A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

This course explores humor and cinema from the perspectives of film theory, as well as other academic and theoretical writings on the cultural functions of humor. We will delve into the film comedy, its history and genre conventions, through in-depth exploration of sub-genres such as the slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and the mockumentary. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of comedic approaches in the film comedy and become familiar with differences in narration, style and technique. The course readings will provide students with insight into different theoretical perspectives on humor, as we approach the subject through various viewpoints, such as that of feminism, psychoanalysis, queer theory and affect theory. Films – as well as, to some extent, television and stand-up – from various countries and time periods, will always serve as the context through which we make sense of theoretical texts on the subject. This course invites students to both laugh and think, merging the enjoyment of humor with rigorous academic inquiry, with the goal of increasing our understanding of both the cinema and ourselves.

Modernism and postmodernism constitute perhaps the central artistic movements of the 20th century – it is even possible to see the century as divided between the periods associated with the twin aesthetic concepts. The invention of cinema itself harks back to the tumultous area of technological change and social upheavals that brought about the revolutionary artistic movements of the first decades of the century, while the development of the medium of film is no less closely aligned with the process of globalization, dizzying forms of cultural change and rapid pace of technological progress that constitute the postmodern condition. These connections between the medium of film and modernism and postmodernism demarcate the central research questions addressed in the class.

Among the themes and issues tackled in the class is how even the most radical avant garde artists found the „attractions“ of cinema hard to resist, these involving the range between experimental films and the works of Charlie Chaplin. Modernist critiques of cinema will however not be ignored, and these include the portrayal of mainstream Hollywood as a „culture industry“. Questions will be asked about the radical aesthetic reconfiguration of modernism as it moved between media to film, and in that context the class will be looking at Italian Neo-realism and the French New Wave. Next, the class will turn to the role of cinema in the development of the society of spectacle, paying attention to the suddenly troublesome and contested existence of the concept of „truth“ in postmodern times, nostalgia as a mode, the emergence of simulacra and the threat that notions of intertextuality and remediation pose to notions of originality and the „integrity“ of the work of art. Among films screened in the class will be Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936), Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson, 1951), Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952), Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986) and The Matrix (Wachowskis, 1999). Among the scholars to be read in the class are David Bordwell, Owen Hatherley, Jean-François Lyotard and Mark Fisher.

The course will explore a variety of films from the U.S. and other countries to highlight the evolution of the noir tradition. Students will engage with seven works of fiction, both domestic and international, that connect to this tradition in diverse ways.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

Early on, Lars von Trier declared that a film should be like a pebble in the audiences’ shoes. This has become a sort of motto for the director, who throughout his career has continually sought new ways to challenge audiences, whether through subject matter, style, or controversial statements. Trier caused a radical change in Danish cinema in the 1980s and permanently reshaped the Danish film industry. As Trier's fame grew in the 1990s, he became known as the "enfant terrible" of cinema and went on to have a significant influence on international filmmaking in the following decades.

The course will explore Trier's career from various perspectives and in a broad context, for example: the influence of European culture, formal experiments with the medium and inventive use of digital technology. Selected works by Trier, his collaborators, influencers, and followers, will be viewed with the aim of shedding light on the development of Trier’s career and his place within international cinema.

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Students will do an independent research project relating to the Workshop: The Icelandic Documentary Film

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Heritage cinema are costume drama, made in the last forty years, usually adapted from classical theatre and novels (Shakespeare, Austen, Balzac, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf). In the course students will read selection of classical novels from the 19th and the 20th century by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, E.M Forster, Evelyn Waugh og Jean Rhys, and these works will be analyzed in reference to heritage cinema and adaptations. Among themes and motifs investigated will be romance, nostalgia, relation between the sexes, masculinity, class division, psychosis and women‘s rank in the community.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

This course explores humor and cinema from the perspectives of film theory, as well as other academic and theoretical writings on the cultural functions of humor. We will delve into the film comedy, its history and genre conventions, through in-depth exploration of sub-genres such as the slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and the mockumentary. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of comedic approaches in the film comedy and become familiar with differences in narration, style and technique. The course readings will provide students with insight into different theoretical perspectives on humor, as we approach the subject through various viewpoints, such as that of feminism, psychoanalysis, queer theory and affect theory. Films – as well as, to some extent, television and stand-up – from various countries and time periods, will always serve as the context through which we make sense of theoretical texts on the subject. This course invites students to both laugh and think, merging the enjoyment of humor with rigorous academic inquiry, with the goal of increasing our understanding of both the cinema and ourselves.

