PORT3800: Film Studies in Portuguese

This course offers an introduction to Brazilian film from the 1960s to the present and to postcolonial films from Portugal, Angola, and Mozambique. You will learn about the history of Brazilian film from cinema novo on, with attention to state funding; internationalization; and recurrent themes, such as the sertão or backlands and the favela or shantytown. In the case of Lusophone postcolonial films, you will learn about issues of personal and collective identity, including hybrid, diasporic, and non-heteronormative identities; nation building and post-conflict trauma; memory and healing. The approach is two-fold: cinema as representation of society, history, culture, and the individual subject; and cinema as a complex, multi-layered, and expensive art form. You are expected to critically engage with the form and content of each film as you acquire an understanding of the historical, cultural, (geo)political, and socio-economic forces that have shaped the development of film in the various countries, in addition to the social issues raised by filmmakers. You will also become familiar with philosophical and aesthetic insights from which to critically review a film. The course will be taught in Portuguese and you are expected to use Portuguese orally in class and in all written assignments. Readings will be in Portuguese and occasionally in English. Topics vary and are specified in the class schedule. prereq: 3003 or instr consent or dept consent

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