World cinema 2: Diaspora

What is the course about?

After introducing you to some of the issues at stake in considering world cinema and diaspora cinema – questions of nationhood, postcolonialism, cultural identity and history – this course will cover one principal film per week.
While analysing these diverse films in depth, the course will help you to situate them within the history and the culture of their respective nations, enabling you to acquire an introductory understanding of cinemas that have developed beyond (although often in ‘conversation’ with) Hollywood.
The course will use clips from a wide range of films to examine how diasporic film offers a range of contested ideas around identity, nationhood and cinema. The films shown will range from historical to contemporary settings. Reflecting the dominant nations of film diaspora, the films are French-language or English-Language.

This is a live online course. You will need:
- Internet connection. The classes work best with Chrome.
- A computer with microphone and camera is best (e.g. a PC/laptop/iMac/MacBook), or a tablet/iPad/smart phone/iPhone can be used if you don't have a computer but please note the experience may be less optimal.
- Earphones/headphones/speakers.
We will contact you with joining instructions before your course starts.

What will we cover?

After introducing you to some of the issues at stake in considering world cinema – questions of nationhood, postcolonialism, cultural identity and history – this course will spend a week looking at the cinemas of India, China, Japan, Africa and SouthAmerica. Each session will focus on a specific film as a means of exploring not only its place in film history but also the importance of its country of origin. The films that you will look at are the celebrated Hindi classic, Pyaasa (Guru Dutt 1957 India), a key film from the so-called ‘Fifth Generation’ of Chinese filmmakers, The Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige 1984 China), a classic post-war Japanese comedy, Ohayô/Good Morning (Yasujiro Ozu 1959 Japan), the influential film Xala (Ousmane Sembene 1974 Senegal) and the ‘Cinema Novo’ film Deus e o Diablo na Terra do Sol/Black God, White Devil (Glauber Rocha 1964 Brazil). While analysing these diverse films in depth the course will help you to situate them within the history and the culture of their respective nations enabling you to acquire an introductory understanding of cinemas that have developed beyond (although often in ‘conversation’ with) Hollywood.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

• appreciate a range of films from around the globe.
• understand the importance of diasporic film in an historical, political and cultural context.
• further develop the connections made between the textual, the historic and the cultural in your exploration and analysis of world cinema.
• explore and understand matters of national and cultural identity as seen through diasporic cinemas.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This course is an introductory course and as such does not presuppose any prior expertise in film history or film analysis. The skills required to explore the topics and the films will be discussed in class.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

The course will be delivered by the tutor with small and large group discussions. Short film extracts will be screened
throughout. Reading relevant to the course will be made available in Google Classroom. All PowerPoint presentations will be placed into Google Classroom after each class so that you can follow up afterwards. Where possible links to films online will be provided.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Clips will be shown extensively throughout the course. Where possible links to online sources will be made available.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

Please see other Film Studies courses on our website at www.citylit.ac.uk under History, Culture and Writing/Film Studies.