Christian Farrell: DREAM & CINEMA

Subject guarantor:

Jitka HEJTMANOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s):

Jitka HEJTMANOVÁ

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Mode of study:

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.

Feb 21 - 23, 2013

Thursday: 6 pm - 9 pm (Classroom 2)

Friday: 9 am - 1 pm (Classroom 2), 2 pm - 5 pm (Projection Room)

Saturday: 9 am - 1 pm, 2 pm - 5pm (Classroom 2)

Recommended or required reading:

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.

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 2012/2013:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2012/2013:

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
21.02.2013		18:00–21:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.		Projection room	paralelka 1
22.02.2013		09:00–17:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.		U1	paralelka 1
23.02.2013		09:00–17:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.		U1	paralelka 1

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)
• Erasmus (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (qualification subject, optional subject)