Modernism and postmodernism constitute perhaps the central artistic movements of the 20th century – it is even possible to see the century as divided between the periods associated with the twin aesthetic concepts. The invention of cinema itself harks back to the tumultous area of technological change and social upheavals that brought about the revolutionary artistic movements of the first decades of the century, while the development of the medium of film is no less closely aligned with the process of globalization, dizzying forms of cultural change and rapid pace of technological progress that constitute the postmodern condition. These connections between the medium of film and modernism and postmodernism demarcate the central research questions addressed in the class.

Among the themes and issues tackled in the class is how even the most radical avant garde artists found the „attractions“ of cinema hard to resist, these involving the range between experimental films and the works of Charlie Chaplin. Modernist critiques of cinema will however not be ignored, and these include the portrayal of mainstream Hollywood as a „culture industry“. Questions will be asked about the radical aesthetic reconfiguration of modernism as it moved between media to film, and in that context the class will be looking at Italian Neo-realism and the French New Wave. Next, the class will turn to the role of cinema in the development of the society of spectacle, paying attention to the suddenly troublesome and contested existence of the concept of „truth“ in postmodern times, nostalgia as a mode, the emergence of simulacra and the threat that notions of intertextuality and remediation pose to notions of originality and the „integrity“ of the work of art. Among films screened in the class will be Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936), Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson, 1951), Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952), Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986) and The Matrix (Wachowskis, 1999). Among the scholars to be read in the class are David Bordwell, Owen Hatherley, Jean-François Lyotard and Mark Fisher.

The course will explore a variety of films from the U.S. and other countries to highlight the evolution of the noir tradition. Students will engage with seven works of fiction, both domestic and international, that connect to this tradition in diverse ways.

MA-thesis in Film Studies

In this course, MA students in Comparative literature, Cultural studies and Film studies prepare for their final thesis. The group meets every two weeks during the semester. In the first half of the semester, the focus is on selecting a thesis topic, determining and searching primary sources, formulating a research question and other questions about getting started with a final thesis. Students then turn their attention to the theoretical background for their work and its theoretical basis. This work also involves critical reflection on search methods and approaches to texts. The third part of the course is dedicated to student presentations and discussion, where students and instructors come together to discuss research proposals, give feedback and get constructive criticism. The final product of the course is a report with a research proposal, partial bibliography and commentary on thesis aims, theory and methods. Students are also required to write a working diary describing their preparation process and readings and explaining the relation of different texts to their work. Course evaluation is based on this working diary (20%), class presentation (25%) and final paper (55%).

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

Early on, Lars von Trier declared that a film should be like a pebble in the audiences’ shoes. This has become a sort of motto for the director, who throughout his career has continually sought new ways to challenge audiences, whether through subject matter, style, or controversial statements. Trier caused a radical change in Danish cinema in the 1980s and permanently reshaped the Danish film industry. As Trier's fame grew in the 1990s, he became known as the "enfant terrible" of cinema and went on to have a significant influence on international filmmaking in the following decades.

The course will explore Trier's career from various perspectives and in a broad context, for example: the influence of European culture, formal experiments with the medium and inventive use of digital technology. Selected works by Trier, his collaborators, influencers, and followers, will be viewed with the aim of shedding light on the development of Trier’s career and his place within international cinema.

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Students will do an independent research project relating to the Workshop: The Icelandic Documentary Film

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Heritage cinema are costume drama, made in the last forty years, usually adapted from classical theatre and novels (Shakespeare, Austen, Balzac, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf). In the course students will read selection of classical novels from the 19th and the 20th century by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, E.M Forster, Evelyn Waugh og Jean Rhys, and these works will be analyzed in reference to heritage cinema and adaptations. Among themes and motifs investigated will be romance, nostalgia, relation between the sexes, masculinity, class division, psychosis and women‘s rank in the community.

MA-thesis in Film Studies

What does Sunset Boulevard, double entendres, self-censorship, the Coen Brothers, and #metoo have in common? They all reveal that Hollywood is not quite the fantasy it poses to be.

A very real place and industry within Los Angeles, California, Hollywood has led in film production since the beginning of narrative film, yet its magic is created within the bland and sometimes devastating concrete lots, sound stages and offices of producers and agents.

This course aims to explore the reality of Hollywood and how it has functioned over time, to examine and critique its presentation and reputation through film and media. The course includes critical viewings of films that are based on both the myth and reality of Hollywood as well as critical readings on historical context, news/gossip, and the history of American narrative film.

Only 35 seats are available for ENS352M. Once the course is filled please contact Nikkita (nhp1@hi.is) to be added onto a waiting list in case a spot opens up.

Vikings are one of the most recognisable group of people from the past. Often seen as crazed berserker, with horned helmets, battle axes raised and ready, beautiful long hair billowing in the wind, they are thought of jumping out of longboats, running up the shore towards an unexpecting populace. This image crosses cultural barriers: Viking re-enactment societies exist in places with no actual Viking history. People proudly declare themselves Vikings as part of their identity and way of life. There is Viking metal, beers, foods, restaurants, and comic books. A further demonstration of the endurance of the Viking myth is the silver screen: The first Viking film came out in 1907 and are produced to this day. This, in turn, influences the use of Vikings in other areas, including the tourism sector, museum exhibitions, music industry, food and drink production and the video game industry.

