ACF206 - Contemporary Topics in Screen Cultures

Unit details

Year

2025 unit information

Enrolment modes:Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Online
Credit point(s):1
EFTSL value:0.125
Unit Chair:Trimester 2: Sian Mitchell
Cohort rule:Nil
Prerequisite:

Nil

Corequisite:Nil
Incompatible with:

ALC216, AMC236

Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment:

1 x 1-hour online lecture per week

1 x 2-hour on-campus seminar per week

Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment:

1 x 1-hour online lecture per week

1 x 2-hour online seminar per week

Typical study commitment:

Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit.

This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site.

Content

Film festivals are of increasing importance to filmmakers, industry professionals, audiences, and scholars alike. Emerging over 70-years ago to drive the global distribution of film, festivals now play a pivotal role in our understanding of local and international screen culture. Festivals also inform our appreciation of the creative industries economy. This unit offers a critical introduction to film festivals today. It explores major international festivals (such as the Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, and the Sundance Film Festival) and also addresses smaller and alternative festival circuits such as identity-based, genre, web, and retrospective film festivals in Australia and across the world. Topics we will explore include: different types of film festivals, festival hierarchies and circuits and the global festival landscape, festival programming and organisation, issues of film production,distribution and exhibition, the relationship between festivals, economies and cities, festivals and cultural capital, and the future of festivals.

Learning Outcomes

ULO These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can:

Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs)

ULO1

Explain the historical and contemporary contexts and functions of local and international film festivals

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities

GLO2: Communication

GLO8: Global citizenship

ULO2

Evaluate the topics and issues established in film festival studies and the study of screen culture

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities 

GLO4: Critical thinking

ULO3

Develop and plan a film festival program including themes, sections, logistics, and audience identification

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities

GLO2: Communication

GLO3: Digital literacy

GLO6: Self-management

Assessment

Assessment Description Student output Grading and weighting
(% total mark for unit)
Indicative due week
Assessment 1: (Individual or Group) Film/Web-festival presentation 1200 words
or equivalent
(5-minutes for an individual,
10-minutes for a group)
30% Ongoing
Assessment 2: Program review 1200 words
or equivalent
30% Week 7
Assessment 3: Plan a short film festival program 1600 words
or equivalent
40% Week 11

The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.

Learning resource

The texts and reading list for ACF206 can be found via the University Library.

Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.

Unit Fee Information

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