CMST 28700
Most recently taught: Spring 2026
Course Description
This course will continue the study of cinema around the world from the 1960s to the 2010s. The continued development of film style and form over this period—one of seismic changes in audio-visual aesthetics—will be one of the primary themes of the course. Additionally, lectures and discussions will wrestle with the rise of global film cultures, technological innovations and their effects on style (such as post-magnetic sound, and visual effects techniques), major international directors and the solidification of auteurism as both a commercial and aesthetic imperative, the increasing internationalization of Hollywood, and post-1970s genre reorientation elevating horror, science-fiction, and other genres to the highest levels of mainstream respectability, critical appraisal, and/or commercial success.
Assignments & Grade Distribution
Students’ final grades will be determined by adherence following expectations:
15% Attendance and participation. Students will consistently attend course screenings and participate in class. Small, otherwise ungraded assignments and in-class exercises will contribute to this area of the grade. Students may miss three class sessions or screenings without penalty. Beyond that point unexcused absences will have an impact on this portion of your grade. Masking is encouraged if it will allow you to participate more fully.
15% Canvas discussion board posts. Students will post to the Canvas discussion board a total of five times over the course of the quarter. Posts should consist of 2–3 paragraphs of informal reflection on the week’s screenings. You could also address topics from readings & class as they pertain to your interest in a film or films from each week. Threads close each Sunday at 11:59PM.
30% Midterm written assignment. Due Sunday, April 26 at 11:59 PM. Specific prompts will be circulated ahead of time.
40% Final written assignment. Due Wednesday, May 27 11:59 PM. Specific prompts will again be circulated; however you may also write on a topic of your own.
Course Materials & Screening Policies
Students are not required to purchase any materials for this course. All readings and other materials listed on this syllabus will be posted in PDF form on Canvas or linked to if already online.
Regular attendance at weekly screenings is expected as a general rule. Cinema is a medium designed for collective viewing on a large screen; when at all possible, this should be the mode of experience one engages a film with. The course absence policy allowed for three unexcused absences including class sessions and screenings. Beyond that point unexcused absences—including at screenings—will have an impact on this portion of your grade. If you are genuinely unable to attend a screening, notify either Ian Jones or Jiyoon Kim, and together we will work with the Film Studies Center (located on the third floor of Cobb Hall) to accommodate a private viewing of course materials.
Course Schedule
Mon, March 23 Screening (174 min)
- Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, France, 1962, 90 min)
- A Woman Is a Woman (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1961, 84 min)
Tues, March 24 Class: The French New Wave
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Richard Neupert, “The French New Wave” (2006)
- Michel Marie, The French New Wave (1997), Ch 4 “A Technical Practice, An Aesthetic”
Wed, March 25 Screening (168 min)
- Samadhi (Jordan Belson, USA, 1967, 6 min)
- Permutations (John Whitney, USA, 1968, 8 min)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubric, USA/UK, 1968, 149 min)
Thurs, March 26 Class: Psychedelic Culture in Experimental and Mainstream Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Michel Chion, Kubrick’s Cinema Odyssey (1999), Ch 2 “Context”
- Gene Youngblood, Expanded Cinema (1970), chapters “The Stargate Corridor” and “The Cosmic Cinema of Jordan Belson”
- R. Barton Palmer, “2001: The Critical Reception and the Generation Gap” (2006)
Recommended further reading:
- William Whittington, Sound Design & Science Fiction (2007), Ch 2 “Music and Speculation in 2001”
- Gene Youngblood, Expanded Cinema (1970), “Computer Films” subsection “John Whitney”
Mon, March 30 Screening (145 min)
- 79 Springs (Santiago Alvarez, Cuba, 1969, 24 min)
- Black God, White Devil (Glauber Rocha, Brazil, 1964, 121 min)
Tues, March 31 Class: New Latin American Cinema and Emerging Third Cinema Discourses
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, “Toward a Third Cinema” (1969)
