Natalia Plagmann

Beginning Russian
This course is an approach to the language using four skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). It provides a firm control of the sound system and the structure of Russian. Although much emphasis is put on the spoken colloquial language, reading, writing, and a conscious understanding of the fundamentals of grammar prepare a strong foundation for work in advanced courses or for reading in specialized fields. 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. drill.

Eccentric Cinema: Films and Their Authors from the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Russia (in English)
In this course we will study the history and theory of Soviet, Eastern European, and Russian cinema and watch the most significant films directed by Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, and Hungarian filmmakers. Beginning with the Soviet cinema of the 1920s-1930s (Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, Aleksandr Dovzhenko), we will explore avant-garde techniques of cinematic narration. We will examine eccentric cinema of the 1960s-1970s with a generation of groundbreaking filmmakers across the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union: Vera Chytilová and Miloš Forman, Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieślowski, Larisa Shepitko and Kira Muratova. We will continue with analyses of Russian and East European auteur cinema (Béla Tarr, Agnieszka Holland, Andrei Tarkovsky) and conclude with films released in post-Socialist Russia and Eastern Europe. (Taught in English.)