Screenplay lectures by Yevhenii Stasinevych 2019: The films we read

Goal of the course

To trace in detail and step by step the difficulties and problems that arise in the process of converting a cult literary prose into a film product. And now to see how they can be solved and avoided, reaching a new artistic quality and reaching congeniality.

Description of the course

During Yevgenii Stasinevych’s personal course, we will talk about the connections between two of the most important artistic practices today: literature and cinema. Themes and methods, images and stylistic registers, fundamental difficulties and striking congeniality, unexpected victories, and symptomatic half-successes. Although the most important question will not be the ancient “which is better?”, but the topical “what can literature and cinema gain as a result of such interactions?” And even: can anyone gain anything here? We will find out by reading and watching the most iconic – important, provocative, great – books and films of the last hundred years.

List of topics for lectures and brief summary

• Stephen King: between slasher and current art
  Why is it that what is terrifying in the books may not work in the movies at all?
  Does the genre need strong multidimensional characters and how to jump out of it to a higher, more complex level?

• Philip Dick vs. Neil Gaiman: Do Audiences Dream of American Gods?
  How to work with fiction so the maximum number of viewers would like it?
  How much mythology is needed to work with today’s and tomorrow’s issues?

• Laszlo Krasnagorkai vs Imre Kertész: there are different realisms
  How is the effect of realism produced and why is it needed at all?
  Between “different realism” and hyperrealism: what will the audience trust?

• Thriller as a supergenre: film adaptations by Fincher, Anderson, Scorsese
  What is a thriller today: a set of specific rules or a worldview?
  Suspense as hard currency: What keeps us awake?

• Cormac McCarthy: the latest classic in dark tones
  How to modernize “yesterday’s” genres?
  How to please critics and the general public while creating something new?

• J.K. Rowling vs J.R.R. Tolkien: the problems of “long” stories
  The epic as a resource and danger: when does the viewer get bored?
  Can decorations be the main characters?

• Dickens vs. Austen: Does Literalism Help Adaptations?
  What is the “spirit of the classics” and how can it be captured in cinema?
  How to interest thick-skinned viewers in long-known stories?

• Series and literature (from Inspector Morse to Game of Thrones): “great novel” on the screen
  Pros, cons, and pitfalls of the serial format.
  How to tell a story for a long time and not be boring?

• Truman Capote: how to convey genius?
  Can childhood be an artistic subject and a problem?
  Documentary which a touch of eternity.

• William Shakespeare: theater in cinema – who wins?
  Character as the cornerstone of a cult artistic product.
  Bloody criminals as a viewing pleasure.

• Fyodor Dostoyevsky: an ideological novel in cinema
  Big ideas as superheroes.
  How (and is it possible) to hold attention exclusively with dialogues?

• Stanislav Lem vs the Strugatsky brothers: something more than fiction
  Working with large metaphors: the breadth of interpretations and the power of interpretations.
  How to screen philosophical prose?

• Arthur Conan Doyle: the power and danger of “eternal” heroes
  An immortal hero as the audience’s best friend.
  How to adapt a classic hero for today’s reality?

• Henrik Sienkiewicz vs Jan Potocki: what is Polish in Polish art?
  What are the markers of national cultural sensitivity and how does it look on the screen?
  “For everyone” and “exclusively for us”: dilemmas of national film production.

• Milan Kundera vs Bohumil Hrabal: cultural otherness of Central-Eastern Europe
  Physicality and sexuality as the protagonists of modern times.
  Irony Through Tears: Comedy Dramas as a Symptom and Trend.

• Ukrainian literature in cinema: a martyrology of success
  Can classic Ukrainian literature be a relevant cinema?
  Who is modern Ukrainian protagonist/antagonist?
  In order not to cry we laughed: from a dark drama to a life-affirming story.

Feedback

Mykola Kutola, participant of Terrarium Intensive 2018

“Complex play with form is inherent in literary narrative. Film dramaturgy is much younger than literature and it still has a lot to learn. Stasinevych, just makes it clear.”

Andriy But, participant of Terrarium Intensive 2018

“After Stasinevych’s lecture, my reading list grew by fifty items. It is cool to argue with Yevgenii about adapted movies because he not only watches them but also reads the original sources from which these scripts were written. A cool company with a colossal book knowledge.”

Olha Kurovets, participant of Terrarium Intensive 2018

“Yevgenii’s lectures are always an adventure. They are fascinating, deep, lively, with respect for listeners. The lecturer manages to inspire and captivate, so much so that you want to run to the bookstore immediately after the lecture and buy everything he mentioned. This is what can be called a real “book fever.”