- Julio García Espinosa, “For an Imperfect Cinema” (1969)
- Paul A. Schroeder Rodríguez, Latin American Cinema (2016), Ch 7 “New Latin American Cinema’s Militant Phase” [excerpt, pp 167–190]
Wed, April 1 Screening (184 min)
- Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, Senegal, 1973, 90 min)
- Perfumed Nightmare (Kidlat Tahimik, Philippines, 1977, 94 min)
Thurs, April 2 Class: Third Cinema/Postcolonial Cinema Continued: Senegal and The Philippines
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Teshome H. Gabriel, “Towards a Critical Theory of Third World Films” (1985)
- Oliver Barlet, African Cinemas (2000), Ch 4 “Closing Your Eyes”
- Kidlat Tahimik, “Cups-of-Gas Filmmaking vs. Full Tank-cum-Credit Card Fillmaking” (1989)
Recommended further reading:
- E. San Juan, Jr., After Postcolonialism (2000), Ch 6 “Kidlat Tahimik’s Cinema of the Naive Subaltern”
- Manthia Diawara, African Cinema (1992), Ch 4 “The Artist as the Leader of the Revolution”
- Anny Wynchank, “Touki-Bouki: The New Wave on the Cinematic Shores of Africa” (1998)
Mon, April 6 Screening (124 min)
- La Soufrière (Werner Herzog, West Germany, 1977, 31 min)
- Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany, 1974, 93 min)
Tues, April 7 Class: New German Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- John Sandford, The New German Cinema (1980), Ch 1 “The Development of the West German Cinema”
- James Franklin, New German Cinema (1983), Ch 6 “Rainer Werner Fassbinder”
- Noureddine Ghali, “Werner Herzog: ‘Like a Powerful Dream…’” (1973)
Recommended further reading:
- Norbert Sparrow, “‘I Let the Audience Feel and Think’: An Interview with Rainer Werner Fassbinder” (1977)
Wed, April 8 Screening (145 min)
- Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, USA, 1987, 43 min)
- Law of Desire (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain 1987, 102 min)
Thurs, April 9 Class: Emerging Modes of Queer Filmmaking, Melodrama, and Camp
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Jack Babuscio, “The Cinema of Camp” (1978)
- José Arroyo, “La ley del deseo: A Gay Seduction” (1992)
- Ana María Sánchez-Arce, The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar (2020), Ch 5 “Other Voices, Other Stories: La ley del deseo”
Recommended further reading:
- Hamilton M. Stapell, Remaking Madrid (2010), Ch 5 “Just a ‘Teardrop in the Rain’?”
- Lucas Hilderbrand, “Grainy Days and Mondays: Superstar and Bootleg Aesthetics” (2004)
Mon, April 13 Screening (120 min)
- Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, USA, 1989, 120 min)
Tues, April 14 Class: Spike Lee and U.S. Independent Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Kaleem Aftab, That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It (2006), Ch 5 “Do the Right Thing”
- Joe Klein, “Spiked?” (1989)
- Marlaine Glicksman, “Spike Lee’s Bed-Stuy BBQ” (1989)
Recommended further reading:
- David Breskin, Inner Views (1992), Ch 4 “Spike Lee” [Session One]
- Jesse Algeron Rhines, Black Film/White Money (1996) Ch 5, “Blockbusters and Independents 1975 to the Present”
Wed, April 15 Screening (159 min)
- A City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan, 1989, 159 min)
Thurs, April 16 Class: Taiwan New Cinema + Slow Cinema as Global Art Film Practice
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- James Udden, No Man an Island (2nd ed, 2017), Ch 3 “History in Its Place” [excerpt, pp 87–114]
- Emre Çağlayan, Poetics of Slow Cinema (2018), Ch 1 “Slow Cinema in Context”
Recommended further reading:
- Emilie Yueh-Yu Yeh and Darrell William Davis, Taiwan Film Directors (2005), Ch 2 “Challenges and Controversies of the Taiwan New Cinema”
Mon, April 20 Screening (126 min)
- Hard Boiled (John Woo, Hong Kong, 1992, 126 min)
Tues, April 21 Class: John Woo and Hong Kong Action Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Tony Williams, “Space, Place, and Spectacle: The Crisis Cinema of John Woo” (2000)
- David Bordwell, Planet Hong Kong (2nd ed, 2011), “Enough to Make Strong Men Weep”
Wed, April 22 Screening (118 min)
- The House Is Black (Forough Farrokhzad, Iran, 1966, 22 min)
- And Life Goes On (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, 1992, 96 min)
Thurs, April 23 Class: New Iranian Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Hamid Dabashi, Close Up (2001), Ch 1 “Abbas Kiarostami” [excerpt, pp 54–75]
- Hamid Reza Sadr, “Children in Contemporary Iranian Cinema” (2002)
Recommended further reading:
- Shohini Chaudhuri and Howard Finn, “The Open Image: Poetic Realism and the New Iranian Cinema” (2003)
Sun, April 26
Midterm written assignment due at 11:59PM