This course introduces the various uses of Vikings in society, starting with tracing the history of the modern, popular culture Vikings back to Victorian times, all the way to Iceland during, and after the economic crash 2008-2011. Students will be shown the various uses of Vikings in the cultural sector, discussing the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the Viking imagery and its uses in the present and past. Learning Outcomes: Students – gain knowledge of the history of vikings as mediated through cultural artifacts and images – get a comprehensive overview of the mediation of the viking image in the 20th century – are able to analyze and discuss the most prominent mediation pracices and traditions in the 20th century – can analyze and situate historically the various mediated representations of vikings in contemporary culture.

This course focuses on examining how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in 21st century fiction and film. Special emphasis is placed on examining 21st century portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I.

This research project is linked to the course ENS505G - The Tudor Period as Presented in Contemporary Literature and Films. Students in the course ENS022G are encouraged to attend the lectures in ENS505G. 

Please note that students who have previously completed ENS505G cannot take this course.

Special Theme: Contemporaneity: Social Contexts in Recent Visual Texts

This course will offer an introduction to a range of films from Latin America while examining cinema as a format embedded in the visual culture of the continent. From a sociological standpoint and in light of various strands of influential theoretical models, this course will consider the centrality of movies and television programs as cultural expressions of contemporaneity. This course embraces forms other than feature films or short films, images from media other than scenes from a film, and audience response platforms other than academic articles or reviews from critics. The emphasis is placed on visual texts released in the last decade. The focal points are cross-border / global production and reception, digitization of cinema and recent approaches to cultural identity (identity branding migratory displacement, films as artefacts of contestation, new understanding of gender and ethnicity, memory, neoliberalism and markets, mediatized narcoculture, social inclusion, core-periphery relations, new video cultures and affect). The class will be mainly taught in English

This class will focus on film and television adaptations, with scripts derived from short stories, canonical works, popular and pulp fiction, as well as graphic novels and comics.

In this course we will focus on various literary works and corresponding adaptation theories relating to film adaptations and current television series. Key issues and concepts in this course  will be taught in relation to Modernism/Postmodernism and Origin/Intertextual play in Adaptation Theory and Cinema semiotics.

Course requirement:
Apart from the obligatory course text Adaptations and Appropriation by Julie Sanders, we will read significant articles on adaptation as well as selected short stories (provided by the tutor) that have undergone the transition process and been adapted to into films. Students are encouraged to participate in discussions in class.

The course discusses the philosophical and theoretical foundations of gender studies, and the critical and interdisciplinary content of the field. The representation and meaning of sex and gender in language, culture, history, science, and society is explored. The analytical perspective of the field is presented, as is its relationship with methodology. Students are trained in applying theoretical concepts and methods independently and critically.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

This course explores humor and cinema from the perspectives of film theory, as well as other academic and theoretical writings on the cultural functions of humor. We will delve into the film comedy, its history and genre conventions, through in-depth exploration of sub-genres such as the slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and the mockumentary. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of comedic approaches in the film comedy and become familiar with differences in narration, style and technique. The course readings will provide students with insight into different theoretical perspectives on humor, as we approach the subject through various viewpoints, such as that of feminism, psychoanalysis, queer theory and affect theory. Films – as well as, to some extent, television and stand-up – from various countries and time periods, will always serve as the context through which we make sense of theoretical texts on the subject. This course invites students to both laugh and think, merging the enjoyment of humor with rigorous academic inquiry, with the goal of increasing our understanding of both the cinema and ourselves.

Modernism and postmodernism constitute perhaps the central artistic movements of the 20th century – it is even possible to see the century as divided between the periods associated with the twin aesthetic concepts. The invention of cinema itself harks back to the tumultous area of technological change and social upheavals that brought about the revolutionary artistic movements of the first decades of the century, while the development of the medium of film is no less closely aligned with the process of globalization, dizzying forms of cultural change and rapid pace of technological progress that constitute the postmodern condition. These connections between the medium of film and modernism and postmodernism demarcate the central research questions addressed in the class.

Among the themes and issues tackled in the class is how even the most radical avant garde artists found the „attractions“ of cinema hard to resist, these involving the range between experimental films and the works of Charlie Chaplin. Modernist critiques of cinema will however not be ignored, and these include the portrayal of mainstream Hollywood as a „culture industry“. Questions will be asked about the radical aesthetic reconfiguration of modernism as it moved between media to film, and in that context the class will be looking at Italian Neo-realism and the French New Wave. Next, the class will turn to the role of cinema in the development of the society of spectacle, paying attention to the suddenly troublesome and contested existence of the concept of „truth“ in postmodern times, nostalgia as a mode, the emergence of simulacra and the threat that notions of intertextuality and remediation pose to notions of originality and the „integrity“ of the work of art. Among films screened in the class will be Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936), Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson, 1951), Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952), Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986) and The Matrix (Wachowskis, 1999). Among the scholars to be read in the class are David Bordwell, Owen Hatherley, Jean-François Lyotard and Mark Fisher.

