SPAN3626 - The Films of Pedro Almodóvar

One of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the world, Almodóvar is unquestionably the most international of today’s Spanish filmmakers. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with Pedro Almodóvar’s films and to shed some light to the intricacies of its themes, cultural background, and visual style. Together with primary and secondary texts, we will offer an overview of Almodóvar’s career from his early iconoclastic Post Franco films of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s to his most recent work that has gained him a reputation as an international auteur. Some of the topics covered will include questions of national identity, gender, sexuality, as well as Almodóvar’s original use of genre, visual style, and the director’s relationship to the postmodern concepts of performance and parody.