German 697L - ST-1968 and Film

Fifty years after the momentous events of 1968, this international special topics course will look at the importance of this year through the lens of the cinema of the time. In the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and the Soviet military intervention in Prague, films reflected the violence of the era and efforts to respond to, and resist, that violence. Film was part of the civil rights movement, the student movement and the anti-war movement but also provided examples of popular culture escapism or outright support of the status quo. In Paris, Prague, Berlin and elsewhere, film culture was part of the territory over which generational and political conflict was waged. Weekly film screenings will provide a wide range of international examples from the period while readings trace the origins of the political aesthetic that was being developed as well as its legacy. We will conclude by asking what contemporary forms, from activist performance and installation art and documentary to popular and entertainment genres, trace their origins to particular turning points in the 1960s. Requirements: participation in discussion, weekly film response and journals plus one paper and one in-class presentation. Conducted in English.

Films treated in the course will be available through streaming services or DVD reserve in WEB Du Bois Library, and a number of special screenings with visiting artists will take place at area cinema venues and festivals.