CINE 588BDecolonizing Cinema

Catalog

The relationship between cinema and the ongoing and unfinished project of decolonization is both kaleidoscopic and mercurial-varied, complex, and shifting in form. Some have sought to use the cinema as a weapon against imperialism; others, as an outlet for radical dreaming, a horizon never fully co-opted by the colonial project. What is certain is that a panorama of radically imaginative, formally inventive, and politically urgent film cultures emerged from, and became indispensable to, the tidal wave of decolonization movements that started in the mid-1950s and continue into the present. What they share is the attempt to conceive a world-and its cinema-otherwise. This class will explore the diverse ways in which cinema has been used and entangled in liberation movements, struggles for cultural autonomy, and attempts to formulate alternatives to hegemonic industrial cinemas. The scope of the course is global, with an emphasis on Latin American, Caribbean, African and African Diasporic, Asian, Indigenous, and other non-"Western" cinemas. We will look at movements including, but not limited to, Third Cinema, Cinema Novo, Imperfect Cinema, militant cinema, cinema engage, and non-aligned film movements; and filmic modes including the essay film, fiction feature, documentary, archival and found-footage works, and experimental films.