Representations Of Destruction: The Holocaust And Film

With Aaron Kerner,

Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies,

San Francisco State University

Co-sponsored with the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Contact Information:

Email the instructor: amkerner@sfsu.edu

See the instructor's webpage:

http://online.sfsu.edu/~amkerner/index.html

The Taube Center for Jewish Life

http://www.jccsf.org/taube_about.htm

Course Description:

As the Holocaust slips farther back in time there is a building sense of anxiety. What will happen when all the survivors are gone? How will this catastrophic episode in history be told? We refer to the Holocaust as incomprehensible, unimaginable and unspeakable, however, we are compelled to give it form. There are contentious debates about what form Holocaust narratives should take. Over the course of four sessions, we will look at a wide variety of clips exploring narrative, documentary and artistic approaches to representing the Holocaust.

Wednesdays, 4/14 - 5/12 (no class 4/28)

(4 classes), 7:30 - 9:30 pm

Series: M $50 | P $60 ........................................ JPSHOAH

Drop-In: M $15 | P $18 ...................................... JPSHOAHDI

1. April 14, 2004

Why not the Golem? Narrative approaches to the Holocaust

1. Der Golem, Paul Wegener, 1920.
2. X-men, Bryan Singer, 2000.
3. Ararat, Atom Egoyan, 2003.
2. April 21, 2004

Documentary narratives and the Holocaust

1. Night and Fog, Alain Resnais, 1955.
2. Shoah Claude Lanzmann, 1985.
3. Memory of the Camps, Frontline Production, 1996.

No class meeting on April 28, 2004

3. May 5, 2004

      Artistic approaches to the Holocaust

1. "The Devil is a Gentleman," 60 Minutes.
2. Christian Boltanski, Gerald Fox, 1994/97.
3. Free Fall, Peter Forgacs, 1996
4. Human Remains, Jay Rosenblatt, 1998
4. May 12, 2004

Revisionists and the legacy of history, testimony and memory

1. "Cursed Ground," Nightline, 11/15/2002.
2. Mr. Death, Errol Morris, 1999.