The course will explore a variety of films from the U.S. and other countries to highlight the evolution of the noir tradition. Students will engage with seven works of fiction, both domestic and international, that connect to this tradition in diverse ways.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

Early on, Lars von Trier declared that a film should be like a pebble in the audiences’ shoes. This has become a sort of motto for the director, who throughout his career has continually sought new ways to challenge audiences, whether through subject matter, style, or controversial statements. Trier caused a radical change in Danish cinema in the 1980s and permanently reshaped the Danish film industry. As Trier's fame grew in the 1990s, he became known as the "enfant terrible" of cinema and went on to have a significant influence on international filmmaking in the following decades.

The course will explore Trier's career from various perspectives and in a broad context, for example: the influence of European culture, formal experiments with the medium and inventive use of digital technology. Selected works by Trier, his collaborators, influencers, and followers, will be viewed with the aim of shedding light on the development of Trier’s career and his place within international cinema.

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Students will do an independent research project relating to the Workshop: The Icelandic Documentary Film

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Heritage cinema are costume drama, made in the last forty years, usually adapted from classical theatre and novels (Shakespeare, Austen, Balzac, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf). In the course students will read selection of classical novels from the 19th and the 20th century by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, E.M Forster, Evelyn Waugh og Jean Rhys, and these works will be analyzed in reference to heritage cinema and adaptations. Among themes and motifs investigated will be romance, nostalgia, relation between the sexes, masculinity, class division, psychosis and women‘s rank in the community.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

This course explores humor and cinema from the perspectives of film theory, as well as other academic and theoretical writings on the cultural functions of humor. We will delve into the film comedy, its history and genre conventions, through in-depth exploration of sub-genres such as the slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and the mockumentary. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of comedic approaches in the film comedy and become familiar with differences in narration, style and technique. The course readings will provide students with insight into different theoretical perspectives on humor, as we approach the subject through various viewpoints, such as that of feminism, psychoanalysis, queer theory and affect theory. Films – as well as, to some extent, television and stand-up – from various countries and time periods, will always serve as the context through which we make sense of theoretical texts on the subject. This course invites students to both laugh and think, merging the enjoyment of humor with rigorous academic inquiry, with the goal of increasing our understanding of both the cinema and ourselves.

Modernism and postmodernism constitute perhaps the central artistic movements of the 20th century – it is even possible to see the century as divided between the periods associated with the twin aesthetic concepts. The invention of cinema itself harks back to the tumultous area of technological change and social upheavals that brought about the revolutionary artistic movements of the first decades of the century, while the development of the medium of film is no less closely aligned with the process of globalization, dizzying forms of cultural change and rapid pace of technological progress that constitute the postmodern condition. These connections between the medium of film and modernism and postmodernism demarcate the central research questions addressed in the class.

Among the themes and issues tackled in the class is how even the most radical avant garde artists found the „attractions“ of cinema hard to resist, these involving the range between experimental films and the works of Charlie Chaplin. Modernist critiques of cinema will however not be ignored, and these include the portrayal of mainstream Hollywood as a „culture industry“. Questions will be asked about the radical aesthetic reconfiguration of modernism as it moved between media to film, and in that context the class will be looking at Italian Neo-realism and the French New Wave. Next, the class will turn to the role of cinema in the development of the society of spectacle, paying attention to the suddenly troublesome and contested existence of the concept of „truth“ in postmodern times, nostalgia as a mode, the emergence of simulacra and the threat that notions of intertextuality and remediation pose to notions of originality and the „integrity“ of the work of art. Among films screened in the class will be Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936), Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson, 1951), Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952), Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986) and The Matrix (Wachowskis, 1999). Among the scholars to be read in the class are David Bordwell, Owen Hatherley, Jean-François Lyotard and Mark Fisher.

The course will explore a variety of films from the U.S. and other countries to highlight the evolution of the noir tradition. Students will engage with seven works of fiction, both domestic and international, that connect to this tradition in diverse ways.

