Hispanic Studies 144: Contemporary Latin American Cinema: An Introduction

With the increasing globalization of the film industry, what might “national” cinema from Latin America mean today? This course offers a panoramic exploration of major thematic trends and innovative visual aesthetics of contemporary Latin American cinema. Together we will engage in debates about film as art, as social critique, as resistance, and/or as entertainment. Using approaches that both embrace and critique the study of national cinemas, we consider how landmark films produced in the 21^st century highlight specific cultural and political issues as well as how cinematography, as an artistic medium, grapples with questions of filmic representation. Potential works under study include those produced by auteurs in countries with rich cinematic histories including Argentina, Brazil and Mexico (Albertina Carri, Lucrecia Martel, Walter Salles, Fernando Meirelles, José Padilla, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón, and Guillermo del Toro) alongside recent productions from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, etc. Course activities include film screenings, discussion of scholarly articles focusing on film theory and analysis, oral presentations, and writing short, critical papers. This course is open only to first- and second-year students; junior students by consent of instructor. This course counts as elective credits toward Hispanic Studies major or minor. May be taken for credit toward the Film and Media Studies major or minor or the Latin American Studies minor. Course taught in English, all films will be screened in Spanish with English subtitles.