Course Title
Expressive Culture
Film – Female Voices in German Cinema
Course Number
CORE-UA.9750D01
Instruction Mode: In-Person
Fall 2022
Lecturer Contact Information
Dr. Christine Korte
Your instructor will inform you about the learner hours (one-on-one meetings).
Prerequisites
Critical interest in German cinema, motivation to engage with prescribed films and texts, and
willingness to contribute to seminar discussions.
Units Earned
4
Course Details
Mondays, 2:00pm to 6:30pm
All times are Central European Time (Daylight Saving Time ends Oct 30, 2022).
Location: Rooms will be posted in Albert before your first class.
In the interest of protecting the NYU Berlin community, we are closely following guidance
around COVID-19 from the Robert Koch Institute (Germany’s institute for disease control and
prevention), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health
Organization, and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and adjusting
our recommendations and policies accordingly. Your health and well-being are our top priority.
You are required to adhere to the most recent policies. Please note that you are expected to
attend every class meeting in-person; however, this may change at any point during the
semester if local COVID-19 regulations require. You will be assigned a seat on the first day
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
and are expected to use that seat for the entire semester due to NYU COVID-19 safety
protocol.
Course Description
This course introduces you to German cinema from the vantage point of female directors,
drawing connections to films by women from different parts of the world and considering
intersections with queer and (post-)migrant cinemas. Starting off with the 1960s and leading
up to the present day, we will explore the different conditions under which female directors
have worked, the challenges they have faced, and how these have impacted their artistic
practice. Moreover, we will examine the unique points of view of the selected films, many of
which not only present critical accounts of larger social and political issues, but do so by also
creating innovative kinds of film language.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
As a course in “Expressive Culture,” “Female Voices in German Cinema” introduces students
to the study and appreciation of artistic creation and fosters ongoing engagement with the arts.
Through critical engagement with German film, the course addresses formal methods of
interpretation and considers the importance of expressive creation in particular social and
historical contexts. As a part of the College Core Curriculum, it is designed to extend students’
education beyond the focused studies of their major, preparing students for their future life as
thoughtful individuals and active members of society. Whenever possible, the course makes
use of the rich cultural resources of Berlin.
Course Approach to Teaching & Learning (CATL)
This course seeks to foster an open-minded, informed, and productive conversation about
German cinema, regardless of prior knowledge. We will depart from our viewing experience of
the chosen films, progressively adding layers of analysis and interpretation to reach a nuanced
understanding of German cinema in its social and political context. Assessments are designed
to cover a range of approaches, from close reading to comparative discussion, allowing you to
connect with the topic of the course in various ways. Both the essay and the exam in the
second half of the semester will offer opportunities to focus on the aspects of German cinema
that you have come to regard as particularly relevant. Wherever possible, course material
represents a diversity of perspectives in terms of race, class, sexuality, and gender.
Assessment Components
Class Participation: 15% of total grade
Students are expected to productively contribute to discussions in class and to demonstrate
knowledge of the pertinent films and texts.
1 Scene Analysis (4 pages): 10% of total grade, due on 19 Sep at 1pm
The aim of the scene analysis is to demonstrate your skills in examining film in a scholarly
way. You will choose a scene from one of the first films presented in class and explore its
audio-visual features in terms of the film’s subject matter.
1 Film Review (4 pages): 10% of total grade, due on 26 Sept at 1pm
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
This assignment asks you to put yourself into the position of a film critic. Reviewing one of the
films we have watched thus far, you will assess its artistic merit and social relevance in light of
what we have established about its context.
1 Film Treatment (4 pages): 10% of total grade, due on 17 Oct at 1pm
Creatively using what you have learned about female voices in German cinema in the first half
of the semester, you will write a treatment for a film, addressing an aspect of women’s
experience inside or outside Germany that you consider worthy of public attention. You may
sketch the plot of a fiction film, outline the topic of a documentary project or take a more
personal, essayistic, or experimental approach. Your ideas will be shared in class.
1 Midterm Exam (75 minutes): 15% of total grade, scheduled for 24 Oct at 2 pm
The midterm exam will present you with a selection of statements about German cinema, of
which you will be required to discuss one, demonstrating awareness of seminar readings and
discussions.
