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CS92PROD
Autobiographical Storytelling
FILM 395
Spring 2023
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: WLIT 207

How do filmmakers and writers negotiate memory, identity, and the author's voice to create original work drawn from life? Through analysis of a broad range of autobiographical narratives by experimental, documentary, and fiction filmmakers and writers, we will investigate various modes of working with personal source material, and explore the capacity and complexities of family and individual narratives to showcase diverse perspectives and interrogate assumptions about the self on screen. Inspired by the films and writing we will study, the creative work produced in this course may be drawn from a variety of sources: one's own lived experience, the lived experience of a family or community member, an event, a place, an artistic and/or cultural tradition. Thinking through the fluid nature of autobiography and the vast range of narrative possibilities for representing autobiographical material on screen will be part of class discussions. In this reading- and writing-intensive course, students should expect to spend several hours reading and writing outside of class per week. For most class periods, students will use Perusall to read and annotate either scholarly articles or pieces of autobiographical writing, or to read and comment on their peers' screenplays via Google Drive. Weekly screenings and readings may include work by Pedro Almodovar, Chantal Akerman, Radha Blank, Julie Dash, Mati Diop, Nathalie Léger, Barbara Loden, Lucrecia Martel, Jonas Mekas, Nanni Moretti, Alice Rohrwacher, Céline Sciamma, Agnès Varda, and others. In addition, the course will include screenings and discussions of videographic criticism (e.g., audiovisual work that critically reappropriates existing works of film and media).
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA FILM
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (FILM-MN)(FILM)(GSAS)
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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