Basic Information

  • Course Code: DE410
  • Course Name: Perspectives on World Cinema
  • Course Offered In: 2022-23
  • Semester Season: Spring
  • Instructors: Prof. Mazhar Kamran
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Difficulty (1 being easy and 5 being tough): 2

Course Content

The course revolves around older classical cinema from the earlier 20th century. Mostly Italian, Russian, Japanese and Iranian cinema. The instructor chooses 3-4 directors from every region and then screens their movies.

The marks distribution of the course was: 20% Attendance 40% Film Diary 40% Presentation on any contemporary filmmaker

We had movie screenings in IDC auditorium every Friday night and classes on every Wednesday in the minor slot. The classes were pretty interesting as the instructor talked about the socio-political and the economic effect the filmmakers had on the era. The instructor largely focused on explaining the ideology of the director. We could make notes, by choice, there was no compulsion. We had to maintain a ‘Film Diary’. In that we had to write a review about each film that was screened. It was open ended and no rules or a blueprint was provided. The instructor preferred hand-written Film Diaries. While many people submitted typed out Diaries(including me), there was no restriction to the content whatsoever. At the end of the course, we had to present on a Film-maker of our choice. I presented on Wes Anderson, while many people chose Italian, Russian directors. It was all up to us, but we had to confirm our choice with the instructor first.

Overall it’s a very chill course. I took it because I was interested in the topic and wanted a nice Institute Elective.

Feedback on Lectures

Try to attend every lecture and participate in the class as it can significantly affect your connection with the Prof. The instructor does consider class participation while grading.

Feedback on Evaluations

The grades were pretty good.

Study Material and Resources

Movies😀, IMDB

Follow-up Courses

None that I know of.

Final Takeaway

Chill course, good grading, an excuse to watch movies I guess.