MA-thesis in Film Studies

In this course, MA students in Comparative literature, Cultural studies and Film studies prepare for their final thesis. The group meets every two weeks during the semester. In the first half of the semester, the focus is on selecting a thesis topic, determining and searching primary sources, formulating a research question and other questions about getting started with a final thesis. Students then turn their attention to the theoretical background for their work and its theoretical basis. This work also involves critical reflection on search methods and approaches to texts. The third part of the course is dedicated to student presentations and discussion, where students and instructors come together to discuss research proposals, give feedback and get constructive criticism. The final product of the course is a report with a research proposal, partial bibliography and commentary on thesis aims, theory and methods. Students are also required to write a working diary describing their preparation process and readings and explaining the relation of different texts to their work. Course evaluation is based on this working diary (20%), class presentation (25%) and final paper (55%).

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

Early on, Lars von Trier declared that a film should be like a pebble in the audiences’ shoes. This has become a sort of motto for the director, who throughout his career has continually sought new ways to challenge audiences, whether through subject matter, style, or controversial statements. Trier caused a radical change in Danish cinema in the 1980s and permanently reshaped the Danish film industry. As Trier's fame grew in the 1990s, he became known as the "enfant terrible" of cinema and went on to have a significant influence on international filmmaking in the following decades.

The course will explore Trier's career from various perspectives and in a broad context, for example: the influence of European culture, formal experiments with the medium and inventive use of digital technology. Selected works by Trier, his collaborators, influencers, and followers, will be viewed with the aim of shedding light on the development of Trier’s career and his place within international cinema.

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Students will do an independent research project relating to the Workshop: The Icelandic Documentary Film

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Heritage cinema are costume drama, made in the last forty years, usually adapted from classical theatre and novels (Shakespeare, Austen, Balzac, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf). In the course students will read selection of classical novels from the 19th and the 20th century by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, E.M Forster, Evelyn Waugh og Jean Rhys, and these works will be analyzed in reference to heritage cinema and adaptations. Among themes and motifs investigated will be romance, nostalgia, relation between the sexes, masculinity, class division, psychosis and women‘s rank in the community.

MA-thesis in Film Studies

What does Sunset Boulevard, double entendres, self-censorship, the Coen Brothers, and #metoo have in common? They all reveal that Hollywood is not quite the fantasy it poses to be.

A very real place and industry within Los Angeles, California, Hollywood has led in film production since the beginning of narrative film, yet its magic is created within the bland and sometimes devastating concrete lots, sound stages and offices of producers and agents.

This course aims to explore the reality of Hollywood and how it has functioned over time, to examine and critique its presentation and reputation through film and media. The course includes critical viewings of films that are based on both the myth and reality of Hollywood as well as critical readings on historical context, news/gossip, and the history of American narrative film.

Only 35 seats are available for ENS352M. Once the course is filled please contact Nikkita (nhp1@hi.is) to be added onto a waiting list in case a spot opens up.

Vikings are one of the most recognisable group of people from the past. Often seen as crazed berserker, with horned helmets, battle axes raised and ready, beautiful long hair billowing in the wind, they are thought of jumping out of longboats, running up the shore towards an unexpecting populace. This image crosses cultural barriers: Viking re-enactment societies exist in places with no actual Viking history. People proudly declare themselves Vikings as part of their identity and way of life. There is Viking metal, beers, foods, restaurants, and comic books. A further demonstration of the endurance of the Viking myth is the silver screen: The first Viking film came out in 1907 and are produced to this day. This, in turn, influences the use of Vikings in other areas, including the tourism sector, museum exhibitions, music industry, food and drink production and the video game industry.

This course introduces the various uses of Vikings in society, starting with tracing the history of the modern, popular culture Vikings back to Victorian times, all the way to Iceland during, and after the economic crash 2008-2011. Students will be shown the various uses of Vikings in the cultural sector, discussing the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the Viking imagery and its uses in the present and past. Learning Outcomes: Students – gain knowledge of the history of vikings as mediated through cultural artifacts and images – get a comprehensive overview of the mediation of the viking image in the 20th century – are able to analyze and discuss the most prominent mediation pracices and traditions in the 20th century – can analyze and situate historically the various mediated representations of vikings in contemporary culture.

This course focuses on examining how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in 21st century fiction and film. Special emphasis is placed on examining 21st century portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I.

This research project is linked to the course ENS505G - The Tudor Period as Presented in Contemporary Literature and Films. Students in the course ENS022G are encouraged to attend the lectures in ENS505G. 

Please note that students who have previously completed ENS505G cannot take this course.

Special Theme: Contemporaneity: Social Contexts in Recent Visual Texts

This course will offer an introduction to a range of films from Latin America while examining cinema as a format embedded in the visual culture of the continent. From a sociological standpoint and in light of various strands of influential theoretical models, this course will consider the centrality of movies and television programs as cultural expressions of contemporaneity. This course embraces forms other than feature films or short films, images from media other than scenes from a film, and audience response platforms other than academic articles or reviews from critics. The emphasis is placed on visual texts released in the last decade. The focal points are cross-border / global production and reception, digitization of cinema and recent approaches to cultural identity (identity branding migratory displacement, films as artefacts of contestation, new understanding of gender and ethnicity, memory, neoliberalism and markets, mediatized narcoculture, social inclusion, core-periphery relations, new video cultures and affect). The class will be mainly taught in English

This class will focus on film and television adaptations, with scripts derived from short stories, canonical works, popular and pulp fiction, as well as graphic novels and comics.

