American Avant-Garde 1

Course unit code:

311MAA1

Course unit title:

Mode of delivery:

zápočet

Range:

12/S

Type of course unit:

Study plan Animovaná tvorba - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Dokumentární tvorba - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Dokumentární tvorba - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Animovaná tvorba - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Scenáristika a dramaturgie - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Scenáristika a dramaturgie - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Režie - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Režie - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Kamera - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Kamera - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Produkce - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Produkce - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Audiovizuální studia - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Střihová skladba - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Střihová skladba - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Zvuková tvorba - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Zvuková tvorba - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Fotografie CZ - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Fotografie CZ - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Fotografie EN - bakalář – optional subject
Study plan Fotografie EN - magistr – optional subject
Study plan Audiovizuální studia - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Fotografie CZ - magistr: restaurování – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Erasmus – optional subject
Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Directing – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Fotografie EN - magistr: restaurování – optional subject

Level of course unit:

Year of study

předmět nemá určen ročník studia

Semester when the course unit is delivered

zimní

Number of ECTS credits allocated:

Garant předmětu:

Henry Lyman HILLS

Name of lecturer(s):

Henry Lyman HILLS

Study Objectives:

Introduce top American avant-garde films to students, broadening their film knowledge.

Mode of delivery:

Seminars, screenings, discussion

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

None

Recommended optional programme components

None

Course contents:

Viewing the dominance of narrative in film and the consequent hegemony of Hollywood as an historical anomaly owing to the economics of film production (an issue from the pre-digital past, now that filmmaking, like record collecting, has become essentially free), we will explore fringe work as an alternative reality which contains seeds of a positive future vision for moving imagery, i.e., avant-garde film will be viewed as a model of consciousness seeking expansion. Ideally this will be a study of works in which form and content are perfectly merged, the focus being on film as a thing itself, not films „about“ something. We will view as many films as possible, films that bounce off each other in different ways. Availability on DVD is redefining film history, and such access plays a major role in the structure of this course. Therefore outside screenings of films projected on film have been arranged and are an important component of this course.

classes:

Friday, September 30, 10 am -1 pm & 3 pm - 6 pm FAMU Auditorium

Saturday, October 1, 11am - 1:30 pm & 3 pm - 6 pm classroom 3

Study materials:

Recommended films

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Henry Hills´ AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE class will meet this semester as 3 modules, which can be taken separately for 2 credits each, or all together for 6 credits. There will be 4 class sessions each module, plus 2 outside screenings with visiting guest American experimental filmmakers.

films to be screened:

class 1: Early Cinema and It?s Influence

Ken Jacobs HANKY PANKY

NYMPH

CAPITALISM:SLAVERY

William Kennedy Laurie Dickson EARLIEST EDISON FILMS

Andy Warhol BLOW JOB

Edwin S. Porter WHAT HAPPENED ON 23RD STREET

PAN AMERICAN EXPOSITION AT NIGHT

DREAM OF A RAREBIT FIEND

AN AMERICAN BEAUTY

Billy Bitzer INTERIOR NEW YORK SUBWAY IMPOSSIBLE CONVICTS

Fredrick Armitage DEMOLISHING THE STAR THEATRE

SEEING NEW YORK BY YACHT DOWN THE HUDSON

Ken JacobsNEW YORK STREET TROLLEYS (Nervous System demo)

class 2: Stan Brakhage, part 1

class 3: Maya Deren

Maya Deren MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON

AT LAND

Martina Kudlác?ek IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN

class 4:

Marie Menken GLIMPSE OF THE GARDEN

ARABESQUE FOR KENNETH ANGER

EYE MUSIC IN RED MAJOR

GO! GO! GO!

Kenneth Anger INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME

SCORPIO RISING

Assessment methods and criteria

As the primary focus of this class is analysis based on the direct experience of projected works, attendance is mandatory. Students must keep a JOURNAL of experimental films they see, both in class and outside. This should include sufficient information to convince me that you have seen the films, plus commentary indicating that some of what you have seen has given you some thoughts. Plagiarism from the internet is not acceptable and will result in failure and ridicule. These are due (by e-mail) the end of the last week of classes. If you use Windows, please send as PDF file.

Language of instruction:

English

Work placement(s):

Pracovní stáž není u tohoto předmětu zavedena.

Course web page:

Note:

HENRY HILLS (http://www.henryhills.com/)

a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow, has been making dense, intensely rhythmic experimental films since 1975. Owing to a

personal involvement in film scenes in San Francisco in the 70´s & 80´s & in New York from the 80´s to the present, and his activities as a curator, he has a personal relationship with almost all the major figures in the Experimental Film movement. He is intimate with the evolving concerns and thus can present a first-hand history, both anecdotal and theoretical. His own work, which seeks abstraction within sharply-focused naturalistic imagery, the eternal within the temporal, and the ethereal within the mundane, promotes an active ttentiveness through a relentlessly concentrated montage. He brings a long association with various other art scenes as well, including „language“ poetry, the „downtown“ mprovised music scene, and post-Judson postmodern dance. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, was included in the Whitney Museum „The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000“ program, and screened in last year´s New York and San Francisco film festivals. A DVD of his 5 selected 16mm films is available on Tzadik (http://www.tzadik.com/) and his feature-length theater document JOHN ZORN/RICHARD FOREMAN - ASTRONOME - A NIGHT AT THE OPERA has just been released (also Tzadik). He is currently working on a multi-screen HD installation based on footage shot on his train commute between Vienna and Prague.

Schedule for winter semester 2011/2012:

Datum	Den	Čas	Tutor	Místo	Notes	Č. paralelky
01.10.2011		11:00–18:00	HILLS H.	Učebna 3 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1
30.09.2011		10:00–18:00	HILLS H.	Projekce FAMU Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

Schedule for summer semester 2011/2012:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

Animovaná tvorba - bakalář (optional subject)
Dokumentární tvorba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Dokumentární tvorba - bakalář (optional subject)
Animovaná tvorba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Scenáristika a dramaturgie - bakalář (optional subject)
Scenáristika a dramaturgie - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Režie - bakalář (optional subject)
Režie - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Kamera - bakalář (optional subject)
Kamera - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Produkce - bakalář (optional subject)
Produkce - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Audiovizuální studia - bakalář (optional subject)
Střihová skladba - bakalář (optional subject)
Střihová skladba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Zvuková tvorba - bakalář (optional subject)
Zvuková tvorba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Fotografie CZ - bakalář (optional subject)
Fotografie CZ - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Fotografie EN - bakalář (optional subject)
Fotografie EN - magistr (optional subject)
Audiovizuální studia - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography (qualification subject, optional subject)
Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting (qualification subject, optional subject)
Fotografie CZ - magistr: restaurování (faculty subject, optional subject)
Erasmus (optional subject)
Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (qualification subject, optional subject)
Fotografie EN - magistr: restaurování (optional subject)