Arabic Cinema (2)
- Course Code:
- 155901209
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/2013
- Unit value:
- 0.5
- Year of study:
- Year 3
- Taught in:
- Term 2
This course continues from Arabic cinema (1). It offers a structured survey of the development of Arabic cinema from its early beginnings to the present through a range of selected films. It elaborates the development of different cinematic genres, prevalent themes and common trends and schools. Students examine the socio-political and cultural contexts in which Arabic films operate and which are necessary for their critical comprehension. Films are studied as artistic works. The course includes an elaboration of the careers of film directors and their approaches to film making and to the cultural issues of their time.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
At the end of the course the student should be able to understand the nature and development of Arabic cinema both as a apparatus enmeshed in the processes of cultural production and social consumption, and as an artistic genre reflecting the major concerns of Arabic culture and society. S/he should be able to analyze films critically and treat them as cultural icons revealing some of the concerns and inherent attitudes of the culture that produce them. S/he should feel competent to appreciate films critically and aesthetically and probe them for their underlying cultural significance.Workload
The course is taught by a two-hour lecture in addition to a three-hour film screening.Scope and syllabus
The following are the major areas of investigation:
- Cinema as a vehicle of socio-political and cultural change
- Mediation of the west in Arabic cinema
- Cinema, politics and political film
- Cinema, Islam, history and myth
- Cinema and the quest for freedom
- Cinema and the construction of identity
- Women, sexuality and the feminisation of Arabic cinema
Method of assessment
One two-hour written examination in May-June (70% of final marks) and one term essay of 2500-3000 words due in the first week of Term 3.Suggested reading
- Shafik, Viola: Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity. Cairo, 1998
- Leaman, Oliver: Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film. London, 2001
- Hafez, Sabry: "Shifting identities in Maghribi cinema", Alif 15 (1995) 39-80.
- Cairo Branigan, Edward: Narrative Comprehension and Film. London, 1992
- Armes, Roy: Third World Film Making and the West. Berkeley, 1987
- Armes, Roy: Dictionary of North African Film Makers. Paris, 1996
- Khan Muhammad: An Introduction to Egyptian Cinema. London, 1969
- Lakmus, Lizbeth and Roy Armes: Arab and African Film Making. London, 1991
- Sadoul, Georges (ed.): Cinema in the Arab countries. Beirut, 1966
- Maherzi, Lotfi: Le cinema algerien: Institutions, imaginaire, ideologie. Paris, 1980