1 Critical Essay (6 pages): 20% of total grade, due on 28 Nov at 1pm
In your critical essay, you will undertake a slightly broader survey of one or more German films.
These can be chosen from the syllabus or – after consultation with your instructor – go beyond
it. The topic of your essay will be based on your own suggestions, in consultation with your
instructor. You will be required to consult and reference a limited amount of scholarly literature.
1 Final Exam (120 minutes): 20% of total grade, scheduled for 19 Dec at 2pm (tbc)
The final exam will present you with a selection of statements on German cinema, of which
you will be required to discuss two, demonstrating awareness of seminar readings and
discussions.
Required Text(s)
All texts will be made available via Brightspace.
Please follow this link for the NYU Berlin Library Catalogue or the link on NYU Berlin's website
(Academics/Facilities & Services).
Additional Required Equipment
N/A
Session 1 – 05 Sep 2022:
Introduction
The first session gives you an introduction to both basic skills in film analysis (which we will
deepen over the duration of the course) and the main features of German film history. Using a
selection of clips from major works, we will jointly perform close readings and contextualize
these works within their historical periods.
Learning Outcomes:
Discuss fundamental concepts in film analysis; practice identifying and reading audio-visual
features; gain insight into influential works of German cinema by means of representative
scenes for chronological as well as thematic orientation.
Screening:
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
The Cat Has Nine Lives (1968), dir. Ula Stöckl (92 min).
Follow-Up Reading:
● David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, “The Shot: Mise-en-scène.” Film Art: An
Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009, pp. 112-58.
Session 2 – 12 Sep 2022:
Claiming the Screen
Arguably, West Germany’s first feminist film, Ula Stöckl’s debut feature The Cat Has Nine
Lives (1968) presents an episodical narrative in which five quite different young women talk
about their everyday experiences, dreams, and desires. As the director put it: “Women have
never had so many chances to organize their lives the way they want. But first, they have to
learn that they can want something.” To convey this message, Stöckl experiments with
merging layers of reality and imagination in a way that invites comparison with other pioneers
of feminist film in 1960s Europe and beyond.
Learning Outcomes:
Understand the challenges faced by female directors working in West Germany; explore the
feminist aesthetics of Stöckl’s film in comparison to conventional narrative cinema; make
connections to feminist film more broadly.
Screening:
The All-around Reduced Personality (1977), dir. Helke Sander (98 min).
Preparation:
Bordwell and Thompson, “The Shot: Cinematography”. Film Art, pp. 160-91.
Marc Silberman, “Ula Stöckl: How Women See Themselves”. New German Filmmakers: From
Oberhausen Through the 1970s. Edited by Klaus Philipps. New York: Ungar, 1984, pp. 320-
34.
Session 3 – 19 Sep 2022:
Politicizing the Private
The All-around Reduced Personality (1977) was the first feature-length film by West German
writer/director, author, actress, and feminist activist Helke Sander. Her film portrays Edda – a
single mother, freelance photographer, and artist – who works hard to balance her private,
professional, and political lives. When she and a group of female photographers are
commissioned to take pictures of West Berlin, they present a perspective that challenges their
client’s intentions, as their pictures emphasize the similarities rather than the differences
between East and West Berlin. Fusing an episodic narrative with elements of the essay film,
Sander shows how feminist activism faces a plethora of obstacles in a city marked by the
ideological oppositions of the Cold War.
Learning Outcomes:
Learn to establish connections between film theory and film texts, particularly in terms of the
handling of the gaze; discuss the development of feminist film in West Germany; grasp the
political implications of Sander’s portrayal of divided Berlin.
Screening:
Marianne and Juliane (1981), dir. Margarethe von Trotta (107 min).
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
Preparation:
Bordwell and Thompson, “The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing”. Film Art, pp. 218-63.
Aneke Smelik, “Feminist Film Theory”. The Cinema Book. Edited by Pam Cook. London:
British Film Institute, 2007, pp. 491-504.
