OVERVIEW

The teaching aims to present and analyze the main historiographical and theoretical aspects of film criticism, examining the history of criticism and its main theoretical elaborations, and addressing through exercises the main features of a critical essay or review.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide specific skills around the history of film criticism and its socio-cultural role, and to provide adequate tools for the knowledge and writing of a critical paper.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students should be able to problematize the historical, theoretical and analytical knowledge acquired during the course; be familiar with the debate related to the film Esterno notte (Bellocchio, 2022), a case chosen for classroom discussion; and write a paper according to the exam format.

TEACHING METHODS

Classes will be held in-person (face-to-face teaching), unless otherwise directed by the university.

All students are reminded to register on the teaching page on the Aulaweb platform.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The teaching will be divided into two:
1) Module of history and theory of film criticism, which will analyze the main stages of the history of criticism, and will deal with the case of the serial film Esterno notte (Bellocchio, 2022) with particular attention, an illustrative case that will be discussed from its reception in the critical field  

2) Writing module and seminar on film criticism: students will engage in critical writing, drafting texts, notes and reviews that will initiate classroom discussion and debate.

A group of students will take part in an initiative promoted in collaboration with the Department's film Laboratories and in agreement with Circuito Cinema di Genova, and in particular will be engaged in the organization of a film review, from the planning stage to the presentations.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) Claudio Bisoni, La critica cinematografica. Un’introduzione, archetipo, Bologna, 2006

2) Michele Guerra, Sara Martin (a cura di), Atti critici in luoghi pubblici. Scrivere di cinema, tv e media dal dopoguerra al web, Diabasis, Parma, 2019 (FIVE ESSAYS)

NON-ATTENDEES, IN ADDITION TO THE SYLLABUS OF THE ATTENDING STUDENTS, MUST STUDY EIGHT ESSAYS TO Atti critici in luoghi pubblici.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GABRIELE RIGOLA (President)

LUCA MALAVASI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 2023.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral examination in which the text written by students will be discussed

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students will be required to write a paper, of at least 3 pages, on a film made in the last 20 years, which will be discussed in the oral examination. The examination will also assess the historical and theoretical knowledge that students have acquired during the course and through the study of texts. The overall assessment of the exam will therefore be an average between the outcome of the individual paper and the outcome of the oral exam (the paper should be emailed to the lecturer at least one week before the roll call).

In addition, some students in the course will participate in an initiative promoted in collaboration with the Department's film Laboratories and in agreement with Circuito Cinema di Genova. The students will be engaged in the organization of a film review, from the planning stage to the presentations. The selected students will be expected to work on the review and in particular to do archival research on the critical reception of some films and to prepare critical notes useful for the programming of the review. The work of this group of students will be recognized and credited in ways that will be announced at the beginning of the course. 

Exam schedule