In this course we will focus on various literary works and corresponding adaptation theories relating to film adaptations and current television series. Key issues and concepts in this course  will be taught in relation to Modernism/Postmodernism and Origin/Intertextual play in Adaptation Theory and Cinema semiotics.

Course requirement:
Apart from the obligatory course text Adaptations and Appropriation by Julie Sanders, we will read significant articles on adaptation as well as selected short stories (provided by the tutor) that have undergone the transition process and been adapted to into films. Students are encouraged to participate in discussions in class.

The course discusses the philosophical and theoretical foundations of gender studies, and the critical and interdisciplinary content of the field. The representation and meaning of sex and gender in language, culture, history, science, and society is explored. The analytical perspective of the field is presented, as is its relationship with methodology. Students are trained in applying theoretical concepts and methods independently and critically.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

This course explores humor and cinema from the perspectives of film theory, as well as other academic and theoretical writings on the cultural functions of humor. We will delve into the film comedy, its history and genre conventions, through in-depth exploration of sub-genres such as the slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and the mockumentary. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of comedic approaches in the film comedy and become familiar with differences in narration, style and technique. The course readings will provide students with insight into different theoretical perspectives on humor, as we approach the subject through various viewpoints, such as that of feminism, psychoanalysis, queer theory and affect theory. Films – as well as, to some extent, television and stand-up – from various countries and time periods, will always serve as the context through which we make sense of theoretical texts on the subject. This course invites students to both laugh and think, merging the enjoyment of humor with rigorous academic inquiry, with the goal of increasing our understanding of both the cinema and ourselves.

Modernism and postmodernism constitute perhaps the central artistic movements of the 20th century – it is even possible to see the century as divided between the periods associated with the twin aesthetic concepts. The invention of cinema itself harks back to the tumultous area of technological change and social upheavals that brought about the revolutionary artistic movements of the first decades of the century, while the development of the medium of film is no less closely aligned with the process of globalization, dizzying forms of cultural change and rapid pace of technological progress that constitute the postmodern condition. These connections between the medium of film and modernism and postmodernism demarcate the central research questions addressed in the class.

Among the themes and issues tackled in the class is how even the most radical avant garde artists found the „attractions“ of cinema hard to resist, these involving the range between experimental films and the works of Charlie Chaplin. Modernist critiques of cinema will however not be ignored, and these include the portrayal of mainstream Hollywood as a „culture industry“. Questions will be asked about the radical aesthetic reconfiguration of modernism as it moved between media to film, and in that context the class will be looking at Italian Neo-realism and the French New Wave. Next, the class will turn to the role of cinema in the development of the society of spectacle, paying attention to the suddenly troublesome and contested existence of the concept of „truth“ in postmodern times, nostalgia as a mode, the emergence of simulacra and the threat that notions of intertextuality and remediation pose to notions of originality and the „integrity“ of the work of art. Among films screened in the class will be Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936), Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson, 1951), Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952), Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986) and The Matrix (Wachowskis, 1999). Among the scholars to be read in the class are David Bordwell, Owen Hatherley, Jean-François Lyotard and Mark Fisher.

The course will explore a variety of films from the U.S. and other countries to highlight the evolution of the noir tradition. Students will engage with seven works of fiction, both domestic and international, that connect to this tradition in diverse ways.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

Early on, Lars von Trier declared that a film should be like a pebble in the audiences’ shoes. This has become a sort of motto for the director, who throughout his career has continually sought new ways to challenge audiences, whether through subject matter, style, or controversial statements. Trier caused a radical change in Danish cinema in the 1980s and permanently reshaped the Danish film industry. As Trier's fame grew in the 1990s, he became known as the "enfant terrible" of cinema and went on to have a significant influence on international filmmaking in the following decades.

The course will explore Trier's career from various perspectives and in a broad context, for example: the influence of European culture, formal experiments with the medium and inventive use of digital technology. Selected works by Trier, his collaborators, influencers, and followers, will be viewed with the aim of shedding light on the development of Trier’s career and his place within international cinema.