Mon, April 27 Screening (134 min)
- Take Off (Gunvor Nelson, USA, 1972, 10 min)
- Semiotics of the Kitchen (Martha Rosler, USA, 1975, 6 min)
- Me and Rubyfruit (Sadie Benning, USA, 1989, 6 min)
- Girls Daydream About Hollywood (Jennifer Reeves, USA, 1992, 5 min)
- The Piano (Jane Campion, Australia/France/New Zealand, 1993, 107 min)
Tues, April 28 Class: Feminist Film Criticism and New Directions in Women’s Filmmaking
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Mary Anne Doane, “Woman’s Stake: Filming the Female Body” (1981)
- Jane Gaines, “Women and Representation: Can We Enjoy Alternative Pleasure?” (1984–87)
- Ruth Barcan and Madeleine Fogarty, “Performing The Piano” (1999)
Recommended further reading:
- Lynda Dyson, “The Return of the Repressed?” (1999)
- Catherine Elwes, Video Art: A Guided Tour (2005), Ch 3 “Disrupting the Content: Feminism”
Wed, April 29 Screening (152 min)
- Angel’s Egg (Oshii Mamoru, Japan, 1985, 71 min)
- Toy Story (John Lasseter, USA, 1995, 81 min)
Thurs, April 30 Class: Film Animation in the Late 20th Century
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Brian Ruh, Stray Dog of Anime (2nd ed, 2014), Ch 3 “Angel’s Egg”
- Tom Sito, Moving Innovation (2013), Ch 13 “Pixar”
- Andrew Gay, “The Cowboy, The Spaceman and the Guru” (2018)
Recommended further reading:
- Jonathan Clements, Anime: A History (2nd ed, 2023), Ch 9, “The Pokémon Shock”
Mon, May 4 Screening (190 min)
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra, India, 1995, 190 min)
Tues, May 5 Class: Popular Hindi Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Corey Creekmur, “Popular Hindi Cinema and the Film Song” (2006)
- Purima Mankekar, “Brides Who Travel” (1999)
- Anupama Chopra, Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (2002), Ch 1 “‘Terah ka tees’: The DDLJ Phenomenon”
Wed, May 6 Screening (114 min)
- Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair, India, 2001, 114 min)
Thurs, May 7 Class: Transnational Indian Cinema and the Diaspora
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Amardeep Singh, The Films of Mira Nair (2018), Ch 4 “A Tale of Two ‘Chunaris’”
- Jenny Sharpe, “Gender, Nation, and Globalization in Monsoon Wedding and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (2007)
Mon, May 11 Screening (120 min)
- The Host (Bong Joon Ho, South Korea, 2006, 120 min)
Tues, May 12 Class: Bong Joon Ho and South Korean Cinema in the 2000s
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Nam Lee, The Films of Bong Joon Ho (2020), Ch 1 “A New Cultural Generation”
- Hsuan L. Hsu, “The Dangers of Biosecruity: The Host and the Geopolitics of Outbreak” (2009)
Recommended further reading:
- Joseph Jonghyun Jeon, “Neoliberal Forms: CGI, Algorithm, and Hegemony in Korea’s IMF Cinema” (2014)
Wed, May 13 Screening (134 min)
- Oxhide II (Liu Jiayin, China, 2009, 134 min)
Thurs, May 14 Class: Chinese Underground and Independent Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Chen Mo and Zhiwei Xiao, “Chinese Underground Films: Critical Views from China” (2006)
- Dan Edwards, Independent Chinese Documentary (2015), Ch 1 “From Underground Practice to Alternative Public Sphere”
- Philippa Lovatt, “‘Slow Sounds’: Duration, Audition and Labour in Liu Jiayin’s Oxhide and Oxhide II” (2016)
Recommended further reading:
- Paul G. Pickowicz, “Social and Political Dynamics of Underground Filmmaking in China” (2006)
Mon, May 18 Screening (127 min)
- Street Vendor (Ken Jacobs, USA, 2012, 7 min)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, Australia/USA, 2015, 120 min)
Tues, May 15 Class: Digital Exhibition and the Global Film Industry
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- John Belton, “Digital 3D Cinema: Digital Cinema’s Missing Novelty Phase” (2012)
- Kyle Buchanan, Blood, Sweat & Chrome (2022), Ch 12 “Oh, What a Lovely Day” & Ch 18 “The Last Great Action Film”
Wed, May 20 Screening (123 min)
- World of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt, USA, 2015, 17 min)
- Atlantics (Mati Diop, France/Senegal, 2019, 106 min)
Thurs, May 21 Class: Streaming and the Future of Cinema
Required reading in advance of this class meeting:
- Melanie Goodfellow, “Atlantics Director Mati Diop Talks Taking the Plunge with Netflix” (2019)
- Daniel Bessner, “The Life and Death of Hollywood” (2024)
- Will Tavlin, “Casual Viewing: Why Netflix Looks Like That” (2025)
Recommended further reading:
- Matthew Frank, “Ghosts in the Balcony: A Cross-Country Trip to 58 Theaters Fighting to Survive” (2025)
Wed, May 27
Final written assignment due at 11:59PM
