-through in Swiss film history. Today, we look back on three decades of Swiss film since Die Schweizermacher as a site avid and often provocative cultural criticism that has turned the idea of Swissness upside down even as its relentless search for a Swiss identity speaks the language of enduring Heimweh.
This class is a split-level class, and will be taught in German with some attention to the peculiarities of Swiss dialects. Film screenings will take place regularly on a weekday evening and must be attended in addition to the regular classes.
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IS 274 | Italian and Italian-American Cinema |
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the major accomplishments of Italian cinema from "neorealism" through the "commedia all'italiana" to the present. Emphasis is placed on film as a narrative, visual, and theoretical medium for scholarly exploration of current societal issues in contemporary life. Some of Italy's major film directors will be considered, such as Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Antonioni, the Taviani brothers, Scola. Particular attention is dedicated to the films of Fellini. A module dedicated to Italian-American cinema (Capra, Scorsese, Coppola, Tarantino) offers a means for comparative study of two related but contrasting traditions in filmmaking.
EMPHASIS IS PLACED ON FILM AS A NARRATIVE, VISUAL, AND THEORETICAL MEDIUM FOR SCHOLARLY EXPLORATION OF CURRENT SOCIIETAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY LIFE |
ITA 373 | Italian Film and Society |
Aspects of political, social and cultural history of twentieth century Italy are studied through documentaries and some of the major accomplishments of Italian cinema. Some novels adapted into film are also examined. Most of the films are in Italian (some with English subtitles). |
ITA 374 | Italian Cinema |
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the major accomplishments of Italian cinema from "neorealism" through the "commedia all'italiana" to the present. Emphasis is placed on film as an artistic, aesthetic and theoretical medium for an exploration and interpretation of issues related to contemporary life. Some of Italy's major film directors will be considered, such as Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Antonioni, the Taviani brothers, Scola. Particular attention is dedicated to the films of Fellini. |
ITA 375 | Italian Film Adaptation: From the Page to the Screen |
The course introduces the student to the development of Italian cinema through close study of the relationship between Italian literature and film adaptation. The selected books and films will offer a unique opportunity to analyze and discuss crucial issues related to the historical, political, and cultural evolution of Italy from its Unification to the present. Among the adaptations we will be looking at will be: Antonio Fogazzaro's Malombra as interpreted by Carmine Gallone (1917) and Mario Soldati (1942), Luchino Visconti's 1963 rendering of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard, Vittorio De Sica's 1970 adaptation of Giorgio Bassani's The Garden of the Finzi-Contini, Alberto Moravia's The Conformist, as adapted by Bernardo Bertolucci (1970), Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, adapted by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1971).
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STA 209 | The Video Essay: From Conception to Projection |
This is a hands-on course designed to explore key aspects of an exciting contemporary film genre known as The Video Essay: a branch of experimental cinema which stems from the contributions of avant-garde filmmakers such as Man Ray, Jean-Luc Godard, Nam June Paik, and Bill Viola. Video Art, like its celluloid counterpart in experimental film, emphasizes the artistic potential of the film medium, as opposed to cinema's more common function as an object of consumption for entertainment value. As the etymology of the name implies, the video essay is an expression of how and what we see when we try to make visual sense of the world. The key aspects of videomaking to be studied in this course have been divided into four learning modules. Each module corresponds to one week in the four- week summer program, each week being dedicated to one of the questions noted above. These learning modules are: 1) Conceptualizing the Image; 2) Capturing the Image; 3) Contextualizing the Image; and 4) Projecting the Image. Students will be evaluated on a portfolio comprised of four completed video essays, with accompanying statements of artistic intent, and one conclusive paper which will be presented orally to the class. Students enrolled in this class must have their own digital video recording device. |
STA 279 | The Video Essay and Photography on Location in Europe |
Aimed at beginning and intermediate students, this digital-based media course (photography, sound and video) is designed to reveal key aspects of the production of the video essay through excursions in the Ticino region, studio work and critical discussions based on readings and screenings. The video essay is an expression of how and what we see when we try to make visual sense of the world-- a genre of experience. Through projects using photography, sound and video, students will explore this dynamic genre and how it can be used to express place and their relationship to it, with the goal of producing a personal portfolio of creative work. Students enrolled in this class must have their own digital video recording device, which can range from a smart phone to a digital camera or video camera. The course carries a nominal fee of 100 CHF or USD 100 for art supplies and travel expenses. |
No more than one of the above can overlap with other major or minor requirements. |