LECTURE - National Cinema, 2024 Update PDF

Canadian Film and Media BFMP 2 002 Fall 2 024 Mar k Ham ilton National Cinema Iranian Cinema: Before the Revolution Birth of a National Cinema (Chapter 12. After World War II) Both the physical presence of Western powers and the cultural domination by the Allies made imperialism ever present in th...

Canadian Film and Media BFMP 2 002 Fall 2 024 Mar k Ham ilton National Cinema Iranian Cinema: Before the Revolution Birth of a National Cinema (Chapter 12. After World War II) Both the physical presence of Western powers and the cultural domination by the Allies made imperialism ever present in the media. For propaganda purposes more cinema theaters were opened to show dubbed newsreels and expository documentaries. Hollywood productions dominated the screens and left no space for any local cultural activities. Dubbing was one of the few means of participation for Iranians in the film industry during this era. 2 From 1950 to the mid-1960s, the Iranian film industry grew rapidly. Many studios and independent film companies were established. There were 324 films produced during this period (1950–1965). By 1965, there were 72 movie theaters in Tehran and 192 in other provinces. The foundation of that newborn cinema was commercialism. It was saturated with dominant themes of dance, music, simplistic dramas, and Persianized versions of Western popular movies. But it also brought about the possibility of an independent national cinema. 3 The new cultural, political, and economic environment from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s created a unique national cinema that had its roots in Iranian perspectives of art, literature, and culture. The counter-cinema was a political cinema that developed its symbolic language as the result of a long history of censorship... and found its way to become one of the world’s prominent national cinemas of the last three decades. 4  Iranian New Wave The Cow (Persian: , ‫ گاو‬Gāv, Gaav, or Gav) 1969 Directed by Dariush Mehrjui https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5kKkJZWNPI clip from 42:36 to 47:00 5 Cuba: National Cinema after the revolution wikipedia Before the Cuban Revolution of 1959, about 80 full-length films were produced in Cuba. Most of these films were melodramas. Following the revolution, the new government created a cinematographic department within the Dirección de Cultura del Ejército Rebelde. The first ten years of the institution were called by critics the Golden Age (Década de Oro) of Cuban cinema, most of all because of the making of Lucía (1969) by Humberto Solás and Memorias del subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment) (1968) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. 6 These two directors are often regarded as the best film directors to have come out of Cuba. Memorias del subdesarrollo was selected among the best 100 films of all times by the International Federation of Film Clubs. One of the most prolific and strong branches of the Cuban cinema in the last 40 years has been documentaries and short-films. Animation has also been a major highlight in the last decades. 7 Cuba Memorias del Subdesarrollo (1968) Memories of Underdevelopment (Spanish: Memorias del Subdesarrollo) is a 1968 Cuban drama film directed and co-written by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. The story is based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_mHBlwnGPs clip from 47:40 to 50:00 8 Many countries have an origin story of their National Cinema including Canada The timeframes in Cuba and Iran coincide with the first auteur filmmakers emerging in Canada. In this course, we’ll look at Canadian films and filmmakers from the late sixties and early 1970s, through a lens of the Canadian national cinema. 9 Canada’s National Cinema: The Basis for the Two Major Assignments A national cinema can put filmmakers at the forefront of the public eye and their films can be a proud national cultural force, celebrated in their home country and around the world. Is there a Canadian national cinema? What filmmakers represent Canada on the world stage? Do people around the world have a concept of Canadian national cinema? What’s unique and difficult for us in terms of a cohesive national cinema? It’s been studied and talked about for decades but is there such a thing as a very Canadian film? Are there common elements in terms of themes, geography, character arcs, story structure? What contemporary films being made today fit, at least partially, into the nebulous, evolving definition of Canada’s national cinema? 10