Department of French and Italian

The study of Francophone cinemas from a sonic perspective: how film commentators and bonimenteurs (film lecturers) flourished while accompanying silent movies; the astonishing technological and paradigmatic evolution, from silent film to the talkies; the question of music, dialogue, and background sound; and the surprising influences of popular and oral cultures on cinema.

Taking a comparative, transnational approach, this course offers an overview of Francophone cinema as an evolving art and as a means of tracing the evolution of technology, aesthetic, and representation, during the twentieth century. We will also investigate how cinema was shaped by other media (like religious celebrations, popular fairs, dances, games, theatre, opera, novels, printmaking, radio shows, music recordings, etc.). In so doing, our study of film will naturally touch upon a variety of other disciplines, such as history, sociology, media and postcolonial studies.

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