Watch video clips of AALL 121 class projects: Video clip 1 Video clip 2
AALL 121 INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN
& AFRICAN CULTURES:
Activism and Aesthetics in Contemporary Film
Fall 2003
Coordinators: miriam cooke and Satti Khanna
Class time: TTh 12:40 - 1:55
Place: East Duke 204D
The object of AAL 121 is to introduce students to the variety of cultural productions in countries of Asia and Africa during the past century. Rather than attempt a survey of separate nations, this course focuses on general types of responses to the imperatives of modernity and globalization, especially as these responses manifest in expressive culture.
AALL 121 for Fall 03 will examine the making of films as a form of appropriate action. The core text is the anthology film 09”11’01 in which various international directors comment on the destruction of the World Trade Center. Students will be invited to consider the range of interpretations of this important world event and the form of the films themselves as a response to the world event. Do the films constitute an adequate response? Do filmmakers have responsibilities graver than those of other citizens? Do we live in a time of such global injustice that notions of harmony and beauty in film no longer pertain? How do we deal with our own vulnerabilities and yet engage in meaningful action? What are your ideas of what is to be done in film?
Every Thursday, students will report to the class (half an hour) on a feature film by an Asian or African director, including directors from 09”11’01 (presentation days are indicated below with a *). The film should be chosen for the quality of its delineation of tensions, dreads, and anticipations informing people’s lives within an Asian or African country. The presentation in class should include a few clips, commentary and questions for class discussion. Students will sign up for available presentation slots at the end of the 2nd week of the semester (9/9).
Books:
Murid Barghuthi, I Saw Ramallah
Ritwik Ghatak, Rows and Rows of Fences
Betool Khedairi, A Sky So Close
Ella Shohat & Robert Stam Unthinking Eurocentrism
Junichoro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows
Films:
09”11’01 (2002)
“Beyond the Walls” (1984)
Ritwik Ghatak, “Cloud Capped Star”
Satyajit Ray, “The Adversary” (1971) #3460
Wen Jiang, “In the Heat of the Sun” (1994)
Yasujiro Ozu, “Early Summer” (1963)
Gillo Pontecorvo, “Battle of Algiers” (1965)
Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina, “Chronicle of the Years of Embers” (1975)
Atif Hetata “Closed Doors” (1999) #10246
Kurosawa, “Dreams”
Requirements:
SCHEDULE
August
T 26 INTRODUCTION
Th 28 Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows
September
T 2 “09”11’01” Screening: Monday Sep 1 at 7-9.30, White Auditorium
Th 4 Bresson, Notes on the Cinematographer (handout)
T 9 AFRICA: Bukino Faso film in 09”11’01 Unthinking Eurocentrism Introduction and Chapter One Lecturer: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
*Th 11 INDIA: Mira Nair film in 09”11’01
T 16 “The Adversary”
*Th 18 “Cloud Capped Star” Ritwik Ghatak, Rows and Rows of Fences (first half)
T 23 ALGERIA: “Chronicle of the Years of Embers” Screening: Sep 22 at 7, White
*Th 25 “Battle of Algiers”
T 30 PALESTINE-ISRAEL “The Bombing” Unthinking Eurocentrism (pp.151-170)
October
*Th 2 Murid Barghuthi, I Saw Ramallah Screening: “Divine Intervention” Oct 2 or 3 Griffith
T 7 Discussion of “Divine Intervention” IRAN Samira Makhmalbaf in 09”11’01
Th 9 Students attend at least three movies of the Iranian film festival at UNC that begins on Wednesday, October 8 and ends on Friday October 10. Travel to Chapel Hill by Robertson bus. 4-5-page report on the festival due the first class after Fall Break.
Fall Break
Th 16 Discussion of Iranian film festival
IRAQ: A Sky so Close
T 21 A Sky so Close
NB: Wednesday October 22 Betool Khedairi reading from A Sky so Close
*Th 23 EGYPT: Yousef Chahine in 09”11’01 Unthinking Eurocentrism (Chapter Seven)
T 28 “Closed Doors” Screening of “Closed Doors”: October 26 White Auditorium
*Th 30 ISRAEL-PALESTINE: Amos Gitai in 09”11’01 “Beyond the Walls” Unthinking Eurocentrism (pp.292-337)
November
T 4 “Kedma” Screening: “Kedma” Monday, Nov. 3 White Lecturer: Rebecca Stein
*Th 6 JAPAN Imamura in 09”11’01 Lecturer: Leo Ching
T 11 Kurosawa’s “Dreams” Lecturer: Leo Ching
*Th 13 IRAQ: Unthinking Eurocentrism (pp.125-136) “Marooned in Iraq” Screening: Wed. Nov. 12 in Griffith
T 18 JAPAN: “Early Summer” Unthinking Eurocentrism (pp.338-362)
*Th 20 CHINA: “In the Heat of the Sun” Lecturer: Liu Kang
T 25 HONG KONG: “In the Mood for Love” Lecturer: Liu Kang
Thanksgiving Break
December
T 2 CAMBODIA: Lecturer: Charity Him
Th 4 Presentations, Final papers and/or films due
MIDDLE EAST FILM SERIES
| Date | Film Title | Country | Format, Venue |
| Mon. Sept 1 | 11’09”01 | France | DVD, White |
| Mon. Sept. 8 | Ali, Fear Eats the Soul | Germany | DVD, White |
| Mon. Sept. 22 | Chronicle of Years of Embers | Algeria | VHS, White |
| Thu Oct. 2 | Divine Intervention | Palestine | 35mm, Griffith |
| Fri Oct. 3 | Divine Intervention | Palestine | 35mm, Griffith |
| {Oct 8-11} | UNC Iranian Film Festival | Iran | UNC |
| Sun. Oct. 26 | Closed Doors | Egypt | VHS, White |
| Mon. Nov. 3 | Kedma | Israel | VHS, White |
| Wed. Nov. 12 | Marooned in Iraq | Iran/ Iraq | 35mm, Griffith |
Iranian Film Festival
October 8-10
Wednesday, October 8
6:30 Opening Address: Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri, Documentarian.
Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri is an Iranian filmmaker who has created award-winning documentaries about Iran and Iranians in U.S., including Journal from Tehran (1986), Far from Iran (1990), and A Place Called Home (1998). Her most recent documentary, Women Like Us (2001) has been widely received and has been shown on PBS and at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, D.C. LOCATION: HANES ART AUDITORIUM
7:30 Women Like Us Directed by Persheng
Sadegh-Vaziri, 2001.
Five women are interviewed--a journalist, a piano teacher, a rice farmer,
a nurse, and a religious student--about their lives. The documentary implicitly
rebukes both the Western stereotype of Iranian women as being utterly oppressed
and conservative Muslim teachings about the subservience of women. In Farsi
with English subtitles. 61 minutes. LOCATION: HANES ART AUDITORIUM
9:00 The Afghan Alphabet Directed
by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 2001.
In this documentary shot in the border villages between Iran and Afghanistan,
Makhmalbaf tracks the children who do not attend school with his digital camera
and questions why they are not being educated. Finding poverty, ignorance,
prejudice, male chauvinism and superstition prevalent, the film seeks to address
some of the problems that have come to imprison Afghani girls in a subtle
and pervasive way. Farsi with English subtitles. 46 minutes. LOCATION: CAROLINA
STUDENT UNION THEATER
Thursday, October 9
6: 00 WORLD VISIONS OF CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN CINEMA
Panel: Negar Mottahedeh, Arnal Dayaratna, Abigail Salerno, and Shilyh
Warren of Duke University. All presentations will include film clips. LOCATION:
HANES ART AUDITORIUM
8: 00 The Apple Directed by Samira
Makhmalbaf, 1997.
Directed by the 18-year-old daughter of Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf,
the film reenacts a real-life event in which the characters play themselves.
The story unravels in a poor area of Tehran, where some people inform the
local welfare authorities that one of their neighbors is keeping his twin
11-year-old girls locked up in his house. Farsi with English subtitles. 86
minutes. LOCATION: CAROLINA STUDENT UNION THEATER
Friday, October 10
7: 00 Candidate Directed by Mohammad Shirvani, 1999.
An old woman wishes to marry away her son, who has just returned from military
service. She goes out to meet young girls in the city, and insists on obtaining
their photographs. Farsi with English subtitles. 15 minutes. LOCATION: CAROLINA
STUDENT UNION THEATER
7:15 Rabid Dog Directed by Barhran
Beyzaei, 2001.
Also translated as Killing Rabids, the film is about a female writer who left
her husband because of his affair with another woman. Rabid Dog approaches
the corrupt elements in today?s Iran through a simple story mixed with abundant
political symbolism. The main character returns to Tehran in the midst of
the Iran-Iraq war, finds her husband bankrupt and in jail, and attempts to
clear him of all trouble. Farsi with English subtitles. Running time: 148
minutes. LOCATION: CAROLINA STUDENT UNION THEATER
Saturday, October 11
6:30 Closing Address: Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University
Dr. Dabashi is the chair of the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures department
at Columbia University, where he is also the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of
Iranian Studies and the director of Graduate Studies at the Center for Comparative
Literature and Society. Dr. Dabashi is an internationally renowned critic
of Iranian cinema, and is the author of Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present,
Future (2001) among several other publications.
7:30 The Joy of Madness Directed by
Hana Makhmalbaf, 2003.
This documentary, made by Mohsen Makhmalbaf?s 14-year old daughter, was shot
in Afghanistan and follows a mad man, a Mullah, and two women. Join us for
its US premier! Farsi with English Subtitles. 73 minutes.
9: 00 The Day I Became a Woman Directed
by Marzieh Meshkini, 2000.
Stages of women's lives in Iran are examined through three separate stories
of a small girl, a young lady, and an old woman. The struggle is to become
a woman where freedom is not clearly defined. Each episode stands on it's
own and in the end, all tie together." Farsi with English subtitles. 78 minutes.
LOCATION: CAROLINA STUDENT UNION THEATER