Italian Language and Cinema
in Tuscany (ITAL S116)
Prof.ssa Millicent Marcus & Prof.ssa Eleonora Buonocore
Millicent.marcus@yale.edu, Eleonora.buonocore@yale.edu
Regular meeting times (unless otherwise noted)
1. Italian Language: 9:00-10:30am
2. Cinema in Tuscany: 10:40-12:10 (class), 2-4pm (screenings,
depending on film length)
Testi
1. Suzanne Branciforte & Elvira G. Di Fabio, Parliamo italiano! (4th edition)
2. Parliamo italiano! Student Activities Manual
3. a good Italian-English dictionary
date
24
Italian Language
Benvenuti!
Unità preliminare: 2-16: Le
presentazioni; I saluti;
L’alfabeto; I numeri da 0 a
100.
Cinema in Tuscany
afternoon events
Introduction to
Screening: Room with a View*
course
*Though some of you watched this film during our get-together in April, I am asking
that you join us to screen it again, in the
light of the particular viewing techniques and
analytical tools that I’ll be introducing during
the first day of class. (It is never a mistake
to view such rich, sophisticated, and multilayered films more than once!)
25
26
Unità 1: 18-32; La geografia;
La città.
Unità 1: 33-50; I mesi
dell’anno; La data
27
28
Unità 2: 62-68; La lezione;
100-102; vocabolario.
Unità 2: 69-86; La casa dello
studente; L’università
Analysis of film
Florentine episode of
Screening: Tea With Mussolini
Paisan
Analysis of film
San Gimignano
2:00 (Piazza Gramsci)
Historical Overview
1
WB: Unità preliminare-Unità The Italian Shoah
Unità 2: 87-93; La vita scolastica.
2
The Palio on FIlm
Il Palio!
Tema 1a
Unità 3: 121-133: Il tempo, In centro, Unità 3:
143-144; vocabolario.
Screening: Life Is Beautiful
Screening: The Sky Is Falling
Unità 3: 104-120: La famiglia, La casa
3
Analysis of The Sky Is Falling
4
5
8
9
10
Analysis of Film
Unità 4: 146-155: Al mercato all’aperto
Tema 1b.
WB: Unità 3-4
Unità 4: 166-180: I soldi; Le
commissioni; I negozi
Cinema and Painting
Florence Trip
Unità 5: 188-205: Al bar; In
trattoria
Discussion of papers,
Screening: La prima cosa bella
Tema 2a.
Unità 5: 206-214: Al
ristorante; In cucina
Unità 6: 232-238: Il tempo
libero
Analysis of film
11
Unità 6: 239-261; Lo sport.
12
Theory of melodrama
The Etruscans!
Screening: Sandra
Analysis of film
Unità 6: 239-261; La passeggiata;
Al mare e in montagna
Partenza per Roma!
Rome trip
15
Wb: Unità 5-6
Unità 6: 269-270; vocabolario
ripasso generale; ripasso
Unità 6
Discussion of papers:
Screening: Night of the
San Miniato 1944,
Shooting Stars
Visit by survivor of
Montemaggio Massacre
16
Tema 3a
Analysis of film
Field trip: WWII Tuscany
17
18
Unità 7: 272-280: Il corpo, la
salute
Unità 7: 281-299:
The Tavianis
L’abbigliamento; Fare acquisti
Unità 7: 300-306; La moda; Analysis of film
316-318; vocabolario
19
22
Screening: Good Morning
Babylon
Pisa and Beach trip
Tema 4a
Unità 8: 320-338; Le professioni; I mezzi di trasporto
Discussion of papers:
Analysis of film
24
Unità 8: 339-353;
L’industria; Il colloquio di
lavoro
ripasso per l’esame finale
25
Wb: Unità 7-8
26
Tema 4b
23
Screening: Fiorile
Pasolini’s Decameron:
A Regional Heresy
Screening: Stealing Beauty
Analysis of film
Italian Language
Requirements:
1. Italian only: Italian S-116 is conducted entirely in
Italian. You will be expected to speak only Italian in
class. As you become more proficient, you will also
speak in Italian with classmates, other Yale students,
and instructors.
2. Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory and will be
marked each day. Italian S-116 is an intensive and
highly interactive course and requires a strong
commitment from the student in terms of attendance,
homework assignments and participation. Students will
be allowed one absence from the language component
during the summer session (1½ hours total of class
time). More than one absence/1½ hours of class time,
Cinema in Tuscany
Requirements:
1. Attendance: Same as for the course on
Italian Language
2. Weekly response papers: Brief (minimum 500 words) critical responses to the
films presented in a given week. Due on
Mondays. These essays will then provide
the framework for informal, student-led
discussions.
3. Class participation: Serious and lively
student engagement in class discussion is
vital to the success of our seminar.
and/or excessive tardiness, will adversely affect a
student’s grade, and may result in his/her being asked
to withdraw from the course. Absences for religious
holidays are excused.
3. Three tardies (five to ten minutes late to class) will
count as one absence.
4. Exams: There are six 60-minute exams over the course
of our five-week session. Your lowest exam score will
be dropped and only five will be counted toward the
exam component of your semester grade. Make-up
exams are not allowed.
5. Compositions: Rough draft compositions (“a”) are due
as indicated on the syllabus; rewritten compositions
(“b”) are due on Fridays, including travel days. The
rough draft counts for one-half of the grade on your
compositions. Write your rough drafts carefully.
6. Your Student Activities Manual has three sections: a
Workbook, a Lab Manual, and a Video Manual. You are
responsible for the Workbook section only, given the
vagaries of internet access in Siena. Workbooks (“Wb”
on the syllabus) must be turned in, two units at a time,
as indicated on the syllabus. Make sure to correct your
Wb units using the Answer Key distributed via email in
May (and also available on classes*v2).
Grade Breakdown
Class attendance and partici15%
pation
Compositions
20%
Workbook (timely comple10%
tion, self-correction)
Exams
35%
Final Exam
20%
N.B. Failure to receive a passing grade on any one component of the final grade will result in an F for the course as
a whole.
4. Comprehensive final exam involving definitions, identifications, and essay question(s).
5. Final project—student-made films (don’t
be intimidated, reassuring details to be discussed in class), to be screened on the last
day of class. The fifth of the short essays
will be an account of your filmmaking process.
Grade Breakdown
Participation
Essays
Final Exam
25%
50%
25%
N.B. Failure to receive a passing grade on
any one component of the final grade will
result in an F for the course as a whole.