Film Studies: Asian and Pasifika Cinema
Course Description
This seminar introduces students to critical studies of Asian and Pasifika cinema. In the early part of the semester, students will gain a grounding in film theory with attention to formalism, semiology, and psychoanalysis. We will then turn to case studies from Taiwan, Aotearoa/NZ, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, and Hawaiʻi. One of the main goals of the course is to expose students to a range of innovative film and media theories, methods, and conceptual frameworks used to study contemporary screen cultures in Asia and the Pacific. One salient question we will ask is: how have scholars of Asian and Pacific film forged critical methods that both draw on and depart from Western film theories?
In addition to our in-class student-led discussions, students will also attend a minimum of two screenings at HIFF (held in November). Students will choose one screening/event that is Asia-focused and the other Pasifika-focused. Additionally, my plan is to invite at least one Kanaka or Indigenous Pacific filmmaker as a guest speaker to the class. Attached to the experiential learning of attending HIFF, each student must interview a working film or media professional working in Asian and Pasifika cinema. Finally, at the end of the semester, students will present a conference paper in class that demonstrates their best thinking, analysis, and research.
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Identify various methods and frameworks scholars use to study Asian and Pasifika cinema
- Confidently lead a group discussion that goes beyond summarizing texts
- Formally analyze film and other visual media
- Situate Asian and Pasifika film historically with reference to technology, industry, and social-political-cultural contexts
- Navigate Asian and Pasifika film festivals and conduct interviews with film professionals
- Compose and present a conference paper suitable for professional academic conferences in media studies
Required Texts
All texts will be provided as PDFs. However, students will be required to attend at least one Asian and one Pasifika film screening/event at HIFF.
The following is a sample of books/articles, and films that may (will likely) be included in the course:
Books/articles
The Cinema of Jia Zhangke: Realism and Memory in Chinese Film, Cecilia Mello
City of Screens: Imagining Audiences in Manila’s Alternative Film Culture, Jasmine Trice
Cruisy, Sleepy, Melancholy: Sexual Disorientation in the Films of Tsai Ming-Liang, Nicholas de Villiers
Eye of the Taika: New Zealand Comedy and the Films of Taika Waititi, Matthew Bannister
Ghostly Desires: Queer Sexuality and Vernacular Buddhism in Contemporary Thai Cinema, Anika Furhmann
Networking Asia Pacific: Queer Film Festivals and the Spatiotemporal Politics of Inter-referencing, Jia Tan
An Ocean of Images: Film and History in the Pacific, Jane Landman & Chris Ballard
Planet Hong Kong, David Bordwell
Serial and Palimpsest Landscape in Vietnamese Cinema, Earl Jackson Jr.
Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era, Kyung Hyun Kim
Films
Afterlife
Goodbye Dragon Inn
Happy Together
The Land Has Eyes
Memories of a Murder
A Touch of Sin
Tropical Malady
Viet and Nam
Waikīkī
Assignments
The major assignments for the course include: 1) leading a class discussion, 2) attending two screenings at HIFF 3) interviewing a working film professional 4) composing and presenting a conference paper.