2023
History and Philosophy of Cinema
Name: History and Philosophy of Cinema
Code: FIL12729L
6 ECTS
Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours
Scientific Area:
Philosophy
Teaching languages: Portuguese
Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese, English
Regime de Frequência: Presencial
Sustainable Development Goals
Learning Goals
To introduce to a(n)
-Comprehensive overview of cinema in its cultural-geographic and historical width, variety and evolution, via an
internal introduction to film story (film through film)
-Understanding cinema as a means of representation, (re)construction and thinking of reality; acknowledging
and exploring those properties within a corpus of case studies
-Familiarization with the aesthetical and conceptual terminology, and with the techno-industrial dimensions of
filmic creation; discerning the multiple fields of the corresponding theoretical approaches, thus enhancing and
sharpening a second degree perception in the logopathic reception of film works
-Acquisition of a whole philosophical theory of cinema as a taxonomy of the image types (Deleuze) that is able
to operate as a guiding framework and a tool for research
-Developing the theoretical and practical competences required to program and produce a commented film cycle
-Comprehensive overview of cinema in its cultural-geographic and historical width, variety and evolution, via an
internal introduction to film story (film through film)
-Understanding cinema as a means of representation, (re)construction and thinking of reality; acknowledging
and exploring those properties within a corpus of case studies
-Familiarization with the aesthetical and conceptual terminology, and with the techno-industrial dimensions of
filmic creation; discerning the multiple fields of the corresponding theoretical approaches, thus enhancing and
sharpening a second degree perception in the logopathic reception of film works
-Acquisition of a whole philosophical theory of cinema as a taxonomy of the image types (Deleuze) that is able
to operate as a guiding framework and a tool for research
-Developing the theoretical and practical competences required to program and produce a commented film cycle
Contents
I) Concepts (books and filmic essays)
1. The universe of film: an historical panorama (with M. Cousins and M. Scorsese)
2. Cinema and its theory
2.1. Evolution of the intertwinement of film and thought
2.2. Fundamental concepts and terminologies of cinema and of film studies
2.3. Introduction to the diversity of theories of: filmmakers, critics, philosophers, semioticists, theoreticians,
essaysts, mediologists
3. Modernity and contemporaneity of the film medium as encoder and reader of History: form, content, medium
(Benjamin, Bazin, Deren, Pasolini)
4. Philosophy and Cinema: from mouvement-image to time-image (Deleuze)
II) Case studies (films)
1. Monographic study of some major hallmarks in film history (ex.: Vertov, Ford, Hitchcock, Welles, Ozu,
Antonioni, Rouch, Resnais, Kiarostami, Guerin, Costa, etc)
2. Organization of a small movie cycle, comprising the following tasks: conceptualization, selection, publicizing,
presentation and scholarly commentary
1. The universe of film: an historical panorama (with M. Cousins and M. Scorsese)
2. Cinema and its theory
2.1. Evolution of the intertwinement of film and thought
2.2. Fundamental concepts and terminologies of cinema and of film studies
2.3. Introduction to the diversity of theories of: filmmakers, critics, philosophers, semioticists, theoreticians,
essaysts, mediologists
3. Modernity and contemporaneity of the film medium as encoder and reader of History: form, content, medium
(Benjamin, Bazin, Deren, Pasolini)
4. Philosophy and Cinema: from mouvement-image to time-image (Deleuze)
II) Case studies (films)
1. Monographic study of some major hallmarks in film history (ex.: Vertov, Ford, Hitchcock, Welles, Ozu,
Antonioni, Rouch, Resnais, Kiarostami, Guerin, Costa, etc)
2. Organization of a small movie cycle, comprising the following tasks: conceptualization, selection, publicizing,
presentation and scholarly commentary
Teaching Methods
A set of lectures (TP teaching, in Portuguese or English, however required) will comprehensively present to the
students the bulk of the subject-matters in the syllabus, profusely recurring to accurate onscreen illustration,
while theoretical-oriented screenings (TC teaching) will provide their synergetic counterpart, feeding a crisscross
procedure aimed at fostering among the students the ability to physically and mentally circulate between the
entwinned spaces of cinema and theory.
The active commitment of the students will be encouraged and assessed at every stage of their learning-bydoing
path, where selected screenings offer the opportunity to deeply assimilate theory by measuring it against
the cinematic object.These competences are best developed and displayed through continuous assessment:
session reports, brief tests, essays and film commentary (75%), and the full production of a final Seventh Art
cycle (25%).
Alternatively, sitting a single final exam (100%).
students the bulk of the subject-matters in the syllabus, profusely recurring to accurate onscreen illustration,
while theoretical-oriented screenings (TC teaching) will provide their synergetic counterpart, feeding a crisscross
procedure aimed at fostering among the students the ability to physically and mentally circulate between the
entwinned spaces of cinema and theory.
The active commitment of the students will be encouraged and assessed at every stage of their learning-bydoing
path, where selected screenings offer the opportunity to deeply assimilate theory by measuring it against
the cinematic object.These competences are best developed and displayed through continuous assessment:
session reports, brief tests, essays and film commentary (75%), and the full production of a final Seventh Art
cycle (25%).
Alternatively, sitting a single final exam (100%).
Teaching Staff
- José Manuel Barrisco Martins [responsible]