Verband der Filmarbeiterinnen (Petra Haffter, Christiane Kaltenbach, and Hildegard
Westbeld), “Manifesto of the Women Filmmakers” (West Germany, 1979). Film Manifestos
and Global Cinema Cultures. Edited by Scott MacKenzie. Berkeley/London: University of
California Press, 2014, pp. 550-52.
***Deadline for Scene Analysis***
Session 4 – 26 Sep 2022:
Reform or Revolution?
Often regarded as one of the most important directors to emerge from the acclaimed West
German cinema of the 1970s, Margarethe von Trotta has persistently engaged with the lives
of women in their social as well as historical conditions. Her film Marianne and Juliane (1981)
addresses the radicalization and terrorism of the extreme left in 1970s West Germany. It tells
the story of two sisters who choose opposite paths to rebel against the status quo, one
becoming a feminist journalist, the other a member of the militant left-wing underground.
Loosely based on the lives of Christiane and Gudrun Ensslin, Marianne and Juliane is a family
tragedy, as well as an exploration of legacies of violence in German history.
Learning Outcomes:
Locate von Trotta in New German Cinema; explore the impact of the Third Reich as well as
the Red Army Faction on (feminist) German cinema; discuss feminist approaches to (re-)telling
history through film.
Screening:
Do You Know Urban? (1971), dir. Ingrid Reschke (96 min).
Preparation:
Stephan Brockmann, “Die bleierne Zeit (1981): Film and terrorism”. A Critical History of
German Film, pp. 383-98.
Margarethe von Trotta, “Female Film Aesthetic.” West German Filmmakers on Film. Edited by
Eric Rentschler. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1988, p. 89-90.
A video essay by Encyclopedia Britannica briefly presenting the history of the Red Army
Faction, available online at:
https://www.britannica.com/video/180279/Red-Army-Faction-rise-prominence-West-German
***Deadline for Film Review***’
03 Oct 2022: No Class – Public Holiday
Session 5 – 10 Oct 2022:
The Collective and its Demands
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
Socialist East Germany saw itself as a state in which equality of the sexes had been realized.
Yet the women who directed feature-length fiction films for the GDR’s film studio DEFA can be
counted on the fingers of one hand. One of them was Ingrid Reschke, who died in a car
accident at the age of 35, tragically ending a promising career. Her films combine popular
comedy with a witty look at the state of GDR society. Do You Know Urban? (1971), the story
of a delinquent juvenile who finds his way back into Socialist society, addresses a range of
social problems such as the lack of housing, without, however, leaving the terrain of the
politically permissible.
Learning Outcomes:
Understand the political and ideological framework for making films in East Germany, as well
as the particular challenges faced by DEFA’s female directors; identify and read the social
commentary of Reschke’s film; compare and identify the similarities and differences among a
selection of GDR “Gegenwarts-” and “Alltagsfilme”.
Screening:
All My Girls (1979), dir. Iris Gusner (82 min).
Preparation:
Stephan Brockmann, “Post-War East German Cinema 1949-1989: Historical Overview”. A
Critical History of German Film, pp. 213-34.
Jonas Cuénin, “Living Together in Former East Germany”. Blind Magazine, 26 August 2021,
available online at:
https://www.blind-magazine.com/en/stories/3695-living-together-in-former-east-germany-en.
Cornelia Klauß, “New Horizons and Disruptions. East-German Female Directors
of the DEFA-Studios and from Underground”. Panoptikum 23 (2020), pp. 43-50.
Session 6 – 17 Oct 2022:
Gender and the World of Work
In All My Girls (1980), Iris Gusner, whose first feature film The Dove on the Roof (1973) was
banned by GDR authorities, plays with the gendered nature of film perspective. Her film’s
protagonist, Päschke, a young male film director, is asked to portray the female workers of a
light bulb factory in Berlin. The surface of a well-functioning Socialist brigade soon crumbles
to reveal a range of conflicts and rivalries. But also Päschke has to justify himself as both male
and director while trying to be accepted by the group. All My Girls is simultaneously a portrait
of GDR women, labor, and society, and a “Gegenwartsfilm” thematizing (fe)male perspectives
on multiple levels.
