MP6045 - Transnational Cinemas

The module is taught via a lecture (two hours) and associated seminar/workshops (one hour) and peer learning sessions (one hour). The lectures will introduce students to key historical and conceptual issues, and relevant film examples. Seminar/workshop activities will strengthen student knowledge and critical and analytical reflection upon the issues under discussion. Peer learnings will be geared towards be geared to focus on developing practical work and to partake in film analysis (whereas seminars will be mostly aimed towards discussion of theoretical/conceptual elements). Finally, tutorials support students with specific issues, not least concerning assessment. Students are required to make positive contributions to the learning experience. Each week, students will be required to watch a relevant film that will provide a case-study for that week’s lecture and seminar. They are also expected to prepare for each seminar by undertaking the weekly required reading, made available via the e-learning portal. They are also encouraged to develop communication and teamwork skills by taking an active part in group seminar tasks.

The module combines critical and historical analysis with practical elements. As such, the teaching will combine critical lectures, critical seminars, and practice-oriented workshops. The critical elements provide conceptual tools and historical awareness of transnational cinema and should feed into the practical components. Class material (such as Powerpoint slides, links to film clips and discussion points) will be accessible via Blackboard, along with weekly essential and further reading material (see the Learning Resources and Activities folder to access all this material, organised by week). The electronic reading list will link you directly to key sources, allowing you to access them anytime and anywhere.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge and Understanding:
• Demonstrate awareness of filmmaking practices that aim to challenge dominant modes of cinema
• Understand key theoretical and critical approaches to transnational cinemas

Intellectual/Professional Skills and Abilities:
• Create a video essay or a written essay which engages critically with relevant academic work
• Demonstrate planning and organisation skills by delivering rigorous, polished work in accordance with the deadlines set
Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• Question the politics of film content, distribution and reception from a transnational perspective

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: To prepare you successfully to undertake the summative assessment(s) on this module, formative assessments will be set by the module team. These may take the form of in-class tasks or projects, developmental activities undertaken between classes, or learning exercises/activities set over a longer period. Feedback (written and/or oral) will be provided to help you learn from, reflect on, and develop in light of these formative assessments.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT:

1) a 3000-word essay

OR

2) a video essay between 5 and 8 minutes accompanied by a 500-word summary and references

The assessment will map against all the MLOs. Written feedback will be provided to students via Turnitin.

N/A

N/A

Transnational Cinema will introduce students to film history and cultural practices beyond western contexts. The module involves critical engagement with film texts, economic, industrial, and socio-cultural contexts of selected works of transnational filmmakers: at the end of the module, you will have gained an understanding of various contexts, debates and issues, and hurdles that filmmakers in various contexts encounter, and shifts in the pattern of transnational circulation of cinema made outside Europe and North America. For your assessment you could either write a 3000-word essay or create a video essay (5 to 8 minutes duration) along with a 500-word summary of your argument in the video essay addressing a topic choosing from areas covered by the module.