Authorship and Cinema: Auteur Cinema in the New Century

In the digital era, the future of cinema seems uncertain , and yet the last fifteen years have seen the rise of strong new artistic voices throughout world cinema. In this course we will look at the auteur approach in contemporary cinema and examine its various modes of expression, comparing American independent filmmakers and European auteurs. We will focus on authorship as influenced and determined not only by the filmmaker’s agency, but also by its financial, social, and historical contexts. We will also conduct a detailed case study of contemporary Romanian cinema and its most important auteurs: Cristian Mungiu (4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days), Cristi Puiu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu), Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective), and Radu Muntean (Tuesday After Christmas). (FMMC 0101 or FMMC 0102)