This thesis examines the central role of performance in three of the films of John Cassavetes. I identify Cassavetes’ unique approach to performance and analyze its development in A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Shadows (1959) and Faces (1968). In order to contextualize and define Cassavetes’ methodology, I compare and contrast each of these films in relation to two other relevant film movements. Cassavetes’ approach was dedicated to creating alternative forms of performative expression in film, yet his films are not solely independent from filmic history and can be read as being a reaction against established filmic structures. His films revolve around autonomous performances that often defy and deconstruct traditional concepts of genre, narrative structure and character. Cassavetes’ films are deeply concerned with their characters’ isolation and inability to communicate with one another, yet refrain from traditional or even abstract constructions of meaning in favour of a focus on spontaneous, unstructured performance of character. Cassavetes was devoted to exploring the details of personal relationships, identity and social interaction. In his films, acting and the creation of character depicts the blurred divide between artifice and reality that exists within much social performance in lived experience. The filmmaking process itself was crucial in the generation of improvisatory performances in Cassavetes’ films. His work displays an intertwinement of creative process and the final filmic form.

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In recent years, South Korean filmmakers have repeatedly drawn upon the nation’s experience of Japanese colonialism as an element in the construction of their films. This thesis examines the multiple ways in which contemporary South Korean cinema has drawn upon this period in the nation’s history, through both direct representation, and allegory and evocation. I demonstrate how new perspectives have emerged, creating a space to construct more nuanced considerations of the colonial period beyond nationalist paradigms, whilst not shying away from the traumatic elements which had heretofore defined the dominant perceptions of the era. Utilising trauma theory as a key framework, I argue that by restaging the traumatic events of the past on-screen, filmmakers have provided an opportunity for audiences to come to terms with this past. Turning towards the Korean concept of han, which addresses the accumulation of negative affect and how these negative emotions can be purged through the expression of han, I explore how the folk song Arirang has been mobilised as a way of connecting a film to this legacy of sorrow. By invoking the feeling of han in their work, South Korean filmmakers have tied their personal concerns to a wider national sentiment. I then draw upon the notion of spectrality, and the depiction of ghosts in contemporary films, in order to demonstrate the ways in which the present is haunted by the unaddressed actions of the past. Finally, I argue that a series of films featuring amnesiac protagonists serve to allegorise the ‘settling the past’ movement, which saw the establishment of a number of ‘truth councils’ tasked with investigating aspects of the nation’s twentieth century history. Ultimately, this thesis argues that it is only by addressing and coming to terms with the traumatic elements of our past that we can ever hope to be rid of their negative influence.