Learning Outcomes:
Build on the discussion of Do You Know Urban? to examine the portrayal of the world of work
and the conflict between the individual and the collective in Gusner’s film; place All My Girls
into the context of 1980s “Gegenwarts-” and “Alltagsfilme” progressively undermining the
images of Socialist heroines in GDR cinema.
Screening:
The Bicycle, dir. Evelyn Schmidt (89 min).
Preparation:
Jennifer L. Creech, “Pleasure in Seeing Ourselves? All My Girls”. Mothers, Comrades, and
Outcasts in East German Women’s Film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016, pp.
141-93.
Hiltrud Schulz, “Iris Gusner: An Interview about All My Girls”. Available online at:
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
https://ecommerce.umass.edu/defa/memories/9230.
***Deadline for Film Treatment***
Session 7 – 24 Oct 2022:
At the Margins of Society
Evelyn Schmidt’s film The Bicycle (1981) did a lot to challenge GDR authorities. It portrays a
single mother who, after quitting her job due to a lack of motivation, finds herself in financial
difficulties and commits minor insurance fraud to make ends meet. Provocative about The
Bicycle was not least how Schmidt conveys her protagonist’s plight with empathy and
understanding, making visible social divisions still existing in East Germany’s officially
classless society. Rejected by functionaries and critics alike, the reception of Schmidt’s film
illustrates the narrow boundaries for female perspectives in East German cinema.
Special Guest Speaker Axel Bangert (Discussion of The Bicycle and Introduction to Europa
Europa) TBC
Learning Outcomes:
Extend the exploration of non-conformist female protagonists in GDR cinema which began
with All My Girls; investigate the question of a woman’s or feminist film, as well as a queer
cinema in East Germany.
Screening:
Europa Europa (1990), dir. Agnieszka Holland (113 min).
Preparation:
Josie McLellan, “Gay Men, Lesbians, and the Struggle for the Public Sphere”. Love in the Time
of Communism: Intimacy and Sexuality in the GDR. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2011, pp. 114-43.
Andrea Rinke, “Walking a Tightrope Over Forbidden Territory: East German Cinema and
Evelyn Schmidt’s The Bicycle.” Secret Spaces, Forbidden Places: Rethinking Culture. Edited
by Fran Lloyd and Catherine O'Brien. New York/Oxford: Berghahn, 2001, pp. 133-44.
***Midterm exam in second half of session***
Session 8 – 31 Oct 2022:
Reframing History
Based on the life of Solomon Perel, Europa Europa tells the story of a German-Jewish boy
who manages to survive World War II by pretending to be an “Aryan” German. A co-production
between Germany, Poland, and France, involving German producer and Holocaust survivor
Artur Brauner as well as Polish director Agnieszka Holland, the film illustrates the increasing
internationalization of both German film and Holocaust memory during the 1990s. Holland
notably portrays her protagonist’s experience without resorting to the manipulative
emotionalization of melodrama and instead focuses on the at times grotesque, but always
deadly serious performances of identity by means of which Perel tries to navigate a war-torn
Europe that denies his existence. In fact, the theme of performance opens up various
connections to female, as well as queer aspects in Holland’s work as a director in general.
Learning Outcomes:
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
Examine the state of the German film industry and culture post-1990 in a European as well as
international context; debate representations of the Holocaust on screen in terms of history,
aesthetics, and ethics.
Screening:
Marseille (2004), dir. Angela Schanelec (95 min).
Preparation:
Julie Inness, “Passing in Europa, Europa: Escape into Estrangement”. Philosophy and Film.
Edited By Cynthia A. Freeland and Thomas E. Wartenberg. New York: Routledge, 1995, pp.
218-32.
Małgorzata Pakier, “A Europeanisation of Holocaust Memory? German and Polish Reception
of the Film Europa, Europa”. A European Memory? Contested Histories and Politics of
Remembrance. Edited by Małgorzata Pakier and Bo Stråth. New York: Berghahn, 2012, pp.
191-203.
