Instructor: Dr. Kamil Zapásnik [to be confirmed]
This course introduces students to the most significant works and cinematic traditions of Soviet and Eastern European cinema from the last 100 years. We will focus our attention on various cinematic trends and techniques (the Soviet montage, early documentary filmmaking, the Polish Film School, the Cinema of Moral Unrest), and some of the most captivating socio-political themes explored by Eastern-European filmmakers (the emergence of the totalitarian regime in Russia and other Eastern European countries, nationalism, gender and sexuality, the post-communist aftermath). We will explore the works of many of the best-known and most influential Soviet and Eastern European filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, Andrei Tarkovsky, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Roman Polański, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Wajda, Małgorzata Szumowska and Jirí Menzel. By the end of the semester, students will demonstrate a strong understanding of key cinematic terms and the socio-political and cultural contexts of the analyzed films.
All readings and discussions in English; no prerequisites.