GEORGETOWN COLLEGE

GERMAN 370: German Film from Hitler to the Fall of the Wall (3 hrs. credit)

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. Sigrid Suesse

Office Hours:

W 12:30 - 2:30pm and 3:30 - 5:30pm

Office:

Anderson Hall 027

Tel:

863-8168

Email:

ssuesse@georgetowncollege.edu

TIME AND PLACE:

Regular class meeting:

M 3:00 - 5:30pm, AH 005

TEXTS AND OTHER REQUIRED MATERIALS:

David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction. ISBN 0-07-006634-5 Gerhart Hofmeister & Frederic Tubach, From the Nazi Era to German Unification. (New Edition) Continuum, 1992. ISBN 0-8264-0601-7

COURSE GOALS:

This course is designed to give you an overview of German film. After a brief look at its beginnings we will explore the medium’s development as well as its use and abuse from the Nazi period to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Prior knowledge of film as medium or of German language, literature or culture is not required. You will learn how to “read” a film and how to talk and write about what you have seen. Lectures, class discussions, readings, and presentations will help situate the films viewed in the changing social, economic, political, intellectual, and aesthetic contexts that shaped their production, distribution, and reception. Our primary objectives in this course are to develop critical viewing skills to develop an awareness and appreciation of the context of the films studied to become involved with the ideas and issues presented in the films studied to explore the relationship of film to other arts and disciplines to discover film viewing as an important learning experience for acquiring knowledge and self awareness to improve both oral and written communication skills

ATTENDANCE, PARTICIPATION, HOMEWORK, TESTS, QUIZZES: This course consists of one regular class meeting per week. Most of the films studied will be viewed at least in part during these regular class sessions. In addition there will be regularly scheduled out-of-class film viewing sessions for required viewings of some of the films. The format of this course is a combination of lecture and seminar. This means that you are encouraged to take extensive notes and expected to participate actively in and contribute to class discussion. Homework assignments will include readings, video and film viewings, written film evaluations, three film reviews, and individual or group presentations. In addition you will be required to lead at least one group discussion. Late written homework will be accepted, but its grade will be lowered by a letter grade for every day it is late. There will be three tests covering the readings, films, and class discussions as well as numerous short quizzes to help you keep up with your assignments. Given the goals and format of the course, it is crucial that you attend all class sessions, i.e., attendance is mandatory. Each unexcused absence will lower your grade for the course by 6%. If you miss a class session, you are of course nonetheless responsible for the material covered and any assignments given. Tests and quizzes can only be made up in case of participation in a College-sponsored event (with prior arrangement), documented illness, or death in the immediate family.

EVALUATION:

Class participation

20%

Reviews (3)

15%

Presentation

10%

Written film evaluations

15%

Quizzes

10%

Tests (3)

30%

GRADING:

A: 90-100%

B: 80-89%

C: 70-79%

D: 60-69%

F: below 60%