Class Cinematic Aesthetics - Film Club

The Cinematic Aesthetics - Cineclube course invites reflection on the formal aspects of cinema, exploring its unique characteristics as an art form and its relationship with contemporary filmmaking. Drawing on philosophical aesthetics and film theory, the course analyses cinema as an organised sensory experience, exploring the processes that shape it. Various approaches to film aesthetics have been developed by filmmakers, philosophers, and film theorists, enabling us to reconsider the role of cinema within contemporary art. As an art form characterised by contamination between forms, and in relation to other arts and cultural practices, cinema requires an approach that combines aesthetics, the theory and history of cinema, and contributions from film studies. This is achieved through the viewing and critical discussion of films at the integrated Cineclube, with a particular focus on contemporary Portuguese cinema.

Not applicable

I. Set Design, Art Direction and Production Design 1. Anachronism and cinematic aesthetics 2. Set design in mise-en-scène 3. Device, heterotopia and regimes of visibility II. Cinema, Modernity and Aesthetics 1. Introduction to aesthetics: from the sensible to art and cinema 2. The crisis of aesthetic modernity and the emergence of cinema 3. Modernity, cinematism and the specificity of cinema 4. The operations of cinema: from montage to constellation III. Cineclub 

The course is accompanied by guided reading, case studies illustrating various aspects of the subject, and supervision of individual papers with regular discussions. The module combines lectures, analysis of film clips and screening sessions at the Cineclub. It includes guided critical discussions, group analysis of film sequences and written reflection on cinematic works. The use of the Moodle platform enables the provision of materials, bibliography and support for students' independent study.

Albera, F., & Tortajada, M. (2010). The 1900 episteme. In F. Albera & M. Tortajada, Cinema beyond film (pp. xx-xx). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Badiou, A. (2004). The false movements of cinema. In A. Badiou, Handbook of inaesthetics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Bulgakowa, O. (2013). From stage to brain: Montage as a new principle of scientific narrative. Sign Systems Studies, 41(2-3), 200-218. Cordeiro, E. (2024). Forma e cinema. Vila Nova de Famalicão: Edições Húmus. Godard, J.-L., & Pelechian, A. (1992, April 2). Un langage d'avant Babel: Conversation entre Artavazd Pelechian et Jean-Luc Godard. Le Monde. Hansen, M. B. (2013). Cinema and experience: Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Miranda, J. B. de. (2019). Fotografia e arqueologia do materialismo. In AAVV, Fundamento e Imersão (pp.95-146). Lisboa: Orfeu Negro Rancière, J. (2006). Introduction. In Film fables. New York, NY: Berg.