Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0268 - Women Filmmakers

A course in reading films and videos as well as considering how they are produced historically, we will take gender as our point of departure. Engaging actively with making visual images will be part of our work. We explore the reasons for the historical absence of women filmmakers and study the works they produced when they won the right to do so. International cinemas, both dominant medias and films and videos made to oppose that system will be examined. We will analyze diverse works: from avant-garde director, Germaine Dulac, in Paris in the twenties of the last century to Ida Lupino, in Hollywood in the 50's to the 70's explosion of feminist films and videos and the historical and theoretical work that accompanied them. We will also consider several contemporary directors, though the largest bodies of work so far have been made by that group of women who were stirred into action by the Second Wave of the Women's Movement - who are still working today, such as: Sally Potter, Yvonne Rainer, Margarethe Von Trotta et al. Students are expected to attend all class meetings and learn to take detailed formal notes on all films and tapes screened. In addition to weekly assignments, an ambitious final project should be written, performed, photographed, filmed or installed.

Independent Work