Trauma and Cinema

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course, Trauma and Cinema, explores the intricate relationship between film and the representation of psychological and collective trauma. Drawing from psychoanalytic theory, memory studies, and visual culture, the course examines how cinema mediates, distorts, or makes visible experiences that often resist narration. Through close analysis of films from diverse geopolitical contexts—including post-war Europe, Latin America, and post-colonial societies—the course interrogates how trauma is encoded in cinematic form: through fragmentation, silence, repetition, and temporal disruption. Students will engage with key theoretical texts (Caruth, Felman, Kaplan, LaCapra) alongside films by directors such as Alain Resnais, Atom Egoyan, Lucrecia Martel, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The course ultimately asks how cinema can function not only as a site of witnessing but also as a medium that shapes the ethics and politics of remembering.