Session 9 – 07 Nov 2022:
A Female Flâneur
An important figure in the renewal of German art-house cinema after 1990, generally referred
to as “Berlin School,” Angela Schanelec creates films characterized by long takes, emotional
ambiguity, and the study of space. In Marseille (2004), a young photographer from Berlin
swaps her flat with a student from Marseille to take pictures of the city. Narrated in no more
than 75 shots, the film tells a story of gradual, subtle estrangement, as Sophie finds it more
and more difficult to return to her life at home. Examining the points of view of both Schanelec’s
camera and that of her protagonist, we will ask to what extent the film’s perspective of the city
may be seen as distinctively female or feminist and outline the social as well as cultural
conditions of the work of female directors in unified Germany.
Guest Speaker Axel Bangert. Introduction to The Berlin School, discussion of Marseille, and
introduction to Everyone Else. TBC
Learning Outcomes:
Identify the film language of the “Berlin School” and its political stance; analyze the construction
of time, space, and character in Marseille; investigate the question of gender and the gaze in
Schanelec’s film.
Screening:
Everyone Else (2009), dir. Maren Ade (118 min).
Preparation:
Macro Abel, “Angela Schanelec: Narrative, Understanding, Language”. The Counter-Cinema
of the Berlin School. Rochester: Camden House, 2013, pp. 111-48.
Stephan Brockmann, “German Film After Reunification: Historical Overview 1990-2010”. A
Critical History of German Film, pp. 413-36.
Session 10 – 14 Nov 2022:
Dissecting Relationships
As in feminist films of the 1960s and 1970s, female directors of the 2000s also set out to dissect
relationships, their power struggles, and the imbalances between males and females. Yet their
aim is less of a political critique of the conditions of private life than it is a careful scrutiny of
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
emotions and desires. A case in point is Maren Ade’s Everyone Else (2009), an intimate
portrait of a young couple on holiday. When they encounter another more successful and
traditional couple, their identity as lovers is upset, and their attempts at redefining their roles
only serve to deepen the rift between them. Turning the couple into the protagonist, Everyone
Else displays the cruel yet humorous study of human interaction that is the hallmark of Ade’s
work as a director. We will discuss the film’s view on questions of gender and sexuality within
the broader context of explorations of intimacy in contemporary German as well as
international cinema.
Learning Outcomes:
Perform close readings to analyze staging and performance of the male-female relationship in
Everyone Else; locate Ade’s work historically in comparison to second-wave feminist film as
well as in terms of global art-house cinema today.
Screening:
Unveiled (2005), dir. Angelina Maccarone (97 min).
Preparation:
Muriel Cormican, “Willful Women in the Cinema of Maren Ade”. Camera Obscura 33 (2018),
pp. 103-127.
Lisa Haegele, “Gender, Genre, and the (Im-)Possibilities of Romantic Love in Derek
Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine (2010) and Maren Ade’s Alle Anderen (2009)”. A Transnational
Art-Cinema. Edited by Abel and Fisher, pp. 59-75.
Session 11 – 21 Nov 2022:
Displaced Identities
In Angelina Maccarone’s Unveiled (2005), Fariba, a translator from Iran, applies for asylum in
Germany after being threatened with the death sentence in her homeland due to a love affair
with another woman. The film’s thematization of the criminalization of homosexuality in Iran,
as well as of the flaws of the German asylum system, certainly makes it an exception in
German cinema of the 2000s. At the same time, Unveiled also deals with more general
concerns in German film of that period, including predicaments of flight, exile, and migration,
and the associated challenges to identity, which were starting to be shown on German screens.
Apart from appreciating its unique agenda, we will therefore also use Maccarone’s film as a
point of departure for exploring contemporary German migrant and post-migrant cinema and
its female voices.
Special Guest: Actor-Director Susanne Sachsse.
Learning Outcomes:
Examine portrayals of flight, exile, and migration in German cinema, with particular focus on
their treatment by female directors; gain an overview of migrant and post-migrant cinema in
Germany more generally.
Screening:
Almanya: Welcome to Germany (2011), dir. Yasemin Şamdereli (101 min).
Preparation:
Gayatri Devi, “No Happily Ever After: Disembodying Gender, Destabilizing Nation in Angelina
Maccarone’s Unveiled”. A Companion to German Cinema. Edited by Terri Ginsberg and
Andrea Mensch. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, pp. 175-92.
