MP6045 - Transnational Cinemas

What will I learn on this module?

This module will introduce students to transnational cinema with an aim to help them understand creative practices and filmmaking contexts beyond Europe and North America. It will provide critical overviews of transnational cinema, migration and diaspora, national and anticolonial positionalities in relation to film movements, and production and distribution contexts. The module will enable students to critically engage not only with films beyond the western mainstream or arthouse cinema but also with how globalisation necessitates transnational collaborations as a survival strategy to counter Hollywood’s dominance in the global market. Students will also engage with debates and discussion on, for example, Transnational vs Global/World cinema, First/Second/Third Cinema, Imperfect Cinema/Aesthetics of Hunger and film manifestoes from the Global South. Through critical, historical, and productional sessions along with screenings of films, the module will enable students to produce critically informed work that challenges prevailing understanding about cinema furthering the goal of decolonising the film curriculum.

How will I learn on this module?

The module is taught via a lecture (two hours) and associated seminar/workshops (one hour) and peer learning sessions (one hour). The lectures will introduce students to key historical and conceptual issues, and relevant film examples. Seminar/workshop activities will strengthen student knowledge and critical and analytical reflection upon the issues under discussion. Peer learnings will be geared towards be geared to focus on developing practical work and to partake in film analysis (whereas seminars will be mostly aimed towards discussion of theoretical/conceptual elements). Finally, tutorials support students with specific issues, not least concerning assessment. Students are required to make positive contributions to the learning experience. Each week, students will be required to watch a relevant film that will provide a case-study for that week’s lecture and seminar. They are also expected to prepare for each seminar by undertaking the weekly required reading, made available via the e-learning portal. They are also encouraged to develop communication and teamwork skills by taking an active part in group seminar tasks.

How will I be supported academically on this module?

The module combines critical and historical analysis with practical elements. As such, the teaching will combine critical lectures, critical seminars, and practice-oriented workshops. The critical elements provide conceptual tools and historical awareness of transnational cinema and should feed into the practical components. Class material (such as Powerpoint slides, links to film clips and discussion points) will be accessible via Blackboard, along with weekly essential and further reading material (see the Learning Resources and Activities folder to access all this material, organised by week). The electronic reading list will link you directly to key sources, allowing you to access them anytime and anywhere.

What will I be expected to read on this module?

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

What will I be expected to achieve?

Knowledge and Understanding:
• Demonstrate awareness of filmmaking practices that aim to challenge dominant modes of cinema
• Understand key theoretical and critical approaches to transnational cinemas

Intellectual/Professional Skills and Abilities:
• Create a video essay or a written essay which engages critically with relevant academic work
• Demonstrate planning and organisation skills by delivering rigorous, polished work in accordance with the deadlines set
Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• Question the politics of film content, distribution and reception from a transnational perspective

How will I be assessed?

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: To prepare you successfully to undertake the summative assessment(s) on this module, formative assessments will be set by the module team. These may take the form of in-class tasks or projects, developmental activities undertaken between classes, or learning exercises/activities set over a longer period. Feedback (written and/or oral) will be provided to help you learn from, reflect on, and develop in light of these formative assessments.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT:

1) a 3000-word essay

OR

2) a video essay between 5 and 8 minutes accompanied by a 500-word summary and references

The assessment will map against all the MLOs. Written feedback will be provided to students via Turnitin.

Pre-requisite(s)

N/A

Co-requisite(s)

N/A

Module abstract

Transnational Cinema will introduce students to film history and cultural practices beyond western contexts. The module involves critical engagement with film texts, economic, industrial, and socio-cultural contexts of selected works of transnational filmmakers: at the end of the module, you will have gained an understanding of various contexts, debates and issues, and hurdles that filmmakers in various contexts encounter, and shifts in the pattern of transnational circulation of cinema made outside Europe and North America. For your assessment you could either write a 3000-word essay or create a video essay (5 to 8 minutes duration) along with a 500-word summary of your argument in the video essay addressing a topic choosing from areas covered by the module.

Course info

UCAS Code P315

Credits 20

Level of Study Undergraduate

Mode of Study 3 years Full Time or 4 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad

Department Northumbria School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries, Arts

Location City Campus, Northumbria University

City Newcastle

Start September 2025

Fee Information

Module Information

All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

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