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Lecture Theme: Monsters

This video contains a long discussion on sub-titles and dubbing. Godard expresses his opinions on when dubbing or subtitles are appropriate, the technical facets of dubbing and dubbing films with Quebecois French. Some film figures that come up during the discussion include Roman Polanski, Fritz Lang, Francois Truffaut, Barbara Streisand, and the Marx brothers. Godard also frequently references the Birth (of the image) of a Nation project in which he worked with the government of Mozambique to establish a television channel following its independence from Portugal. There is also discussion of the American studio system with references specifically to Fox studios. There is some light-hearted discussion with the audience about the film The Birds and originality at roughly the 45-minute mark. Throughout this lecture there are references to socialism and later a brief discussion about societal power dynamics between men, women, children, and animals.

Screened Films: Week-end – Jean-Luc Godard (France-Italy, 1967)
Films Discussed: Dracula – Tod Browning (U.S.A., 1931) The Birds – Alfred Hitchcock (U.S.A., 1963), Germany, Year Zero (Germania anno zero) – Roberto Rossellini (Italy-France, 1948)

Lecture Theme: The People and Their Leaders

The relationship between war and cinema is the primary focus of this lecture. Godard speaks of Italian and German propaganda films, Vietnam and the Holocaust. Many figures of cinema come up throughout the conversations between the audience, Losique and Godard within this lecture such as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Steve McQueen and Barbara Streisand. At roughly seventeen minutes an audience member asks him about the role of women within his work which is brought up again later in the lecture. There is also a brief exchange about the changing technology of cinema. At around the 29-minute mark he discusses his relationship to film school and speaks candidly about the lack of financial success of his films and how his films have been self-funded.

Screened Films: Les Carabiniers – Jean-Luc Godard (1963)
Films discussed: Alexander Nevsky -Sergei Eisenstein (U.S.S.R., 1938), Rome, Open City (Roma, città aperta) – Roberto Rossellini (Italy, 1945), The Green Berets – Ray Kellogg and John Wayne (U.S.A, 1968)

During the Spring and Fall semesters of 1978, Concordia University hosted fourteen lectures by Swiss and French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard (1930 – 2022). Serge Losique (1931– ), then a professor within Concordia’s French department, founder of the Montreal World Film Festival, and head of the Conservatory of Cinematic Art, invited Godard to present this series of lectures. These lectures were part of a larger project undertaken by Godard and collaborators such as film archivist Henri Langlois (1914 – 1977) that focused on the history of cinema and television and the function of film as a representation of history within the 20th century.

The lectures featured Godard and Losique discussing ideas and themes brought forth by films they had screened. These include television, women, revolution, films about filmmaking, music, and war. The works of many other directors are also discussed, including, but not limited to, Francois Truffaut, Martin Scorsese, and Jean-Pierre Gorin. The lectures were held at the theatre in Concordia University’s Hall building.