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Students will do an independent research project relating to the Workshop: The Icelandic Documentary Film

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Heritage cinema are costume drama, made in the last forty years, usually adapted from classical theatre and novels (Shakespeare, Austen, Balzac, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf). In the course students will read selection of classical novels from the 19th and the 20th century by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, E.M Forster, Evelyn Waugh og Jean Rhys, and these works will be analyzed in reference to heritage cinema and adaptations. Among themes and motifs investigated will be romance, nostalgia, relation between the sexes, masculinity, class division, psychosis and women‘s rank in the community.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

This course explores humor and cinema from the perspectives of film theory, as well as other academic and theoretical writings on the cultural functions of humor. We will delve into the film comedy, its history and genre conventions, through in-depth exploration of sub-genres such as the slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and the mockumentary. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of comedic approaches in the film comedy and become familiar with differences in narration, style and technique. The course readings will provide students with insight into different theoretical perspectives on humor, as we approach the subject through various viewpoints, such as that of feminism, psychoanalysis, queer theory and affect theory. Films – as well as, to some extent, television and stand-up – from various countries and time periods, will always serve as the context through which we make sense of theoretical texts on the subject. This course invites students to both laugh and think, merging the enjoyment of humor with rigorous academic inquiry, with the goal of increasing our understanding of both the cinema and ourselves.

Modernism and postmodernism constitute perhaps the central artistic movements of the 20th century – it is even possible to see the century as divided between the periods associated with the twin aesthetic concepts. The invention of cinema itself harks back to the tumultous area of technological change and social upheavals that brought about the revolutionary artistic movements of the first decades of the century, while the development of the medium of film is no less closely aligned with the process of globalization, dizzying forms of cultural change and rapid pace of technological progress that constitute the postmodern condition. These connections between the medium of film and modernism and postmodernism demarcate the central research questions addressed in the class.

Among the themes and issues tackled in the class is how even the most radical avant garde artists found the „attractions“ of cinema hard to resist, these involving the range between experimental films and the works of Charlie Chaplin. Modernist critiques of cinema will however not be ignored, and these include the portrayal of mainstream Hollywood as a „culture industry“. Questions will be asked about the radical aesthetic reconfiguration of modernism as it moved between media to film, and in that context the class will be looking at Italian Neo-realism and the French New Wave. Next, the class will turn to the role of cinema in the development of the society of spectacle, paying attention to the suddenly troublesome and contested existence of the concept of „truth“ in postmodern times, nostalgia as a mode, the emergence of simulacra and the threat that notions of intertextuality and remediation pose to notions of originality and the „integrity“ of the work of art. Among films screened in the class will be Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936), Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson, 1951), Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952), Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986) and The Matrix (Wachowskis, 1999). Among the scholars to be read in the class are David Bordwell, Owen Hatherley, Jean-François Lyotard and Mark Fisher.

The course will explore a variety of films from the U.S. and other countries to highlight the evolution of the noir tradition. Students will engage with seven works of fiction, both domestic and international, that connect to this tradition in diverse ways.

MA-thesis in Film Studies

In this course, MA students in Comparative literature, Cultural studies and Film studies prepare for their final thesis. The group meets every two weeks during the semester. In the first half of the semester, the focus is on selecting a thesis topic, determining and searching primary sources, formulating a research question and other questions about getting started with a final thesis. Students then turn their attention to the theoretical background for their work and its theoretical basis. This work also involves critical reflection on search methods and approaches to texts. The third part of the course is dedicated to student presentations and discussion, where students and instructors come together to discuss research proposals, give feedback and get constructive criticism. The final product of the course is a report with a research proposal, partial bibliography and commentary on thesis aims, theory and methods. Students are also required to write a working diary describing their preparation process and readings and explaining the relation of different texts to their work. Course evaluation is based on this working diary (20%), class presentation (25%) and final paper (55%).

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

A project is selected in consultation with a teacher, and that teacher must approve the student's research plans before she or he is permitted to register for a study of this kind.

Early on, Lars von Trier declared that a film should be like a pebble in the audiences’ shoes. This has become a sort of motto for the director, who throughout his career has continually sought new ways to challenge audiences, whether through subject matter, style, or controversial statements. Trier caused a radical change in Danish cinema in the 1980s and permanently reshaped the Danish film industry. As Trier's fame grew in the 1990s, he became known as the "enfant terrible" of cinema and went on to have a significant influence on international filmmaking in the following decades.

The course will explore Trier's career from various perspectives and in a broad context, for example: the influence of European culture, formal experiments with the medium and inventive use of digital technology. Selected works by Trier, his collaborators, influencers, and followers, will be viewed with the aim of shedding light on the development of Trier’s career and his place within international cinema.

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Students will do an independent research project relating to the Workshop: The Icelandic Documentary Film

The history of the Icelandic documentary film will be examined from different perspectives, with attention being paid to the form’s wondrous capacity to record and preserve lived moments and experiences, to pose political questions and offer social critique, as well as its radical artistic possibilities. Questions asked will touch upon the documentary film as an aesthetic category and whether its potential as an art form can cohabit with the demands made that it also engage closely with and mediate reality. The class will examine the documentary’s role in the early years of film production in Iceland and its subsequent development but particular attention will be paid to the exciting growth and development of the genre in the past two decades.

