Balkan Cinema

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course explores the richness, diversity, and artistic excellence of Balkan cinema, demonstrating how film in the region has – since its inception in ethnographic silent film to the cell phone movies of today – been bound up with urgent social issues. From war to gender, migration to protest, films from the Balkans have levied trenchant critiques and helped viewers and publics both make sense of and make changes in their societies. A thematic focus gives students practice in locating specific artistic trends, comparing and contrasting films, and engaging deeply with the power and possibilities of the film medium, with the goal of preparing students to draw transnational comparisons with other cinemas, regions, and eras.