Czech Cinema 1

Subject guarantor:

Michal BREGANT

Name of lecturer(s):

Michal BREGANT

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Students adopt fundamental factual and aesthetic aspects of the development of cinema in the Czech lands from the beginning up to 1950.

Mode of study:

Series of lectures. Students are welcome to participate actively and ask questions during the classes.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

No

Recommended optional programme components:

No

Course contents:

First part of a two-semester lecture course covers the period from late 19th century up to the nationalization of Czechoslovak film industry in 1945 and beginning of the dogma of socialist realism in late 1940s. Course will provide students with a general but complex overview of the history of film art and industry in the Czech lands.

The course focuses on both cinematic approaches and styles and political contexts.

This two-hour class meets once a week, first five weeks are dedicated to watching relevant films which are required for the exam.

Handouts and readings to be obtained during the course.

Recommended or required reading:

Imre Anikó (ed.): East European Cinemas. (AFI Film Readers)

Jaroslav Boček: Twenty Years of Czechoslovak Film. In: Modern Czechoslovak Film. Prague 1965.

Michal Bregant: Poems in Light and Darkness: The Films and Non-Films of the Czech Avant-Garde. Umění 43: 1995, pp. 52-55. (a)

Michal Bregant: Turning Towards Media. The History of Film as a Visit to the Curiosity Shop. In: Orbis Fictus. New Media in Contemporary Arts. Prague 1995, pp. 97-110. (b)

Jaroslav Brož: The Path of Fame of Czechoslovak Film. Prague 1967

Czech Feature Film I, II. Prague: Národní filmový archiv 1995, 1998.

Český hraný film / Czech Feature Film 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Jan Čulík: Czech Feature Film Since 1989 (2008)

Petra Dominková: „We have democracy, don´t we?“ Czech society as reflected in Contemporary Czech Cinema. In: Oxana Sarkisova - Peter Apor (eds.): Past For the Eyes. CEU 2008, p. 213-242.

Peter Hames: After the Spring. In: Daniel J. Goulding (Ed.): Post New Wave Cinema in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Indiana UP 1989.

Peter Hames: The Czechoslovak New Wave. Univ. of California Press 1985.

Peter Hames (ed.): The Cinema of Central Europe.

Peter Hames (Ed.): Dark Alchemy. The Films of Jan Švankmajer. Flick Books 1995.

Bohumil Hrabal - Jiří Menzel: Closely Watched Trains. New York 1971

Dina Iordanova: Cinema of the Other Europe: The Industry and Artistry of East Central European Film.

Mira & Antonin J. Liehm: The Most Important Art. East European Film After 1945. Univ. of California Press 1977.

Antonin J. Liehm: Closely Watched Films: The Czechoslovak Experience. New York: International Arts and Sciences Press 1974.

Gerald O´Grady: The Historic Role of Czechs in the International Media Arts. In: Orbis Fictus. New Media in Contemporary Arts. Prague 1995, pp. 13-22

Josef Škvorecký: All the Bright Young Men and Women. Toronto 1971.

Jan Švankmajer: Transmutations of Senses. Praha 1994.

Eva Zaoralova - Jean-Loup Passek (Eds.): Le cinéma Tchéque et Slovaque. Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou 1996. [in French]

Jan Žalman: Films and Film-makers in Czechoslovakia. Prague 1968.

Online sources:

Central Europe Review: http://www.ce-review.org/video/video_czech.html

Kinoeye: http://www.kinoeye.org/archive/country_czech.php

http://maxpages.com/czechcinema (Czech cinema: history, personalities)

http://filmmakers.node9.org/ (contemporary Czech experimental filmmakers)

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

Students will watch films also outside of regular class meetings.

Assessment methods and criteria:

Topics discussed in class, handouts, and required films will be subject to the final test, composed of essay questions and short analysis.

Grading will be based on three aspects: Final essay: 65%, participation in discussion: 25%, attendance: 10%

Course web page:

Note:

1. (Oct 6)

„Cinématographe“ in the Czech Lands. (Jan Kříženecký, Josef Šváb-Malostranský)

2. (Oct 13)

Modernist avant-garde movement and cinema (1920s)

3. (Oct 20)

Alexander Hammid and independent filmmaking. Documentary film in interwar Czechoslovakia

4. (Oct 27)

Czechoslovak film industry of the 1930s. Art vs Entertainment: Vladislav Vančura and Vlasta Burian

5. (Nov 3)

Directors and „auteurs“ of Czech Cinema: Martin Frič, Otakar Vávra, Hugo Haas, Voskovec & Werich

6. (Nov 10)

WW 2 and the Case of Jan Cimbura (dir. František Čáp, 1941)

7. (Nov 17)

Nationalization of Czechoslovak film industry

Dogma of „Socialist Realism“ and it´s impact on Czechoslovak film industry. The case of Alfred Radok.

8. (Nov 24)

Conservative vs Progressive, Banská Bystrica Conference. Ladislav Helge

9. (Dec 1)

FAMU and the Birth of Czechoslovak New Wave

10. (Dec 8)

Image of WW2 in the 1960s Czech and Slovak films

Schedule for winter semester 2013/2014:

	06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon
Tue
Fri
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
		17:20–18:55	BREGANT M.		Room no. 3	přednášková par. 1

Schedule for summer semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

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