The course provides an insight into the issues of modern Czechoslovak history and socio-cultural developments as documented by both major feature films and documentaries by leading Czech and Slovak directors (including Academy Award Laureates Miloš Forman and Jiří Menzel). Film screenings will include movies covering World War II, the Stalinist fifties, and the period of political and cultural thaw of the sixties as well as the most significant works following the 1968 Soviet invasion. Students will also have an opportunity to learn more about the post-1989 Velvet Revolution trends and controversies in Czech film art.
Viewed against the general backdrop of key historical events, the participants will gain more intimate knowledge and understanding of the specifics of the unique modern Central European experience as interpreted by famous filmmakers, many of whom helped create the phenomenon of the Czech New Wave in Cinema, recognized all over the world as one of the major contributions to the art of film. Course requirements: students are required to attend the screenings, read respective review articles (using a course reading pack and the professor’s handouts), become familiar with cultural and political background of the screened films and participate actively in the discussions. There are 2-3 pages of a response to the film required weekly. They serve as guidance for discussions. There will be a short mid-term test and a final essay written on given topics (10 - 12 pages).
The course meets twice a week for total of 7.5 hours a week.

Ivana Doležalová

film lecturer and journalist has worked as a Fulbright Scholar with the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the North­western University in 1994-96, and returned there as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 1996 and 1999. An integral part of her teaching activities in the US were courses on Czech fea­ture film and documentary. Specifically, she has taught courses on "Czech Feature Films of the Past Few Decades", "Czech Documentary Film at a Crossroad", and "Central Euro­pean Film and Literature". While in the US, she lectured at various universities, Harvard and Stanford Universities, Northwestern University, and the University of Washington among them. In the course of the past decades she has also worked with various media, National Public Radio, The New York Times, ABC, PBS,BBC and has published articles and interviews in Respekt weekly and Presence quarterly.