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
Jack Halberstam, “Transgender in a Global Frame”. Transgender and Intersex: Theoretical,
Practical, and Artistic Perspectives. Edited by Stefan Horlacher. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2016, pp. 165-187.
Session 12 – 28 November 2022:
Migration as Heritage
Turkish-German cinema has been a popular as well as an innovative force in German film
since the 1990s, bringing to the screen previously marginalized forms of identity and
experience. More often than not, this cinema has been identified with male directors such as
Fatih Akin, who has repeatedly addressed the identity struggles faced by second-generation
Turkish-Germans in his films. Yasemin Şamdereli’s film Almanya: Welcome to Germany does
so as well, but at the same time ventures into new territory, portraying migration as family
history and using the sometimes nostalgic, sometimes ironic visual language of the heritage
film. Does the success of Şamdereli’s genre film about (post-)migration indicate a growing
consensus about Germany's status as an immigration society?
Learning Outcomes:
Explore the origins and development of Turkish-German cinema; conceptualize diasporic and
(post-)migrant cinemas in Germany and beyond.
Screening:
Western (2017), dir. Valeska Grisebach (120 min).
Preparation:
Deniz Göktürk, “Paternalism Revisited: Turkish-German Traffic in Cinema”. The German
Cinema Book. Edited by Tim Bergfelder, Erica Carter, Deniz Göktürk, and Claudia Sandberg.
London: British Film Institute, 2020, pp. 494-516.
Günter Wallraff, “Lowest of the Low: The Turkish Worker in West Germany.” Race & Class 28
(1986), pp. 45-58.
Various documents and images illustrating Germany’s migration history on the website of the
migration museum “House of the Immigration Society”, https://domid.org/en/.
***Deadline for Critical Essay***
Session 13 – 5 Dec 2022:
Exploring Masculinity
Many of the films presented over the course of the semester sought to finally give voice to
women’s experiences and perspectives. The continuing necessity of this aim notwithstanding,
female directors in Germany today are also notable for their nuanced explorations of
masculinity. In her film Western (2017), Valeska Grisebach adapts a quintessential genre of
male struggle, portraying a group of German workers constructing a power station in remote
Bulgaria. At once a film of strong sensual immediacy and an existential tale about loneliness,
longing, and the encounter with strangers, Western presents vivid and complex male
characters from a female point of view.
Learning Outcomes:
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
Explore the female gaze of Grisebach’s film in terms of both her work with lay actors, as well
as aspects of camerawork and mise-en-scène; draw connections to international art-house
cinema.
Screening:
Becoming Black (2019), dir. Ines Johnson-Spain (91 min).
Preparation:
Abel, “Valeska Grisebach: A Sharpening of Our Regard”. The Counter-Cinema of the Berlin
School, pp. 230-48.
Hannah Paveck, “On Valeska Grisebach’s ‘Western’ and its Borderlessness”. Another Gaze,
June 12, 2018, available online at:
https://www.anothergaze.com/cinema-without-borders-valeska-grisebachs-western/
Session 14 – 12 Dec 2022:
Black Histories and Identities
Ines Johnson-Spain’s documentary Becoming Black explores the silenced histories of children
born to African students and East Germans in the GDR. Johnson-Spain’s film takes an
autobiographical, essayistic approach to this topic, exploring her family’s denial of her identity
as a Person of Color and her experiences of racism in the GDR. The documentary follows
Johnson-Spain’s exploration of identity, social norms, and family ties—a journey that begins
just after German reunification. Through archival research, interviews, and voice-over
reflections, Johnson-Spain’s documentary offers viewers insight into the filmmaker’s childhood
and youth and her attempt to reconstruct the political history and social context that shaped
her experience of family and her understanding of her identity.
Learning Outcomes:
Discuss the question of diversity in German cinema and society; revise discussions and
assignments for the final exam.
Preparation:
Fenner, Angelica. “Refracting the Gaze: A Conversation with Ines Johnson-Spain on
Becoming Black (2019).” Feminist German Studies, Volume 38, Number 1, Spring/Summer
2022, pp. 118-140.
Dec 2022 (TBD):
Final Exam
Recommendations for a Positive Teaching and Learning Environment
No laptops are allowed during class. Exceptions will be made for students with academic
accommodations from the Moses Center. Mobile phones are to be switched off. Drinks are
allowed in the classroom, but food is not.
