Course Syllabus

SPA375 Latin American Cinema

Fall 2021

Professor Eva-Lynn Jagoe

Note: This is an asynchronous course. 

Week-by-Week Syllabus

Week	Topic	Film	Assignments	Due Date	Weight (%)
Wk 1 Sep 9	Affective Labour	Roma	Syllabus Quiz	Sep 13	2%
Wk 2 Sep 16	Urban Communities	Neighbouring Sounds
Wk 3 Sep 23	Gendered Identities	Fantastic Woman	Shot-by-Shot Scene Analysis	Sep 30	5%
Wk 4 Sep 30	Bodies and Affect	The Holy Girl	Peer Reviews	Oct 7	5%
Wk 5 Oct 7	Reimagining History	Zama
Wk 6 Oct 14	Indigenous Rights and Neoliberalism	When Two Worlds Collide	Journals	Oct 21	3%
**************	*******************	TEST 1	******************	Oct 24	20%
Wk 7 Oct 21	Indigeneity/ Transculturation	Embrace of the Serpent	Video Essay Group Review	Oct 28	4%
Wk 8 Oct 28	Land and Labour	Land and Shadow	Video Essay Proposal	Nov 4	4%
Wk 9	**************	READING WEEK	******************	******	*****
Wk 10 Nov 11	Community, Family, Land	Silent Light
Wk 11 Nov 18	Representing Violence	Tempestad
Wk 12 Nov 25	Memory and the Historical Past	The Pearl Button	Collaborative Video Essay	Nov 27	20%
			Commentary Collaborative Video Essay	Nov 30	4%
			Journals 2	Dec 2	3%
Dec 6-8		TEST 2		Dec 8	20%

Each week of the class will be organized in a similar fashion. In the module for each class, you will find:

• A Workflow that gives links to lectures, clips, and a timeline of what should be completed for this week
• Readings and Other Materials
• Assignments

All the course material is available from the beginning of term, in order to give you the chance to work at your own pace. However, you should be timely in your Discussion posts and participation, as well as in your assignments.

Description of Assignments

Course assignments and due dates are listed below, and also appear in the Course Summary section. Each assignment is linked to a Folder in which you will find the assignment's description. This is the same folder in which you will submit your assignment.  

Syllabus Quiz (2%)

This is the longest syllabus I’ve ever written! I want to make sure that you are very familiar with it, so that the course runs smoothly for all of us. This will be a short, timed, multiple choice quiz based on the document you are now reading and the informative videos that I have made about the assessments and the content of the course. It will be available starting Sept 18 at 7pm and will be open till Sept 13 at 11:59pm.

Eight Journals (6%)

In order for you to reflect on the films and to keep a record of your thoughts and interactions each week, you keep a journal, with an entry for eight films of your choice. This journal can be written (in a notebook or on the computer) or produced as a video essay or podcast. Each journal should be a minimum of one page or two minutes long. Journals are not graded individually, and will not be read or listened to in their entirety. They will be turned in twice during the semester. For the first date, you are required to have written at least four. For the second date, you are required to submit the remaining four.

Here are some open questions that you can use for inspiration. You don’t have to limit your reflections to these suggestions, but they may be helpful prompts:

• Describe a shot, sequence, or scene that stands out to you. Sometimes just writing a good, detailed description will indicate an argument about how the filmmakers wanted us to see something in the world.
• Does this film remind you of another one you’ve seen (in this class or outside ofit)? How?
• Is the film often considered to be part of a wider historical or filmic movement? How does it illustrate or complicate a certain theory, style, or genre?
• Do you agree with your classmates’ comments posted on the discussion board about a film or reading? Why?
• When was the film made? How did that historical moment influence the production of the film? Was the filmmaker responding to a specific historic event? How does the depiction of that event encourage viewers to think of that event, and in turn of their present historical moment?

Write about the cinematography. Was there something that surprised you or fascinated you about, for example, the use of point-of-view, or montage, or sound editing?

Please note: These questions may also be good discussion prompts for you. If you discuss a film in the discussion board, you can reuse it in your journals.

Journals 1 (3%). Due Oct 21.

Journals 2 (3%). Due Dec 2.

Shot-by-Shot Scene Analysis (5%)

Choose one scene from any of the films thus far (Roma, Neighbouring Sounds, or A Fantastic Woman)  and analyze 5 shots using the template provided. Due Sep 30

Peer Reviews (5%)

Using the rubric, please grade each of your peer's Shot-by-Shot scene analysis. The answer you give them is either correct (1 point) or incorrect (0 points) for a total of 5 points (1 for each shot).

You must also write one comment, in which you give the correct answer(s) for anything your peer got wrong. You will do this for two peers. You will be graded on whether your answers are correct. Each peer review is worth 5 points for a total of 10 points. Due Oct 7

Collaborative Video Essay

In this group assignment, students will develop a collaborative scene analysis project using the affordances of the video essay. In it, your group will choose a scene from a film on the list provided that you find to be particularly significant, either in terms of its cinematography, its importance in the film’s context, or its historical/political relevance. The assignment will be scaffolded over various weeks, with distinct graded components:

• Video Essay Group Review (4% )
  • Group finds a relatively short (5 minutes or less) video essay you really like—or conversely, really dislike or feel ambivalent about. Write a group review (300 words) of it. Be sure to include the link in your post. Due Oct 28.
• Video Essay Proposal (4%) 
  • Proposal for video essay (250 words). Include citations for at least one peer-reviewed and one popular source). Due Nov 4.
• Collaborative Video Essay (20%)
  • In this group assignment, students will develop a collaborative scene analysis project using the affordances of the video essay. In it, your group will analyze a scene from a film from the list of Latin American films. Due Nov 28.
• Commentary on Collaborative Video Essay (4%)
  • In this individual assignment, you will provide context for your video essay in a 500-words accompanying text. Due Nov 30.

Tests (40%=20%x2)

There are two tests in this class. Both are take-home, open-book tests with a variety of shorter and longer answers. Each one will be available for a 3-day period.

Test 1 (20%) Available from Oct 22-24.This first test covers the following films, and includes material from the readings, lectures, and any additional materials included in the Modules for each of the weeks:

• Roma
• Neighbouring Sounds
• A Fantastic Woman
• The Holy Girl
• Zama
• When Two Worlds Collide

Test 2 (20%) Available from Dec 6-8. This first test covers the following films, and includes material from the readings, lectures, and any additional materials included in the Modules for each of the weeks:

• Embrace of the Serpent
• Land and Shadow
• Silent Light
• Tempestad
• I’m No Longer Here

Participation/Discussions (10%)

There are Discussion threads for each of the films, and I encourage you to get into conversations there, either by responding to one of the posted questions, or beginning a thread of your own. It is not obligatory, anymore than having to talk in a large in-person lecture class would be. But it is strongly encouraged, because that way we will have a chance to get to know each other. Aim to participate at a minimum of 3 times. You can also be present by contributing answers to the Q and A Forum.

*****Please note that for every one of the assignments, there is a due date. You may turn in ONE assignment up to three days (72 hours) after the due date, no questions asked. After that, you will be asked to provide an explanation and/or documentation of why you need an extension.