About Belgian Cinema by Wouter Hessels

Subject guarantor:

Jitka HEJTMANOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s):

Jitka HEJTMANOVÁ

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Stimulating a deeper and broader knowledge of the history and actuality of Belgian (French and Dutch speaking)

Mode of study:

Module, seminar

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

None

Recommended optional programme components:

None

Course contents:

Module given by by Wouter Hessels from RITS, Brussels on three topics:

Social documentary and social documentary inspired fiction film

Painting traditions in Belgian documentary and animation film

Magic realism in Belgian literature and cinema

Recommended or required reading:

Philip Mosley, Split Screen : Belgian Cinema & Cultural Identity,State University Of New York, New York, 2001

Ernest Mathijs, The Cinema Of The Low Countries, Wallflower Press, London & New York, 2004

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

Social documentary and social documentary inspired fiction film

„Misery in The Borinage“ (1933), By Belgian pioneer Henri Storck & Dutch pioneer Joris Ivens is a landmark in social documentary film tradition in Belgium and Europe. The film deals with problematic working and living conditions in the Belgian mine region, called The Borinage. In 1999 Patric Jean went to the same region and truly shocked by the social circumstances, he wrote an audiovisual letter to Henri Storck, entitled ?Kids From The Coal?. Twice Golden Palm awarded Belgian directors Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne are very much inspired by the Belgian social documentary tradition. Their films, ?The Promise?, ?Rosetta?, ?The Son?, ?The Child?,? are all authentic fiction rooted in a documentary discourse of sobriety.

Screening : „ROSETTA“ (1999), by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne

Painting traditions in Belgian documentary and animation film

During centuries the artistic life in Belgium and Flanders is characterized by powerful painting traditions like the Flemish Primitives (Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling,?), Baroque painters (Rubens, Van Dyck,?), expressionist and surrealist painters (James Ensor, René Magritte, Paul Delvaux). All these and other painting traditions inspired internationally awarded art documentaries and animation films created in Belgium.

Magic realism in Belgian literature and cinema

„Magic realism focuses on the uncertainty of establishing a cultural identity, the surreal melancholy of everyday life. Minute details in language, visuals and behaviour cast doubts on the truthfulness of the very real settings in which characters live and travel, until we finally give up looking for truth and settle, with the characters, for quiet contemplation ?death, lunacy or a surrender to strangeness.?(Ernest Mathijs, Cinema of The Low Countries, 2004). Master of the magic realism in Belgian cinema is André Delvaux (1926-2002) whose first feature film, “The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short" (1965) launched modernist cinema in Belgium.

Assessment methods and criteria:

100% attendance

Questions & Answers and Class Debate after lectures and screenings to evaluate the students' involvement.

Course web page:

Note:

Wouter Hessels (°1970) studied French literature, philosophy and audiovisual media in Antwerp and Brussels. Since 1995 he teaches at RITS, School of Arts in Brussels. His main courses are „film history“ and „media and society“. He was a visiting professor in ?film history? and ?film analysis? at the Baltic Film and Media School (Tallinn University, Estonia) and teaches also at Vesalius College (Free University of Brussels) and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Last years he taught in Tallinn, Tartu, Bratislava, Berlin, Amsterdam, Jyväskyla, Aberystwyth, Istanbul, Budapest, .... Since 2009, he is coordinator of CINEMA RITS, art house cinema of RITS in the beating heart of Brussels. He publishes regularly on art, media, film, education and politics. He creates poetry-music projects. He writes, teaches and performs poetry in Dutch, French and English. In 2011-2012, he worked for the Royal Belgian Film Archive / CINEMATEK in Brussels.

NoteJitka HEJTMANOVÁ:

Jitka Hejtmanová is a coordinator

Further information:

This course is an elective for all AMU students

Schedule for winter semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2013/2014:

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
13.03.2014		16:45–19:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.	Učebna 1 Lažanský palác	in English	paralelka 1
14.03.2014		10:00–17:00	HEJTMANOVÁ J.	Projekce FAMU Lažanský palác		paralelka 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans: