Term
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Definition
Francois Truffaut
Jean-Luc Godard
Eric Rohmer
Jacques Rivette
Claude Chabrol |
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Term
| What is meant by the auteur theory (aka “la politique des auteurs”)? |
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Definition
| Directors were considered as authors of their films – the creative equivalent of painters and novelists |
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Term
| What is the Cahiers Du Cinema? |
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Definition
Cahiers du Cinema (1951)
The most significant cultural journal of the 20th century – published Truffaut’s work (1954) |
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Term
| Explain the importance of Andre Bazin to the French New Wave? |
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Definition
Played an influential role as a film critic and theorist.
Co-founder of Cahiers du Cinema (1951) |
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Term
| The New Wave directors were reacting against a particular type of French cinema. What was it called? |
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Definition
The Tradition of Quality – Scathing attacks that were influenced by theatre, predictable aesthetic choice, story structures, and a production system based on seniority instead of creativity.
excessive reliance on literature, on adaptation. Truffaut believed that the director should think with the camera |
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Term
| What is the significance of the final freeze frame in Truffauts 400 Blows? |
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Definition
| Suggests that Antoine’s journey is unresolved. He is either running away from or toward his future . The freeze frame allows the audience to ponder the boy’s future based on his unhappy childhood. It became a tribute to the Italian neo-realist story ambiguity. |
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Term
| What is name of the child character in 400 Blows? What is meant by the Antoine Doinel cycle of films? |
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Definition
‘Antoine Doinel, the main protagonist in 400 Blows & 3 later films & 1 short film. The overall story-line remains restricted to the trials and tribulations of ‘being’ Antoine Doinel.
“The Antoine Doinel Cycle”: where Truffaut made films about the character for 20 years. |
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Term
| What were the narrative and stylistic innovations of Godard’s Breathless? |
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Definition
1.Broke all the rules: 180 degree rule, 30 degree by employing jump cuts – Godard proved the jump cut could be a creative tool in producing a musicality in the editing rhythm or as an aid in establishing an alternative reality.
2.Used natural locales like the streets of Paris (influence of Neo-realism) “Life caught on the run”
3.Majority of the movie is shot handheld and much of the film was improvised on set. The camera is mobile, mercurial, fluid & flexible. Breathless was very much a film of its time. Self-conscious, reflexive film that was fully aware of all the conventions it was breaking
4.Film was spontaneous, improvised, had a small crew, a small budget. |
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Term
| Explain the term “The New Wave” (Nouevell Vague) |
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Definition
“New Wave” was a trendy journalistic expression applied to the post WW2 generation in France that was considered rebellious before it applied to cinema. It was a nickname for everything non-conformist.
New Wave emerged as a reaction against the stagnant, mainstream French films called “tradition of quality” |
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Term
| Name 2 films by Francois Truffaut |
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Definition
400 Blows (1959)
Love on the Run (1979)
Shoot the Pianist (1960)
Bed and Board (1970) |
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Term
| Name 2 films by Jean-Luc Godard |
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Definition
Breathless (1960)
A Woman is a Woman (1961)
Vivre Sa Vie (1962)
Contempt (1963) |
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Term
| What was the name of the article written by Truffaut criticizing mainstream, commercial French cinema/the tradition of quality? |
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Definition
| “A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema” by Truffaut & published in Cahiers du Cinema (1954) |
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Term
| Name 4 factors which contributed to the emergence of the New Wave |
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Definition
The New Wave was possible due to an audience, a social setting, a critical renaissance, government institutions and new production options.
The New Wave owes more to the study of film history than any other film movement.
Classical Hollywood cinema made a tremendous impact on a group of French film critics, such as Francois and Jean-Luc, during the 1950s. |
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Term
| Mention four key aspects of the French New Wave |
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Definition
1. Unconventional stories told in radical, bold styles for a young audience
2. Use of portable, handheld cameras; shot quickly with a small screw
3. Most of the New Wave directors came directly from film criticism instead of professional filmmaking schools which was unusual.
4. A new generation of technicians, creative collaborators, camera operators & writers and actors like Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Paul Belmondo & Jean-Pierre Léaud.
5. “Auteur theory” - directors were considered as authors of their films, the creative equivalent of painters & novelists – referred to as “la politique des auteurs.”
6. Audience – Post-Second WW French audience were cinephiles, highly educated in film criticism.
7. Finance & Technology – new government financial aid; new technologies – lighter, less expensive cameras, portable magnetic tapes. |
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Term
| How does “Breathless” reflect Godard’s approach to filmmaking as criticism? Why is it considered to be a self-reflexive, meta-film |
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Definition
Dedicated to Monogram Pictures (celebrated B-movie studio on Hollywood's Poverty Row) as a tribute to cheap American gangster movies of Godard’s own youth.
Use of various Cameos, like Goddard, and props pertaining pop culture even the genre of film itself with “Cahiers du Cinema” prop. Man with camera prop.
