Corso di laurea magistrale in CAM
Cinema, Arti della scena, Musica e Media

The course aims to provide the theoretical and methodological foundations necessary to understand the theory and practice of Cinema Museology. The course will focus on three central aspects:

a) the process of formation of the Film Heritage concept and its characteristics;

b) the historical development and the current role of Museums of Cinema, Cinémathèques and Film Archives, i.e. the institutions dedicated to the preservation, diffusion and valorization of Film Heritage. Different examples of Italian and foreign Museums of Cinema and Film Archives will be analyzed;

c) the activities, tools, and strategies carried out by Cinema Museums.

a) To acquire a historical, methodological and critical framework of the requirements needed for the safeguard, diffusion and valorization of the Film Heritage.

b) To acquire the ability to critically analyze the different museum realities in the cinematographic field with particular attention to the practices adopted in the treatment of Film Heritage and its exhibition. 

It should also present a synthetic project, accompanied by visual materials, illustrating a hypothesis of a Cinema Museum in the light of the didactic pathway developed during the course and of personal reflections on the theme. By way of example, some possible paths to be developed in the museum are suggested: historical chronological and/or thematic; dedicated to a specific cinematography/technique/personality; dedicated to new media; dedicated to contaminations with other arts; etc.. The suggested itinerary must be accompanied by a description of the museographic devices envisaged and an indication of the type of public for which the museum is intended.
The project must be sent by e-mail (donata.pesenti@unito.it) one week before the final examen date.

The first part of the course will analyze:

a) the nature of the Film Heritage highlighting analogies and differences with the Artistic, Archival and Bibliographic Heritage;

b) the historical excursus that establishes the birth and diffusion of institutions dedicated to the preservation, diffusion, and valorization of Film Heritage, examining the main archives in Italy and abroad and the work of some key figures;

c) the activities of preservation, cataloging and valorization of film heritage.

The second part of the course will focus on the historical-critical debate on the definition of the Museum of Cinema, on the different museographic paradigms adopted, and on the policies of action/relation with the public. In particular, the history, theory and practices of exhibiting cinema in a museum space will be analyzed through the presentation of some Museums of Cinema and some online meetings on specific topics with Italian and foreign curators.