Film Studies 408 - Brazil in Film & Fiction

The principal aim of this course is to introduce students to Brazilian culture through film and selected readings, by focusing on how filmmakers, writers, and artists represent key aspects of Brazilian society past and present: the colonization process; culture contact between Europeans and native Brazilians; slavery and race relations; economic development; immigration and internal migration; life in the backlands; urban problems; the dictatorship and its aftermath; contemporary Brazil. A second aim of the course is to study the development of Brazilian cinema through the past few generations, especially the important movement known as cinema novo. A third aim is to develop analytical skills and writing abilities. Course and readings in English; films have subtitles. (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)