Overview
Aims
The course aims to develop students' critical writing and analytical skills;
to bridge the gap between oral debate and written essays;
to explore complex, symbolic, or metaphysical arthouse films omitted from the History of World Cinema course .
Course contents
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Introduction to Film Literacy and Critical Reviewing: Mastering the vocabulary of film criticism; transitioning from impressionistic viewing to structured cinematic analysis; reading the film as a text; understanding the format of festival reviews versus academic film essays.
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Decoding Challenging and Symbolic Cinema: Guided screenings and in-depth class deconstructions of complex avant-garde, arthouse, animation, and metaphysical feature films; identifying hidden narrative layers, subtexts, and visual motifs.
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From Verbal Argumentation to Creative Writing: Translating immediate oral debates and workshop discussions into written text; drafting concise festival-style presentations and short film chronicles; mastering hook mechanisms and rhetorical structures in film journalism.
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Advanced Analytical Writing Workshop: Step-by-step drafting, peer-reviewing, and refining of comprehensive analytical essays (maximum 3 extensive papers); tailoring analytical expectations to student skill levels while fostering individual critical voices.
Learning outcomes
By the end, students will be able to: understand the multilayered structure of a complex feature film; transition from oral debate to critical text; write structured film reviews and analytical essays on complex arthouse cinema; adapt their writing style from festival or popular reviews to academic analysis.
Assessment
Writing 3 or 4 essays—in various journalistic and academic genres—focusing on films viewed and discussed at the course, from a perspective explored in class: 70%. Ongoing participation in debates and supplementary classroom activities: 30%