Screens: 1. https://archive.org/details/APageOfMadness
2. https://archive.org/details/limite_202108
1.Mention one genre in Latin American silent narrative cinema (1915–1930) and explain what defines it.
2.(short answer)
The close-up was a key element in the avant-garde’s investment in film. In your answer, mention one concept that was proposed by the theorists we studied (either Balázs or Epstein), and describe how the use of close-up in avant-garde filmmaking differ from its use in classical narrative cinema.
3short answer)
Explain two ways in which Soviet cinema contributed to change the way cinema was made or thought. (Remember: don’t simply name or list the contributions, explain them).
4
(short answer)
What did the “Japanese Pure Film Movement” defend for the modernization of Japanese cinema? Please, list at least two elements the reformers wanted to change.
5
(short answer)
Describe, briefly, two aspects of “criollo aesthetics” in Latin American silent cinema. You can consider issues of film style and content.
6
PART II:
Choose one of the films below and briefly:
(1) name relevant aspects of their context: consider country, movement/genre, or historical context;
(2) important issues that the film raises: consider political, aesthetic, or conceptual aspects.
(3) mention one relevant scene and explain why it is relevant
You will be graded on proper fulfillment of the three items listed above.
Film list – pick one:
. Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
. A Page of Madness (Kinugasa Teinosuke, 1927)
. Étude Cinegraphique sur une Arabesque (Germaine Dulac, 1929)
. Le Chien Andalou (Luis Buñuel, 1929)
. Limite (Mário Peixoto, 1931)
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PART III – Pick one topic and write a short essay answer (around 250–300 words)
Option 1.
Silent cinema was agent and symptom of multiple transformations and debates that were taking place in the process of early twentieth centurty modernity. These changes impacted differently places that were at the center of the so-called West and places that were in the periphery (the “non-West”). Please, choose one specific case that we studied of non-Western cinema and briefly describe how cinema participated in the construction of modernity in that context.
In your answer, please address: cinematic style, modes of production, coloniality/imperialism.
Option 2.
The idea of “avant-garde” participated in the debate on the definition of the cinema in different national, political, and regional contexts. Explain ‘what is cinema’ for the avant-garde, and how does that impact/differ from the dominant definition of cinema.
Mention at least two films from different national contexts, explain how they change the definition of cinema away from classical narrative cinema, and describe their differences in style and political ideals.
Option 3.
In 1922, Soviet leader Vladimir I. Lenin famously declared that “Of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important.” Explain what Lenin meant with this question, and how Soviet montage participated in the role assigned to the cinema in its political context.
Don’t forget to: explain the difference between classical continuity editing and Soviet montage, address at least one theory we studied (Vertov or Eisenstein), include at least one example of film accompanied by proper explanation of how it uses montage.