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A presente tese tem por objetivo analisar a produção do conhecimento sobre os estudos de cinema realizados pelos pesquisadores vinculados à Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos de Cinema e Audiovisual (Socine). Procuramos compreender o contexto da criação da entidade, em 1996, destinada a realizar pesquisas sobre cinema e audiovisual e como foi possível o crescimento e a consolidação, até 2012, quando completou dezesseis anos de atuação. Visamos a mapear a produção do conhecimento sobre cinema nesse período, de maneira a elencar pesquisadores e temas pesquisados. Nesse escopo, relacionamos o início das atividades da Socine com o crescimento da produção, da divulgação e da exibição de filmes no país. Percebemos que os efeitos quantitativos e qualitativos do reinício da produção fílmica decorreram, entre outros fatores, da aprovação de leis de incentivo à cultura que passaram a vigorar no início dos anos de 1990 e, sobretudo, do espírito de redemocratização da política e da cultura no país, favorável à produção de bens simbólicos. Uma vez que a Socine propunha-se, desde sua criação, a romper com formas arcaicas de fazer pesquisa em cinema, possibilitou a formação de mais pesquisadores na área, contribuindo para a produção e divulgação das pesquisas sobre cinema. Inovaram, assim, tanto em aspectos científicos quanto político-intelectuais. Para analisar as contribuições da Socine para a produção fílmica nacional, fundamentamos teoricamente nossa investigação na noção de campo e na análise relacional. Esses conceitos nos foram caros uma vez que, ao reunir um expressivo número de pesquisadores, a Socine configurou-se como agente coletivo que visava a analisar o cinema quanto à sua representatividade cultural e simbólica para o país. As condições da ação e as formas de articulação dos pesquisadores de cinema na Socine ajudaram, desse modo, a compor os campos científico e cinematográfico inscritos na composição e na forma de gestão que adota, de maneira a permitir avaliar a sociedade com relação ao que ela promove. Recorremos, em nossa análise, a entrevistas narrativas de alguns membros do Conselho Editorial organizadores dos livros, publicações e documentos. Constatamos, no material produzido pela Socine, uma relação entre o aumento da produção, distribuição e exibição de películas brasileiras desde 1995 e a postura propositiva da Socine ao delimitar interesse sistematizado pela temática, com aumento do número de pesquisadores dispostos a pesquisar, debater e publicar sobre a temática. Como consequência, em mais de uma década e meia de existência, a sociedade manteve: encontros anuais, publicação de artigos, resenhas, ensaios, livros e revista debatendo os vários aspectos que envolvem o cinema no Brasil. Além disso, promoveu a exposição, análise e emprego de categorias que tomamos como base para nossas análises desse que constitui um rico e diversificado conjunto de materiais. Ao nos determos à análise de estudos sobre a composição e representação do povo brasileiro, amparamo-nos na perspectiva que entende os discursos como produtores e comunicadores de significados de mundo. Esses significados, por sua vez, formam representações sobre a vida, o futuro, o ser social, a política e o poder e, sobretudo, a pessoa humana que nos deram condições de ter uma melhor percepção a respeito do modo singular com que ela aborda a realidade. Deste modo, concluímos que o filme pode ser um fundamental meio que homens e mulheres encontram para expressar-se, e que olhar para essas produções de maneira mais efetiva só se fez possível a partir dos estudos de cinema realizados na Socine, uma vez que apresentam uma visão de conjunto dessa produção. / This thesis aims to analyze the knowledge production concerning to the cinema studies carried out by researchers from the Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos de Cinema e Audiovisual Socine (Brazilians Society of Cinema and Audiovisual studies). We intend to understand the context of the entitys creation, in 1996, destined to carried out researches about cinema and audiovisual, and how it was possible its development and consolidation, until 2012. We aim to map the knowledge production concerning to cinema in this period of time, listing some researchers and subjects researched. For this target, we have related the beginning of Socines activities with the development of the production, disclosure and exhibition of movies in Brazil. We have understood that qualitative and quantitative effects of the restart of movies production occurred because of the approval of incentive of culture laws, which went into effect in the beginning of the nineties and, above all, the spirit of redemocratization and the countrys culture, favorable to symbolic goods production. Once Socine was determined to break off relations with the archaic ways of doing research about cinema, it made possible the formation of more researchers of that field of studies, cooperating to the cinemas researches production and disclosure. They have changed either the scientific aspects or the intellectual and political ones. In order to analyze Socines contributions to the Brazilians movie production, we are based upon the notion of field and in relational analysis. The concepts were very important once, as we reunited many researchers, Socine set up as a collective agent that aimed to analyze cinema as its cultural and symbolic representativeness in Brazil. Socine movie researchers action circumstances and articulation ways helped to put together the scientific and the cinematographic fields, inscribed in the compositions and type of the management adopted, in a way that, it is allowed to evaluate society in relation to what it promotes. To our analysis, we have recurred to the members of the editorial boards narrative interviews. We have found out that in the material produced by Sorine, there is a relationship between the productions increasing, the exhibition of Brazilian movies since 1995 and Socines propositive posture limiting the systematic interest for this theme, increasing the number of researches that want to search, debate and publish about this subject. As a consequence, in more than a decade and half of existence, this society maintained: annual meetings, articles publication, summaries, essays, books and journals debating many subjects that are concerned to the Brazilian movies. In addition, it has promoted the exhibition, analysis and employment of the categories that are the base to our analysis of this, that constitutes a very important set of materials. We understand also that the discourses as creators and communicators of the different worlds. Those meanings have made lifes representations, future, the social being, politics and power, and, over all, the human beings, that gave us conditions to have a better perception about the singular way that reality was approached. Thus, we have concluded that movies can be an essential way that everyone has find to express oneself and that looking that productions in a more effective way was only possible because of the cinema studies carried out by Socine, once they represent those productions overview.

Pierre Jodlowski's Works Based on Colour consist of three pieces: Série Noire (2005), Série Blanche (2007), and Série Rose (2012) pour piano et dispositif électroacoustique. According to the composer, "each colour provides an opportunity to investigate a particular link of music with imagery." The pieces serve as a musical representation of cinematic elements through the synchronization of music and sound effects. The musical language of the cycle draws influences from various sources including the music of expressionism, musique concrète, as well as standard soundtrack scoring. The intermingling of various melodies, harmonies, and rhythms creates a synthesis between the piano and the electroacoustic soundtrack (tape).In Pierre Jodlowski's Works Based on Colour, he seeks to form an interdisciplinary collaboration between music and visual multimedia. The composer's interest in cinematography and mental processes is evident through his selective mixing of audio effects, sounds (real sounds versus synthesized sounds), and piano. According to Jodlowski the visual aspects, or mise-en-scène, of cinema should surface in the minds of the listener after hearing each of the works. Jodlowski's method of mixing involves several techniques: the insertion of fragments of dialogue from various films, tinkering with inanimate objects, pre-recorded sounds of nature, and the distortion of sonic effects and instrumentation. Aside from the use of color as a symbol, Jodlowski's cycle contains extra-musical ideas that cover a wide range of cinematic themes, including atmospheric elements of film noir, the gradual shifts and changes in our mental processes, as well as love discourse and sex from erotic cinema and pornography. Jodlowski's Works Based on Colour stirs the listener's imagination through the clear delineation of contrasting sections, the dialogue-like interaction between the tape and the piano, and the inclusion of dialogue and sound effects from various films. A performer should have knowledge of cinematic elements, understand the purpose of cinematic concepts and their significance for a cinematic viewer, and recognize their function in Jodlowski's works before performing the Works Based on Colour.