Module manager: Rafe Clayton
Email: R.M.Clayton@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
COMM5345M International Film Industries: East Asian Cinema
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module introduces students to the relationship between ‘international cinema/world cinemas’ and Hollywood. Using a selection of country-specific case-studies, the module draws on the theoretical and empirical literature to examine various film industries, how they work, as well as the opportunities and challenges the process of internationalisation brings.
On completion of this module, students should be able to ...
The module aims to provide students with an informed understanding of the history, organisation, and challenges facing film production throughout the world since the rise of Hollywood to a position of global hegemony. Students will gain an understanding of film production as an industry and business on the one hand and as an essential ingredient of national culture and history on the other. The module will enable students to contribute to the ongoing intellectual debates about whether there is such a thing as ‘international cinema’ and whether it can exist beyond or in spite of Hollywood’s ‘hegemony’. The module uses a range of country-specific case studies to explore transnational connections on film and in film industries.
On completion of this module, students will have:
- critically engaged with key concepts concerning the film industry as a whole
- interrogated cinema and its internationalisation
- explored and investigated the issues raised by the perceived incompatibility between ‘film as business’ and ‘film as culture’ and the numerous attempts various nations have made at reconciling these tensions
- evaluated competing theoretical explanations of ‘national cinema’, ‘international cinema’ and ‘world cinema’
- critically engaged with the main methodological instruments in film studies and examined their contributions and limitations
- design and conduct powerpoint presentations
- discuss key texts of the field in small groups and give oral presentations of the discussion outcome
Topics will include: Approaches to film and film industries; How does Hollywood work? International film industry/World cinemas versus Hollywood; What is national cinema?; Counter cultural flow on Hollywood; Cinema and Politics; Cinema and Cultural Industry; The Auteur and Tradition. Topics will be explored through specific case studies from a range of countries, such as India, China, Ireland, Mexico, Iran and Nigeria.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Film Screenings | 11 | 3 | 33 |
| Seminar | 11 | 2 | 22 |
| Private study hours | 245 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 55 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300 | ||
Students are required to prepare for each lecture (est. 12 hours reading per lecture), prepare for film discussion (est. 10 hours) and rehearse for group presentation (est. 20 hours). The remaining private study time should be dedicated researching, preparing and writing the essay.
The module leader will have regular office hours to meet students without appointment. When necessary, students are also encouraged to make an appointment for further meetings with the module leader. Moreover, the group presentations and seminar discussions each week will provide the module leader with valuable opportunities to observe the progress of individual students and offer feedback on the content and delivery of their presentations. Although group presentations are not assessed, students will need to interact with their classmates outside the classroom. This is an important mechanism for the module leader to informally monitor student progress and to discover potential problem areas before it may be too late.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1 x 5,500-6,500words | 70 |
| Literature Review | 1 x 2000 - 2,500 words | 30 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 5/30/2024
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