Self-conscious, reflexive film that was fully aware of all the conventions it was breaking |
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Term
| How did neorealism influence french new wave. |
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Definition
| Shooting on location, the romanticism of everyday tasks, |
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Term
| Who coined the term “Third Cinema” and name the manifesto |
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Definition
| Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino coined the term “Third Cinema” in a manifesto titled “Towards Third Cinema” published in Tricontinental (1969) |
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Term
| Mention two key aspects of “Third Cinema” |
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Definition
Cinema of liberation, socially relevant, with political overtones leading to revolutionary transformation of society
Offer an effective pretext for gathering an audience in addition to the ideological message it contains
Film was structured to include debate and discussion hence division into separate chapters
Film as a pretext, a detonator for debate, activism and discussion |
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Term
| What is meant by First Cinema & Second Cinema |
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Definition
First = The American Film Industry and Capitalist filmmaking
Second = Act or Auteur cinema inspired by European film movement |
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Term
| What is the name of the epic documentary that laid the foundation for Third Cinema Filmmaking |
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Definition
| The Hour of the Furnaces – La Hora de los Hornos (1968) |
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Term
| Why is Third Cinema Theory important for the study of World Cinema? |
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Definition
| It is the only major branch of film theory that did not originate within a Euro-American context |
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Term
| How is Third Cinema different from First Cinema? |
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Definition
Third Cinema = films that fight the system; revolutionary filmmaking (to promote activism)
First Cinema = the American film industry; capitalist filmmaking (to make a profit) |
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Term
| Mention the names of 2 Third Cinema Directors |
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Definition
Ritwik Ghatak
Mirinal Sen
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Ousmane Sembene |
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Term
| Name 2 post-colonial nations? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is meant by Colonialism & Post-Colonialism |
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Definition
Colonialism = the process by which Europe claimed power over economic, military, political, and cultural systems in much of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Colonies were created.
Post-Colonialism = associated with third world countries that gained independence after WW2 in 1945 & immigrant communities in First World cities |
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Term
| Why is the Battle of Algiers considered a post-colonial film? |
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Definition
| The Battle of Algiers is considered a post-colonial film because Algeria was a third world country at the time suffering from French control. This film presented the Algerians revolution for freedom. |
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Term
| What are the stylistic techniques used to identify with the colonized Algerians? |
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Definition
| Close-ups, off-screen sound (drum rhythms for suspense) and point-of-view editing are used to create an insider’s perspective, especially throughout the guerilla warfare scenes, allowing the audience to know more behind Algiers’s rebellious acts than their victims. |
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Term
| What is the significance of the triple bombing sequence? |
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Definition
Significance of women and how they were a valuable part of the resistance. They all went out to film these scenes to make them look realistic--you see how close the people and the damage around them is not an after effect.
Human eye situation
The women looking at the people before they blew them up. |
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Term
| What is the significance of the casbah? |
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Definition
| The image of the colonised city of Algiers, divided into two zones, the Casbah (the Muslim area) & the French area. “a world cut in two… inhabited by two different species” - Algerians living in a ghetto. The clash of cultures. |
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Term
| Explain the policy of assimilation |
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Definition
| The policy allowed certain black Africans the full rights of French citizenship on condition that they underwent a totally French educational training – supposed to create an elite in Senegal that would receive its university education in France and return to the colonies to join the political administration |
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Term
| Which European nation colonized Senegal? |
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Definition
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Term
| T or F – Senegal is a Francophone country |
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Definition
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Term
| What is meant by Francophone? Anglophone? Lusophone? |
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Definition
Francophone = French-speaking
Anglophone = English-speaking
Lusophone = Portuguese speaking |
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Term
| Who is considered the father of African cinema and what is his nationality? |
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Definition
Ousmane Sembene, exerted enormous influence on other African filmmakers (1923-2007)
Nationality = African and Senegalese |
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Term
| Name 2 African filmmakers |
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Definition
Med Hondo
Safi Faye
Djibril Mambety
Souleymane Cisse. |
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Term
| What is the significance of Borom Sarret (1963)? |
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Definition
First film by Ousmane Sembene. It is often considered the first film ever made in Africa by an African. (20 min long)
It illustrates the poverty of it’s people, and how independence has not solved all the problems |
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Term
| Why is Black Girl (1966) significant and considered a post-colonial film? |
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Definition
Considered to be Black Africa’s first feature length film. It combines his interest in women’s roles with his concerns about postcolonial Africa.
objectification of an African woman by Europeans –seen as “exotic” & different
Doesn’t have an identity, hear her POV (?), interior monologue = own perspective – shes objectified – post-colonial b/c of her experiences that are brought on screen – continuous prejudice towards these people |
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Term
| Why is the Money Order (Le Mandat) (1968) important? |
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Definition
First use of the native language, Wolof, in Sembene’s work (also shot in French)
Sembene’s first full film in color |
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Term
| Name 2 Films of Djibri Mambety |
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Definition
Touki Bouki (1973)
Hyenas (1992) |
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Term
| In Touki-Bouki why is Mory’s motorcycle with ox skulls a symbol of hybridity? |
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Definition
Hybridity = symbols and sounds of traditional & modern Africa
Ox’s skull and horns are symbols that connect Mory to Senegal and its pastoral traditions |
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Term
| What is the significance of the griot in African cinema? |
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Definition
| Mixed ancient African and oral storytelling traditions |
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Term
| Why is Hyenas considered a hybrid film? |
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Definition
Mixed European film technique, a Swiss play, with an African voice and perspective to create a distinctly African film
Also there is a reoccurring use of animal symbolism and imagery |
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Term
| What are some of the societal problems in post-colonial Senegal that Mambety attacks in his films Touki-Boukie and hyenas? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is meant by Xala and what does it symbolize? |
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Definition
Xala = The Curse
A complex symbol (?) |
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Term
| Why is Xala (1974) considered to be a satire? |
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Definition
Explores the ongoing effects of French colonialism in Senegal and difficulty of removing colonial influences
Also satirizes the decadence and hypocrisy of the post-colonial upper class |
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Term
| Which films comprise Bergman’s Summer Trilogy? |
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Definition
Summer Interlude (1951)
Summer with Monika (1953)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) |
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Term
| Account for the significance of the Seventh Seal/Wild Strawberries to European cinema |
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Definition
| Established himself as the first real auteur of Swedish cinema |
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Term
| Why is 1957 an important year in Bergman’s career? |
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Definition
| Seventh Seal won special Jury Prize at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Celebrated by the critics and readers of Cahiers du Cinéma. Wild Strawberries marked a pinnicle in the international Bergman cult and established himself as the first real auteur of Swedish cinema. |
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Term
| Which films comprise Bergman’s Faith Trilogy? |
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Definition
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Winter Light (1962)
The Silence (1963). |
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Term
| Name 2 women’s films that he directed in the 1970s |
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Definition
Bibi Anderson
Liv Ullmann
Ingrid Bergman |
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Term
| Why is Fanny and Alexander considered an autobiographical Film? |
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Definition
| Openly Autobiographical elements: location (university town of Uppsala); puritanical father; lies; theatrical allusions to slide shows, magic lantern shows, puppet shows, miniature theatre in the prologue. |
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Term
| Why is F&A considered a genre-bending film? |
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Definition
| comic family romance + Gothic melodrama + supernatural fairy-tale |
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Term
| Why is F&A considered a bildungsroman? |
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Definition
| literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood; allegory of the coming of age of a young artist |
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Term
| Describe three Bergmanesque themes that recur in his bod of work |
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Definition
1. Philosophical & ethical questions
2. Quest for faith and redemption
3. Religious, existential & spiritual crises
4. Childhood, memory, nostalgia
5. Exploration of the female psyche.
6. Dysfunctional relationships |
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Term
| Name four repertory company of actors who repeatedly starred in Bergman films |
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Definition
Liv Ullman
Gunnar Bjornstrand
Erland Josephson
Max von Sydow
Bibi Anderson
Ingrid Thulin |
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Term
| Name the cinematographer who frequently collaborated with Bergman |
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Definition
| Sven Nykvist. 28 Bergman films. “Master of Light.” |
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Term
| Explain the significance of The Cow |
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Definition
| It introduced the notion of the director as auteur and the idea of cinema as on art like literature, poetry, and theater. |
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Term
| Name two institutions that were established after the Islamic Revolution to help recover the Iranian film industry |
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Definition
| The Farabi Foundation (1983), and The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Adults |
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Term
| Explain the special significance of child characters |
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Definition
| child actors acted as a lens through which viewers can see a less-censored Iranian world |
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Term
| Name two films by Mohsen Makhmalbaf |
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Definition
The Peddler (1987)
Gabbeh (1996)
Marriage of the Blessed (1989)
The Silence (1997) |
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Term
| Name two Iranian women filmmakers |
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Definition
Tahmineh Milani (Two Women – 1999)
Samira Makhmalbaf (The Apple – 1998) |
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Term
| Name two films by Abbas Kiarostami |
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Definition
The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Taste of Cherry (1997) |
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Term
| Cite two characteristics of Kiarostami film |
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Definition
| Social critique and commentary on universal human problems, zigzagging roads & cars, dashboard camera |
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Term
| How does censorship affect the style and themes of Iranian cinema? |
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Definition
| More outdoor locations, tells the story through the eyes of children, chaste/unchaste dolls |
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Term
| Name two films by Jafar Panahi |
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Definition
White Balloon (1995)
The Mirror (1997) |
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Term
| Name two films by Majid Majidi |
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Definition
Children of Heaven (1997)
Colour of Paradise (1999) |
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Term
| Who directed Children of Heaven? |
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Definition
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Term
| Explain the significance of the title Children of Heaven |
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Definition
| Represented the innocence and purity of children. Every child is born fresh into the world not evil |
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Term
| Explain the Italian neo-realistic tendencies in Children of Heaven |
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Definition
Striking parallels to bicycle thieves in search of a lost possession; in the streets of iran
kids having to grow up too soon bc of poverty
use of non professionals |
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Term
| What insights into Iranian Society does Children of Heaven provide? |
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Definition
| Insight into poverty stricken areas of iran and dominant social values; When ali meets Alireza we see the comparison to how each reacts to the others life |
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