Christian Farrell: DREAM & CINEMA

Course unit code:

311MDACI

Course unit title:

Mode of delivery:

zápočet

Range:

3/D

Type of course unit:

Study plan Dokumentární tvorba - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Animovaná tvorba - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Scenáristika a dramaturgie - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Režie - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Kamera - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Produkce - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Střihová skladba - magistr – compulsory optional subject
Study plan Zvuková tvorba - magistr – compulsory 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 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:

Jitka HEJTMANOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s):

Jitka HEJTMANOVÁ

Study Objectives:

Mode of delivery:

This course will involve screenings, discussions, excursions, and in-class, direct cinema experiments.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Recommended optional programme components

Course contents:

„The creative handling of film images is such that, among all means of human expression, its way of functioning is most reminiscent of the work of the mind during sleep. A film is like an involuntary imitation of a dream... the darkness that slowly settles over a movie theater is equivalent to the act of closing the eyes. Then, on the screen, as with human beings, the nocturnal voyage into the unconscious begins... The cinema seems to have been invented to express the life of the subconscious...“

- Luis Bunuel

The desire to bring night visions into the waking world has pushed artists to the limits of their mediums. And in cinema (perhaps the most inherently dreamlike medium) some of the most visually innovative and imaginative work has come from the attempt to reveal the dream world. In this multidisciplinary module we will explore both the world of dreams and its expression in the cinematic arts. We will view and discuss a range of experimental 'dream films' and dream sequences from feature films, attempting to create a provisional taxonomy of dreams, identifying various species within the genus: wish-fulfilling, anxiety, erotic, mystically revelatory, the nightmare, hypnogogic, etc. Our guides through these nocturnal realms will be directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Maya Deren, Georges Melies, David Lynch, Buster Keaton, Stan Brakhage, Alfred Hitchcock, Su Friedrich, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali, Fredrico Fellini, Christopher Nolan, Jan Švankmajer; Richard Linklater, Kerry Laitala, Bela Tar. Other topics of inquiry will include, lucid dreaming, dream interpretation, and dream recall methodologies; Australian aboriginal dreamtime; Tibetan dream yoga; surrealist methods of accessing the unconscious while awake (automatic writing and drawing, cut-ups, klexography, frotage, decalcomania...); the extraordinary dream diary of Jindřich Štyrský; silent-era dream films; alchemy as a science of the unconscious. Informed by the researches of dream anyalists (Freud, Jung, von Franz, Pearls), oneirologists (Marquis d'Hervey de Saint Denys, Maury, deBarge), oneiric film theorists (Eberwein, Halpern, Marinelli), and other writers (LeGuin, Borges, Shakespeare...) we shall explore dreaming by way of cinema and cinema by way of the dream.

October 20 - 22, 2011

Thursday: 6 pm - 7:30 pm in Classroom 1, 7:30 pm - 9 pm in Projection room

Friday, Saturday: 9 am - 1 pm, 2 pm - 5 pm in Classroom 1

Study materials:

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

This course will involve screenings, discussions, excursions, and in-class, direct cinema experiments.

Assessment methods and criteria

Student evaluations will be based on attendance, involvement in class discussions, and participation in in-class experiments.

Language of instruction:

English

Work placement(s):

Pracovní stáž není u tohoto předmětu zavedena.

Course web page:

Note:

Born in San Francisco, California, Christian Farrell has been living in his wife's hometown of Cesky Krumlov in South Bohemia, Czech Republic off and on since 1998. As a member of the cinema collaborative silt, Christian's films, installations, and performances have been shown throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia at venues including the Whitney Biennial, Sundance Film Festival, New York MOMA, San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Rotterdam Film Festival. He holds degrees in both Film and Philosophy/Religion and has been teaching courses which chart the territory of his overlapping fields of interest since 2001.

Schedule for winter semester 2011/2012:

Datum	Čas	Tutor	Místo	Č. paralelky
20.10.2011	18:00–19:30	HEJTMANOVÁ J.	Učebna 1 Lažanský palác	paralelka 1
20.10.2011	19:30–21:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.	Projekce FAMU Lažanský palác	paralelka 1
21.10.2011	09:00–17:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.	Učebna 1 Lažanský palác	paralelka 1
22.10.2011	09:00–17:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.	Učebna 1 Lažanský palác	paralelka 1

Schedule for summer semester 2011/2012:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

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