Screening Report

Screening report (on a film from unit 3 on "Third Cinema"): 15% of the final grade. To be discussed orally in class on March 26, with written versions due on Moodle by midnight (a 24-hour extension is available with advance notice). Approximately 3 pages (750 words) incorporating three dimensions: 1. Scene Details (identification of the scene chosen for analysis and description, using appropriate film terms, of major aspects of the scene); 2. Scene Summary (a recasting of the scene details in terms of a guiding concept that provides a rationale for the cinematic choices involved); 3. Scene analysis (connects particular scene chosen to course themes and objectives). It is OK to choose only one segment of a scene for analysis so long as you include an explicit rationale for doing so. The two Sample Screening Reports put together by Karen Casto of Western Washington University differ in that the first is organized into three separate sections (scene details, scene summary, scene analysis) and the second blends the three dimensions into a unitary narrative. You are free to follow either model, depending on what comes more naturally to you. In terms of what is meant by "preliminary draft," it could be in the form of an outline or notes with commentary or whatever you find most helpful (we will be discussing these preliminary drafts orally but I will not be collecting them in class).

As with last semester's screening report, use ch. 2 of the Corrigan text to help you begin to think about how you can develop your initial impressions and questions into the analysis of a particular segment from Blood of the Condor or Battle of Chile. Consider as well how you might integrate your interests in other art forms (theater, dance, etc.) or subjects (economics, politics, psychology, etc.) into this assignment. Use the Michael Chanan documentary, the selections from the Roy Armes book and other materials on "Third Cinema" in the course schedule to help you think through some of the implications of the rejection of Hollywood paradigms by Latin American filmmakers of the 60s and 70s. While screening reports do not customarily include a list of "Works Cited," feel free to include quotes from the filmmakers or refer briefly to ideas found in one or more secondary source materials, with the relevant bibliographic information included in a footnote. What you don't want is for it to read too much like an analytical essay at the expense of the descriptive immediacy and the focus on cinematic techniques characteristic of a screening report.

BLOOD OF THE CONDOR

Secondary materials for Blood of the Condor: (1) Roy Armes, "Jorge Sanjinés," in Third World Film Making (1987), pp. 293-304 ACLS Humanities E-Book; (2) Stephen M. Hart, "Blood of the Condor," in A Companion to Latin American Film (2004), pp. 69-76 Moodle Hart, Blood; (3) Chris Lippard, "National, Cultural, and Linguistic (In)Securities: Perceptions of the United States in Some Bolivian Films," in E Pluribus Unum?: National and Transnational Identities in the Americas (2005), pp. 193-204 Moodle Lippard; (4) Stephen M. Hart, "Mama Coca and the Revolution: Jorge Sanjinés's Double-Take," in Contemporary Latin American Cultural Studies (2003), pp. 290-299 Moodle Hart, Mama; (5) Julianne Burton, "Jorge Sanjinés (Bolivia)," in Cinema and Social Change in Latin America (1986), pp. 35-47 Moodle Burton, Sanjinés

Scenes

1. Ignacio Mallku returns home drunk after attacking the “gringos” at the Maternity Center and assaults his wife, Paulina Yanahuaya
2. Ignacio and Paulina climb the mountain to bury the miniatures of the unborn children (a boy and a girl) who they can no longer have because of Paulina’s sterilization (includes title credits)
3. Ignacio and Paulina return to their village where they are told that the Intendant (the local law enforcement officer) knows what happened the night before. Soldiers come to Ignacio’s house to arrest him and, with the Intendant, take him and other men to a remote site and shoot them
4. Ignacio, still alive, is carried by men on an improvised stretcher to the nearest highway, where they put him and Paulina on a truck to La Paz
5. The end of the factory shift where Ignacio’s brother Sixto works and Sixto’s other activities until he returns home to find Paulina and Ignacio waiting for him
6. Sixto and Paulina take Ignacio to the hospital and speak with Doctor Moreno
7. Flashback to events leading up to the shooting, with voiceover by Paulina, beginning with a celebration on the occasion of Ignacio’s election as head of his village
8. Flashback to a divination session in which the fortune teller discovers some “impediment” that is preventing Paulina from having more children, followed by a family conference in which various possible explanations are debated
9. Flashback to Paulina who encounters the “gringos” from the Progress Corp on her way to the market to sell eggs
10.  Sixto visits his “comadre” at her restaurant to ask for a loan to pay for blood and medicines for his brother Ignacio. Paulina, meanwhile, waits in the hospital
11.  Flashback to Ignacio visiting other villages to gather information about women experiencing infertility and whether they gave birth at the Progress Corp’s Maternity Center
12.  As Sixto tries to sell his bed to get money, he comes across a military parade in the city center
13.  Flashback to villagers who gather to receive gifts of clothing from the Progress Corp, with the Intendant serving as translator
14.  Flashback to an offering to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) to pray “that our race does not perish,” followed by flashback to Maternity Center where villagers have returned the clothes
15.  Doctor Moreno checks on Ignacio in the hospital and tells Paulina (through a translator) that he will die unless he gets the blood and medicine immediately. Meanwhile, Sixto in the marketplace, desperate for cash, follows a woman to steal her purse, but can’t follow through
16.  Doctor Moreno gives Sixto the address of a doctor who runs a blood bank, Dr. Millán, and promises to call him
17.  Flashback to Ignacio who goes to the Maternity Center to investigate and sees a sterilization operation in progress, followed by a visit to Ignacio by Tom and the woman from the Progress Corp, but Ignacio is on the mountain "filling himself with light”
18. Sixto goes to Dr. Millán’s house and convinces his wife to take him to the luncheon where Dr Millán is honoring four doctors (mostly from the U.S.) who have donated money and supplies to his blood bank
19.  Flashback to a ceremony at night with offerings to ascertain the truth about the foreigner’s responsibility for the women’s inability to conceive, followed by a conference among the villagers who take torches and march to the Maternity Center, drag the “gringos” outside and punish them for what they did
20.  Sixto interrupts the luncheon speech, but is turned away by Dr. Millán. On his return to the hospital, he finds Ignacio dead
21.  Paulina and Sixto return to their village

BATTLE OF CHILE

Batalla de Chile: Lucha de un pueblo sin armas, aka Battle of Chile: Struggle of an Unarmed People. Pt. 1. La insurrección de la burguesía, aka The insurrection of the bourgeoisie, Chile/Cuba, 1974, 96 min., prod. cos. Equipo Tercer Año, Chris Marker, ICAIC (Instituto Cubano de Cine). The filming process in Chile from 1972-1973 was essentially the work of a team of five people: director, Patricio Guzmán; cinematographer, Jorge Müller, assistant director, José Pino; sound technician, Bernardo Menz; fundraising, Federico Elton. The editing process in Cuba was primarily the work of Pedro Chaskel.

Scenes

1. Popular Unity and the opposition face off
2. From the electoral phase to the strategy of the coup d’etat
3. Hoarding and black market
4. Parliamentary boycott
5. Students in the streets
6. Offensive of the managerial organizations
7. The copper strike financed by the Nixon administration
8. The insurrectionary “rehearsal” of June 29th

Secondary materials for Battle of Chile: (1) Julianne Burton, "Patricio Guzmán (Chile)," in Cinema and Social Change in Latin America (1986), pp. 48-68 Moodle Burton, Guzmán; (2) Ana M. Lopez, "The Battle of Chile: Documentary, Political Process, and Representation," in The Social Documentary in Latin America (1990), pp.267-287 Moodle Lopez, Battle; (3) Stephen M. Hart, "La batalla de Chile," in A Companion to Latin American Film (2004), pp. 77-82 Moodle Hart, Battle; (4) Press Kit for the DVD release in North America of the three-part documentary (ICARUS Films); (5) Chile, Memoria obstinada (aka Chile, Obstinate Memory, Canada, 1997, 75 min.), including bonus interview of Patricio Guzmán by film critic and essayist José Carlos Avellar