The cinema is regularly predicted to end. Either Rossellini will announce that cinema died in the late 50s, or critics will say that nothing worthwhile has been filmed since Hitchcock. But cinematography is evolving and remains the most widespread art form. In the lecture, we will deal with history and try to understand why cinema is eternal.

We will discuss the origins and development of cinema, recall the aesthetics of the great silent films, and trace how sound, color and 3D appeared in cinema. We will single out 20 films through which it is possible to trace the development of the history of cinema, we will see what changed from film to film, and how this influenced the audience’s perception.

We’ll also hear about the main schools, and learn to distinguish between Italian Neo-Realism and the French New Wave. Finally, we will find out how Soviet cinema influenced the world industry and what films you need to watch in order to understand the art of cinema. The lecture is accompanied by screening of fragments from films.