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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "CMS/ITS 241"
COURSE NAME: "Italian Cinema"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2022
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Federica Capoferri
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 1:30 PM 3:30 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: This course carries 3 semester hours of credit.
OFFICE HOURS: by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course surveys films, directors, and film movements and styles in Italy from 1945 to the present. The films are examined as complex aesthetic and signifying systems with wider social and cultural relationships to post-war Italy. The role of Italian cinema as participating in the reconstitution and maintenance of post-War Italian culture and as a tool of historiographic inquiry is also investigated. Realism, modernism and post-modernism are discussed in relation to Italian cinema in particular and Italian society in general. Films are shown in the original Italian version with English subtitles.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
Realist, modernist and post-modernist aesthetics will be discussed in relation to Italian cinema, in particular, and Italian society, more in general. Directors to be treated include (but are not limited to) De Sica, Rossellini, Fellini, Pasolini, Monicelli, Petri, Cavani, Bertolucci, Bellocchio, Nicchiarelli, and Sorrentino. Films are shown in the original Italian version with English subtitles.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

-Students will learn how to analyze film texts using specific historical, cultural, and theoretical approaches.
- Students will learn how to write analytical essays that employ specific critical frameworks.
- Students will learn and be able to discuss key social, political, and economic events, and movements in contemporary Italian history.

Numerical scale for grades:

A Excellent 94-100

A- 90-93

B+ 87-89

B Good 84-86

B- 80-83

C+ 77-79

 C Satisfactory 74-76

C- 70-73 D+ 67-69

D Poor but Passing

64-68

D- 60-63

F Failing Below 60 INC Incomplete P Passing (C or higher) NP Not Passing (C- or lower) W Withdrawal 

TEXTBOOK:
Book TitleAuthorPublisherISBN numberLibrary Call NumberCommentsFormatLocal BookstoreOnline Purchase
A History of Italian CinemaPeter Bondanella, Federico PacchioniBloomsbury USA Academic; 2° edizione 9781501307638     
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
Book TitleAuthorPublisherISBN numberLibrary Call NumberComments
Italian FIlm in the Light of NeorealismMillicent Marcus Princeton UP9780691102085 -  
Stupendous, Miserable CIty: Pasolini's RomeJohn D. RhodesUniversity of Minnesota Press978-0-8166-4930-3  

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
FINAL EXAMIN-CLASS EXAM with questions on readings and class discussions + critical essay on a given topic.25%
MIDTERM EXAMIn class exam. Questions on readings, screenings, and a 3-4 pages essay on a given topic25%
CLASS PARTICIPATION Students are expected to actively and critically participate to class discussions. Students officially authorized to attend in remote are required to keep the CAMERA ON and to promplty interact with the class. Students without official permission to attend in remote are expected to be in class. and they are NOT ALLOWED to occasionally attend in remote.15%
In-class tests (4)15 minutes test (2/3 questions) on weekly readings. PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL NOT BE MAKE-UP FOR MISSING TESTS. NO EXCEPTION.20%
Group Oral PresentationGroup oral presentation on a topic previously discussed with the professor. 20-30 minutes each group (minimum 3 students)15%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the cours
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

Please refer to the university catalog for the attendance and absence policy.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INSTRUCTOR CAN MAKE CHANGES TO THE SYLLABUS.

WEEK 1
Introduction: Cinema, History, National Culture. 
ScreeningRoma città aperta (Rome Open City, Rossellini, 1945)
READINGS: Millicent. Marcus Roma Città Aperta, "Introduction" to Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, UP Princeton, 1986 pp. 3-29; Rossellini's Open City: The founding, pp. 33-53 .
P. Bondanella, A History of Italian Cinema: "Neorealism: a revolutionary and problematic new film aesthetic "
WEEK 2 

Class discussion: Neo-Realism I: A Historical Approach. Lecture and class discussion 
Screening: Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thief, De Sica, 1948).
READINGS: Millicent Marcus. "De Sica's Bycicle Thief: Casting shadows on the visionary city" in Italian film.

P. Bondanella, A history...., Neorealism's many faces: widening the range of the camera's eye.

WEEK 3 

Class Discussion:From Neorealism to Commedia all'Italiana.
Screening: I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958, Mario Monicelli)
READINGS: P. Bondanella, History of Italian Cinema "Commedia all'italiana: social criticism for laughter's sake"
P. Ginsborg, "The Economic Miracle: Rural Exodus and Social Transformation. 1958-1963" in History of Contemporary Italy. Penguin Books, 1990, pp. 210-253; 499-508.

WEEK 4
Test 1.

Class Discussion: Italian Cinema and the Economic Miracle.
Screening: Le notti di Cabiria (F. Fellini, 1957)
READINGS: P. Bondanella, A History...,"The Italian art film: auteurism in Visconti, Antonioni, Fellini, and De Sica "
Home screening: La dolce vita (F. Fellini, 1960).

WEEK 5
Class Discussion:The other side of 'La dolce vita'.
Screening: Mamma Roma (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962).
READINGS: D. J. Rhodes, Stupendous, Miserable City. Pasolini's Rome, Minnesota University Press, 2007.  Chapter 5

WEEK 6
Class Discussion on Pier Paolo Pasolini's cinema
Screening: L'eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
READINGS: 
Home screening: Blow-up (M. Antonioni, 1966).

WEEK 7
Test 2
Class Discussion. Review for Midterm

Midterm

WEEK 8

 ScreeningIl conformista (B. Bertolucci, 1970)

READINGS: M. Marcus, Chapter on Il conformista in Italian Film.
P. Bondanella, A  History... -The Golden Age of Italian Cinema:Neorealism's Legacy to a New Generation and the Political Film" .

Class Discussion: Italian Cinema in the Seventies

WEEK 9. 

 ScreeningIndagine di un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (E. Petri, 1970)

 Class Discussion: Politics, Society, and Cinema in the Seventies. part 2

READINGSM. Marcus, Chapter on Investigation
P, Bondanella, A History... "Mystery, gore, and mayhem: the Italian Giallo -- The poliziesco: Italian crime films from the 1970s to the present" 

WEEK 10

Test 3 

Screening: C'eravamo tanto amati (E. Scola, 1976)

READINGS:M. Marcus, Chapter on We All Love Each Other So Much.

 WEEK 11

 Screening: Caro Diario (Nanni Moretti, 1994)

Class Discussion; Towards a Postmodern Cinema.
READINGS: M. Marcus, "Caro Diario and the Cinematic Body of Nanni Moretti" in After Fellini, John Hopkins University, 2002, pp. 285-299.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

WEEK 12
The Return of Politics in Italian Cinema.
Screening: Buongiorno notte (M. Bellocchio, 2004)
READINGS: Carlo Testa, "Film, Literature, and Terrorism: Mapping Italy's Political Landscape by Cinematic Means", Italica, Vol 84, n. 4, Winter 2007, pp. 781-798.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS

WEEK 13
Test 4 
Local, Global and Glocal in Contemporary Italian Cinema.
Screening: Cosmonauta (S. Nicchiarelli, 2009) 
READINGS: Nicoletta Marini-Maio, Nicchiarelli’s Cosmonauta: The Space Race, or When Communist Girls Dreamed of the Moon

P. Bondanella, A history... " Weaving present and past: the contemporary Italian drama."

Home Screening: Non essere cattivo (C. Caligari, 2015)

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

WEEK 14
Rethinking Italian Cinema

Screening: Freaks Out (G. Mainetti, 2021) 

Review for Final

DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR THE COURSE ARE AVAILABLE IN:

https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/courseReserves/course/id/10050388

Additional Readings will be provided week by week