Cinema and Society: Feminist Filmmaking

Liberté, Égalité, Sororité .Did you know that the inventor of narrative fiction film, and perhaps the only female filmmaker from 1896-1906, was a French woman? This course introduces students to French and Francophone cinema through the lens of the feminine. In this "her" story of French-language film, we will explore works by female directors as well as representations of women and girls on the silver screen from cinema's silent origins to the empowered voices of the #MeToo era. In tandem, we will engage with key ideas from feminist critics like Simone de Beauvoir and Françoise d'Eaubonne. Class discussions will take an intersectional approach, addressing feminism's connections with the following topics: girlhood and adolescence; race and ethnicity; post-colonial cultures; gendered spaces/places and the environment; LGBTQ+ identities; motherhood and domesticity. Our corpus includes classics from the French tradition as well as understudied films, running the spectrum from drama to documentary, to coming-of-age narratives and cult favorites, including works by Chantal Akerman, Yamina Benguigui, Alice Guy, Céline Sciamma, and Agnès Varda, among others. Prereq: In-Perspective.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU IS; AS LCD; AS LS; FA CPSC

Cinema and Society: Feminist Filmmaking

FRENCH 376C

Section 01