The module will introduce students to the theoretical and practical implications of the realist aesthetic as it has been interpreted at different times and places in the history of film. Using this central concept as a base, the module aims to make students aware of the evolution of critical and theoretical approaches to film, its function and its mode of operation, from classical film criticism, through the semiotically-based analyses of the sixties and seventies, to more recent concentration on spectatorship and audience reception;

The module aims to encourage a critical evaluation of realism as aconcept and of particular film-texts in the light of the theory underlying their production;

The module aims to equip students with skills to engage in careful textual analysis and to assess comparatively how different stylistic choices mediate audience engagement with the reality that is notionally represented;

At final-year level this module aims to enable student s to work at a level of some theoretical sophistication and to show ability to relate complex general ideas to particular instances.

(LO1) Familiarity with key concepts in film theory and ability to handle them with relation to specific texts.

(LO2) An awareness of the critical and practical debates which have been engaged in Europe around the artistic potential and the vocational function of cinema, ability to assess the various positions critically and to formulate rigorous arguments to explain the student's own position.

(LO3) Understanding of the various complex implications of an apparently simple concept.

(LO4) Ability to express ideas succinctly and to carry out independent textual (visual) analysis.

(S1) Critical thinking and problem solving - Problem identification

(S2) Critical thinking and problem solving - Creative thinking

(S3) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Academic writing (including referencing skills)

(S4) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Media analysis

(S5) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Presentation skills – oral

(S6) Information skills - Critical reading

(S7) Information skills - Information accessing: Locating relevant information and identifying and evaluating information sources

(S8) Global citizenship - Cultural awareness

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture
Description: Lectures are used to introduce the theoretical concepts relevant to each topic, the historical background to their practice in the week's text, and to offer some critical themes appropriate to understanding the text.
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 2 - Seminar
Description: Seminars will be used to deepen the students understanding of the topics via guided discussion of the film texts, following the critical directions suggested in the lecture and secondary reading (normally uploaded on VITAL) as appropriate
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 3 - Screenings
Description: Screenings of the films on the module
Attendance Recorded: No
Notes: Brief (5-minute) introductions to the films will be provided, but screenings are not classes. You should make every effort to attend and to see the film in 'quasi-cinematic' conditions, however.

Self-Directed Learning Description: Back ground and contextual reading, preparation for seminars, presentations and essays

Topics covered during the module may include:

Introduction to the module. European realism before World War II (French cinema of the 1930s, Brecht and the cinema);
Texts: Partie de campagne (Jean Renoir, 1936);
Kuhle Wampe (Slatan Dudow, 1932).

Realisms of the 1950s and 1960s. Italian neo-realism and its international influence; André Bazin and his theories of realism; the British New Wave;
Texts will be chosen from:
Ladri di bicicletti / Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1948);
Riso amaro / Bitter Rice (Giuseppe de Santis, 1948);
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955);
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962).

Realisms from the 1970s to the present. May include: French neo-Brechtianism in the 1970s (Tout va bien , Jean-Luc Godard, 1973);
Documentary and theories of realism;
British Social Realism and Ken Loach (Sweet Sixteen, Ken Loach, 2002);
The Dogme Manifesto (Festen, Thomas Vinterbe rg, 1998);
New French realism and docu-fiction (Entre les murs / The Class , Laurent Cantet, 2008).