BA Film Studies and History

This course unit will examine the filmic treatment of the Nazi atrocities from the late 1940s to the present. Tracing the ongoing debates around appropriate modes of Holocaust representation, we will examine the major political and aesthetic issues at stake in feature film and documentary. In so doing, we will consider film’s potential to convey the personal dimension of the Holocaust together with art’s ethical implications in the face of atrocity. 

Starting with Eastern Bloc cinema’s pioneering of central modes of Holocaust representation in the first two postwar decades, we will consider the changing portrayals of politics, race, gender and sexuality in Holocaust films throughout the decades. We will then turn our attention to the impact of the Holocaust on the postwar generations. The study of Holocaust film in international perspective will afford a comparative and historicized view of this transnational body of works. 

Any German and/or film studies course unit

• To develop students’ understanding of theoretical approaches to and genre conventions of Holocaust film 

• To develop students’ grasp of key concepts in cinema studies with particular focus on aspects of Classical and Postclassical film 

• To develop students’ understanding of the historical and political contexts of Holocaust film internationally 

• Define the Holocaust and discuss how it can be expressed visually 

• Demonstrate familiarity with the key periods and historio-cultural contexts of Holocaust film 

• Demonstrate familiarity with the audio-visual styles of Holocaust film 

• Demonstrate an awareness of relevant political and historical factors reflected in Holocaust film 

• Critically analyse and build sophisticated arguments about films and related sources (posters, trailers, reviews and industry documents) 

• Contextualise historically films and practitioners, and to draw on contextualisation to develop understanding 

• Critically evaluate a series of films, practitioners and genres in relation to key moments of socio-political change in relevant territories 

• Synthesise theoretical terms and concepts and apply these to analysis, argument and creative practice 

• Research academic and non-academic materials, and evaluate the effectiveness of these materials as supporting evidence for individual essays, seminar presentations and creative projects 

• Plan, undertake and evaluate independent critical and creative work 

• Use relevant software to collect, compile and present audio-visual material for presentations 

• Communicate research material both verbally, audio-visually and in writing 

• Work independently 

• Argue critically and coherently 

• Present information in a convincing and accessible manner 

• Develop an understanding of national cinemas in world contexts 

Resit Assessment

Avisar, Ilan. Screening the Holocaust: Cinema's Images of the Unimaginable. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988 

Bartov, Omer. The "Jew" in Cinema. From The Golem to Don't Touch My Holocaust. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 2005 

Bathrick, David, Brad Prager, and Michael D Richardson, eds. Visualizing the Holocaust: Documents, Aesthetics, Memory. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2008. 

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson, eds. Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1993 

Haggith, Toby, and Joanna Newman, eds. Holocaust and the Moving Image. Representations in Film and Television since 1933. London: Wallflower Press, 2005 

Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews. New York: Holmes&Meier Publications Inc., 1985 

Hollows, Joanne, ed. The Film Studies Reader. New York: Arnold, 2000. 

Levi, Neil, and Michael Rothberg, eds. The Holocaust. Theoretical Readings. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003 

One weekly film screening (duration variable)