The Memory of the Eye: Iberian Cinema from Buñuel to Almodóvar

An introduction to Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, and Catalan cinema through films from the 1920s and 30s to the present. How film uses a visual grammar of the image to tackle social questions and construct a collective memory. This course will consider the problems of individual recollection under conditions of collective trauma and distortion of the past, exploring the relation between film and history. The course will also focus on how images can be used to explore subjectivity and the passions. We will be watching outstanding films by Luis Buñuel, Carlos Saura, Víctor Erice, Bigas Luna, Pedro Almodóvar, Miguel Gomes, Julio Medem, Ventura Pons, Iciar Bollaín, and Isabel Coixet. Students will be responsible for watching all the films, engaging in lively discussion, in preparation for which, they will be asked to consider certain issues in writing before each class. Each student will present on one of the films for about fifteen minutes. There will be one short midterm essay and one final paper "on a different film."