The Freie Universitaet Berlin (Germany) has the pleasure to offer to you an International Summer University courses on "Berlin: Cinematic City - National Site". The International Summer University will take place from July 22 through August 18, 2000. The language of instruction will be English. This course will focus on cinematic representations of Berlin in three periods of socio-political crisis and transition: the late Weimar Republic before 1933, the post-war era after 1945 and the years before and after re-unification in 1989. We shall explore how urban pace was constructed and contested in cultural production during these times of unstable and controversial national identity. The Weimar Republic is remembered as one of the most turbulent and creative periods in the history of the twentieth century. The social, political and cultural aspects of Berlin in those years have become synonymous with the positive and negative sides of the vast modern metropolis, whose innovations have influenced subsequent developments throughout the century. Focusing on the interrelations with different media, we shall analyze how processes of social change and notions such as the white-collar and blue-collar worker and the new woman come into representation in a wide variety of films that play in Berlin. The documentary "Berlin, die Sinfonie der Großstadt" (1927, Walther Ruttman) will be read as a prototypical narrative of arrival in the city. "Menschen am Sonntag" (1930, Robert Siodmak) will serve as an introduction to a world of "little shopgirls", of urban leisure and amusement at the height of Germany's modernity. Fritz Lang's thriller "M" (1931), representing Berlin as a dangerous space, reigned by mass media and psychosis, set the tone for many urban thrillers produced since. "Kuhle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt" (1932, Slatan Dudow & Bertolt Brecht) and "Hitlerjunge Quex" (1933, Heinz Steinhoff) also depict the streets of Berlin as a contested space and the plight of the working class during the Nazi's rise to power. During the post-war era, the city was occupied and divided. The "rubble films" reflected different interests at stake in projecting memories of the past in the light of new beginnings. We shall compare different tales of redemption such as "Die Mörder sind unter uns" (1946, Wolfgang Staudte) and include "foreign" perspectives such as Rosellini's "Germania Anno Zero" (1947, Roberto Rossellini) and the American production "A Foreign Affair" (1948, Billy Wilder). Films of the cold war period, such as "The Divided Sky" (1964, Konrad Wolf & Christa Wolf) and "Der Himmel über Berlin/Wings of Desire" (1987, Wim Wenders) again focus on Berlin as a politically charged site that symbolizes divisions and ruptures on the political and personal level. The reunification of Germany has once again made Berlin a contested space of national significance. The dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in the new capital becomes apparent in a new New German Cinema - made by young Turks in films such as "Berlin in Berlin" (1993, Sinan Cetin). Immigrants populate the construction sites at the heart of the city and celebrate multicultural grill parties against the backdrop of the Reichstag building in "Ich Chef, Du Turnschuh" (1998, Hussi Kutlucan). The prize-winning film "Lola rennt" (1998, Tom Tykwer) also feeds on the spirit of the construction site. Despite its postmodern video clip aesthetics, the film recycles strategies of representing urban simultaneity, which is familiar from the experimental documentaries of the twenties. The course will include film screenings and excursions to historical and present film production sites. This class will be instructed by Prof. Anton Kaes and Dr. Deniz Goektuerk. Professor Kaes teaches film theory, Film Noir, Expressionism, Weimar Cinema and New German Cinema at Berkeley. Dr. Goektuerk a lecturer in German and Film Studies at the University of Southampton. The tuition for this course is DM 1,200.--. There is an additional onetime registration fee of DM 150.--. Besides the above mentioned course we offer 14 other fully-credited courses covering topics on Berlin, Germany, and Europe. More information on this course and the International Summer University in general can be obtained from the Internet at http://www.fu-berlin.de/summeruniversity. Contact person: Mr. Jens Westerfeld M.A. Freie Universität Berlin Abt. IV Kaiserswerther Str. 16-18 14195 Berlin Germany Tel.: +49 30 838 73 445 Fax: +49 30 838 73 444 Email: [log in to unmask] Please visit the FUBiS web site on the internet: http://www.fu-berlin.de/summeruniversity ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite