DHUM 27A10 - Postcolonial French Cinema

Postcolonial sites par excellence, France's multicultural urban centres and banlieues embody what Edouard Glissant called the Tout-Monde. In what ways does contemporary French cinema, a powerful societal mirror, reflect the Tout-Monde at the heart of postcolonial France? Alternating class viewings and analysis of a corpus of five contemporary films by ethnic majority and minority French filmmakers, this class will consider these cinematic representations, contextualizing them within France's postcolonial history and contemporary social relations. Students will learn to read and deconstruct these works' different representations and perspectives, taking into account what cultural theorist Stuart Hall termed the "position of enunciation" of their filmmakers (who speaks, who films). These filmic analyses will be further contextualized and complemented by readings of theoretical postcolonial, sociological and cultural studies texts.

Melissa THACKWAY

Séminaire

English

As not all of the films studied are available with English subtitles, students will be expected to manage to follow a French-language film, with the help of an overall plot resumé.

Spring 2022-2023

(3 évaluations au moins sont demandées) - A presentation in class on one of the films studied during the semester (40%) - A written review of one of the associated course texts (10%) - A final written essay on a film/filmmaker of the student's choice (40%) - Class participation (10%)

Séances et programme * Séance 1 : General introduction – postcolonial France, history, sociology, urbanism, representation, positions of enunciation. Séance 2 : Languages and spaces of inclusion/exclusion Introduction and viewing of l'Esquive by Abdellatif Kechiche Séance 3 Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound. Séance 4 : Gender, violence Introduction and viewing of Bande des filles by Céline Sciamma Séance 5 : Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound. Séance 6 : Friendships, relationships, sexuality, institutional violence Introduction and viewing of Divines by Houda Benyamina Séance 7 : Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound. Séance 8 : Family, community, cultural rooting Introduction and viewing of Fatima by Philippe Faucon Séance 9 : Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound. Séance 10 : Third Spaces, hybridity Introduction and viewing of Rengaine by Rachid Djaidani Séance 11 : Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound. Séance 12 : Semester conclusions. * For reasons of availability, and according to new releases, the films announced may be subject to changes, but the general themes of the programme will remain unchanged.