Heritage cinema are costume drama, made in the last forty years, usually adapted from classical theatre and novels (Shakespeare, Austen, Balzac, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf). In the course students will read selection of classical novels from the 19th and the 20th century by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, E.M Forster, Evelyn Waugh og Jean Rhys, and these works will be analyzed in reference to heritage cinema and adaptations. Among themes and motifs investigated will be romance, nostalgia, relation between the sexes, masculinity, class division, psychosis and women‘s rank in the community.

MA-thesis in Film Studies

What does Sunset Boulevard, double entendres, self-censorship, the Coen Brothers, and #metoo have in common? They all reveal that Hollywood is not quite the fantasy it poses to be.

A very real place and industry within Los Angeles, California, Hollywood has led in film production since the beginning of narrative film, yet its magic is created within the bland and sometimes devastating concrete lots, sound stages and offices of producers and agents.

This course aims to explore the reality of Hollywood and how it has functioned over time, to examine and critique its presentation and reputation through film and media. The course includes critical viewings of films that are based on both the myth and reality of Hollywood as well as critical readings on historical context, news/gossip, and the history of American narrative film.

Only 35 seats are available for ENS352M. Once the course is filled please contact Nikkita (nhp1@hi.is) to be added onto a waiting list in case a spot opens up.

Vikings are one of the most recognisable group of people from the past. Often seen as crazed berserker, with horned helmets, battle axes raised and ready, beautiful long hair billowing in the wind, they are thought of jumping out of longboats, running up the shore towards an unexpecting populace. This image crosses cultural barriers: Viking re-enactment societies exist in places with no actual Viking history. People proudly declare themselves Vikings as part of their identity and way of life. There is Viking metal, beers, foods, restaurants, and comic books. A further demonstration of the endurance of the Viking myth is the silver screen: The first Viking film came out in 1907 and are produced to this day. This, in turn, influences the use of Vikings in other areas, including the tourism sector, museum exhibitions, music industry, food and drink production and the video game industry.

This course introduces the various uses of Vikings in society, starting with tracing the history of the modern, popular culture Vikings back to Victorian times, all the way to Iceland during, and after the economic crash 2008-2011. Students will be shown the various uses of Vikings in the cultural sector, discussing the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the Viking imagery and its uses in the present and past. Learning Outcomes: Students – gain knowledge of the history of vikings as mediated through cultural artifacts and images – get a comprehensive overview of the mediation of the viking image in the 20th century – are able to analyze and discuss the most prominent mediation pracices and traditions in the 20th century – can analyze and situate historically the various mediated representations of vikings in contemporary culture.

This course focuses on examining how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in 21st century fiction and film. Special emphasis is placed on examining 21st century portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I.

This research project is linked to the course ENS505G - The Tudor Period as Presented in Contemporary Literature and Films. Students in the course ENS022G are encouraged to attend the lectures in ENS505G. 

Please note that students who have previously completed ENS505G cannot take this course.

Special Theme: Contemporaneity: Social Contexts in Recent Visual Texts

This course will offer an introduction to a range of films from Latin America while examining cinema as a format embedded in the visual culture of the continent. From a sociological standpoint and in light of various strands of influential theoretical models, this course will consider the centrality of movies and television programs as cultural expressions of contemporaneity. This course embraces forms other than feature films or short films, images from media other than scenes from a film, and audience response platforms other than academic articles or reviews from critics. The emphasis is placed on visual texts released in the last decade. The focal points are cross-border / global production and reception, digitization of cinema and recent approaches to cultural identity (identity branding migratory displacement, films as artefacts of contestation, new understanding of gender and ethnicity, memory, neoliberalism and markets, mediatized narcoculture, social inclusion, core-periphery relations, new video cultures and affect). The class will be mainly taught in English

This class will focus on film and television adaptations, with scripts derived from short stories, canonical works, popular and pulp fiction, as well as graphic novels and comics.

In this course we will focus on various literary works and corresponding adaptation theories relating to film adaptations and current television series. Key issues and concepts in this course  will be taught in relation to Modernism/Postmodernism and Origin/Intertextual play in Adaptation Theory and Cinema semiotics.

Course requirement:
Apart from the obligatory course text Adaptations and Appropriation by Julie Sanders, we will read significant articles on adaptation as well as selected short stories (provided by the tutor) that have undergone the transition process and been adapted to into films. Students are encouraged to participate in discussions in class.

The course discusses the philosophical and theoretical foundations of gender studies, and the critical and interdisciplinary content of the field. The representation and meaning of sex and gender in language, culture, history, science, and society is explored. The analytical perspective of the field is presented, as is its relationship with methodology. Students are trained in applying theoretical concepts and methods independently and critically.