Suggested Learning Opportunities that Relate to our Course
To be discussed in class.
Your Lecturer
Christine Korte received her Ph.D. from York University in Toronto in 2020. Her dissertation
focused on the post-reunification politics and aesthetics of the Berliner Volksbühne theatre
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
under artistic director Frank Castorf. Since then, she has taught courses in German theatre,
film, and culture at York University, the University of Toronto, and NYU Berlin. In her current
research, Christine is exploring the oeuvre of feminist filmmakers Ulrike Ottinger and Tabea
Blumenschein in West Germany in the 1970s and 80s, as well as the subversive silent-era
comedy of Ernst Lubitsch. In her life outside academia, Dr. Korte is a dancer – training in the
studios at the Kulturbrauerei and dancing in her apartment.
Academic Policies
Grade Conversion
Your lecturer may use one of the following scales of numerical equivalents to letter grades:
A = 94-100 or 4.0
A- = 90-93 or 3.7
B+ = 87-89 or 3.3
B = 84-86 or 3.0
B- = 80-83 or 2.7
C+ = 77-79 or 2.3
C = 74-76 or 2.0
C- = 70-73 or 1.7
D+ = 67-69 or 1.3
D = 65-66 or 1.0
F = below 65 or 0
Attendance Policy
Studying at Global Academic Centers is an academically intensive and immersive experience,
in which students from a wide range of backgrounds exchange ideas in discussion-based
seminars. Learning in such an environment depends on the active participation of all students.
Since classes typically meet once or twice a week, even a single absence can cause a student
to miss a significant portion of a course. To ensure the integrity of this academic experience,
class attendance at the centers is expected promptly when class begins. Attendance will be
checked at each class meeting.
As soon as it becomes clear that you cannot attend a class, you must inform your professor
and/or the Academics team (berlin.academics@nyu.edu) by e-mail immediately (i.e. before
the start of your class). Absences are only excused if they are due to illness, Moses Center
accommodations, religious observance or emergencies. Your professor or site staff may ask
you to present a doctor's note or an exceptional permission from an NYU Staff member as
proof. Emergencies or other exceptional circumstances that you wish to be treated
confidentially must be presented to NYU Berlin’s director or Wellness Counselor. Doctor's
notes must be submitted in person or by e-mail to the Academics team, who will inform your
professors.
Unexcused absences may be penalized with a two percent deduction from the student’s final
course grade for every week's worth of classes missed, and may negatively affect your class
participation grade. Four unexcused absences in one course may lead to a Fail in that course.
Being more than 15 minutes late counts as an unexcused absence. Furthermore, your
professor is entitled to deduct points for frequently joining the class late.
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
Exams, tests and quizzes, deadlines, and oral presentations that are missed due to illness
always require a doctor's note as documentation. It is the student's responsibility to produce
this doctor's note and submit it to site staff; until this doctor's note is produced the missed
assessment is graded with an F and no make-up assessment is scheduled. In content classes,
an F in one assignment may lead to failure of the entire class.
Regardless of whether an absence is excused or not, it is the student's responsibility to catch
up with the work that was missed.
Final exams
Final exams must be taken at their designated times. Should there be a conflict between your
final exams, please bring this to the attention of the Academics team. Students should not plan
to leave the site before the end of the finals period.
Late Submission of Work
(1) Work submitted late receives a penalty of 2 points on the 100 point scale for each day
it is late (including weekends and public holidays), unless an extension has been
approved (with a doctor's note or by approval of NYU Berlin's administration), in which
case the 2 points per day deductions start counting from the day the extended deadline
has passed.
(2) Without an approved extension, written work submitted more than 5 days (including
weekends and public holidays) following the submission date receives an F.
(3) Assignments due during finals week that are submitted more than 3 days late
(including weekends and public holidays) without previously arranged extensions
will not be accepted and will receive a zero. Any exceptions or extensions for work
during finals week must be discussed with the Site Director, Dr. Gabriella
Etmektsoglou.
(4) Students who are late for a written exam have no automatic right to take extra time or
to write the exam on another day.
