UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This course explores the ways in which filmmakers have engaged with the notion of ingenuousness primarily through feature film and documentary forms over the last 40 years. The course will look at films directed, produced and written by indigenous and non-indigenous film-makers. We will examine films from a number of different geographical areas, concentrating on North America (the United States and Canada), Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, and Southern Africa. We will also be looking at a select number of films from other areas in relationship to specific issues, these include Tuvalu, Kazakhstan and Guatemala. As part of the course structure, we will also be engaging with a number of specific issues. These include colonialism, identity, the importance of land, environmental destruction, gender, coming of age, new media platforms, the impact of commercial media, and commodification and appropriation of indigenous peoples. A select number of film-makers will also be joining the course as guest lecturers.