(5) Please remember that university computers do not keep your essays - you must save
them elsewhere. Having lost parts of your essay on a university computer is no excuse
for a late submission.
Academic Honesty/Plagiarism
As the University's policy on "Academic Integrity for Students at NYU" states: "At NYU, a
commitment to excellence, fairness, honesty, and respect within and outside the classroom is
essential to maintaining the integrity of our community. By accepting membership in this
community, students take responsibility for demonstrating these values in their own conduct
and for recognizing and supporting these values in others." Students at Global Academic
Centers must follow the University and school policies.
NYU takes plagiarism very seriously; penalties follow and may exceed those set out by your
home school. Your lecturer may ask you to sign a declaration of authorship form, and may
check your assignments by using TurnItIn or another software designed to detect offenses
against academic integrity.
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
The presentation of another person’s words, ideas, judgment, images, or data as though they
were your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes an act of plagiarism. It is
also an offense to submit work for assignments from two different courses that is substantially
the same (be it oral presentations or written work). If there is an overlap of the subject of your
assignment with one that you produced for another course (either in the current or any previous
semester), you MUST inform your professor.
For guidelines on academic honesty, clarification of the definition of plagiarism, examples of
procedures and sanctions, and resources to support proper citation, please see:
NYU Academic Integrity Policies and Guidelines
NYU Citations Style Guide
Inclusivity Policies and Priorities
NYU’s Office of Global Programs and NYU’s global sites are committed to equity, diversity,
and inclusion. In order to nurture a more inclusive global university, NYU affirms the value of
sharing differing perspectives and encourages open dialogue through a variety of pedagogical
approaches. Our goal is to make all students feel included and welcome in all aspects of
academic life, including our syllabi, classrooms, and educational activities/spaces.
Attendance Rules on Religious Holidays
Members of any religious group may, without penalty, excuse themselves from classes when
required in compliance with their religious obligations. Students who anticipate being absent
due to religious observance should notify their lecturer AND NYU Berlin’s Academics team in
writing via e-mail one week in advance. If examinations or assignment deadlines are scheduled
on the day the student will be absent, the Academics team will schedule a make-up
examination or extend the deadline for assignments. Please note that an absence is only
excused for the holiday but not for any days of travel that may come before and/or after the
holiday. See also University Calendar Policy on Religious Holidays.
Pronouns and Name Pronunciation (Albert and Zoom)
Students, staff, and faculty have the opportunity to add their pronouns, as well as the
pronunciation of their names, into Albert. Students can have this information displayed to
faculty, advisors, and administrators in Albert, Brightspace, the NYU Home internal directory,
as well as other NYU systems. Students can also opt out of having their pronouns viewed by
their instructors, in case they feel more comfortable sharing their pronouns outside of the
classroom. For more information on how to change this information for your Albert account,
please see the Pronouns and Name Pronunciation website.
Students, staff, and faculty are also encouraged, though not required, to list their pronouns,
and update their names in the name display for Zoom. For more information on how to make
this change, please see the Personalizing Zoom Display Names website.
Moses Accommodations Statement
Academic accommodations are available for students with documented and registered
disabilities. Please contact the Moses Center for Student Accessibility (+1 212-998-4980 or
[email protected]du) for further information. Students who are requesting academic
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
accommodations are advised to reach out to the Moses Center as early as possible in the
semester for assistance. Accommodations for this course are managed through NYU Berlin.
Bias Response
The New York University Bias Response Line provides a mechanism through which members
of our community can share or report experiences and concerns of bias, discrimination, or
harassing behavior that may occur within our community.
Experienced administrators in the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) receive and assess
reports, and then help facilitate responses, which may include referral to another University
school or unit, or investigation if warranted according to the University's existing Non-
Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy.
The Bias Response Line is designed to enable the University to provide an open forum that
helps to ensure that our community is equitable and inclusive.
To report an incident, you may do so in one of three ways:
● Online using the Web Form
● US Phone Number: +1 212-998-2277
● Local Number in Berlin: +49 (0) 30 2902 91277
Please consider the environment before printing this syllabus. If printing is necessary, please
select only the essential page range.
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
