Course Description «Law Meets Film» 

CTLS – Spring semester 2021 (Fribourg course)

Walter Stoffel, University of Fribourg and Lucie Bader, film and media expert, Bern (Switzerland)
 
For a brief introduction to the course, watch the video below:

The course confronts law as a form of scientific analysis of the society with film as one form of artistic expression. Participants will watch and discuss films in which law and legal protagonists play or should play a role, analyse the narration of the film as well as the legal problems involved. They will reflect on the function of the law in the society and the role of the professionals that they are about to become.
The stories of many movies have an untold background relating to the role of law and lawyers that the course shall try to uncover. The course will deal with fundamental topics in an international perspective, in particular with the functioning of competition in global markets, with access to justice and international jurisdiction, enforcement and recognition, multinational corporations, director’s liability and corporate social responsibility.
The films will include BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, USA, 2018, 135’), Denial, (Mick Jackson, United Kingdom, 2015, 109’); The Cleaners (The Cleaners, Hans Block/Moritz Riesewieck, Germany 2018, 90’); Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (Marin McDonagh, Great Britain/USA 2017, 115‘); The People vs. Fritz Bauer (Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer, Lars Kraume, Germany 2015, 105‘); Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France 2014, 95‘), The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos, Juan José Campanella, Argentina/Spain 2009, 205’).
“Law meets film” is a 2-credits course, including an introduction into the topics and in film narration (4 hours) as well as a sample of cinematic and legal analysis of the films and the issues they raise (9 blocks of 2 hours). 
2 Credits. Evaluation: A research paper on a film and a topic, written during the term and presented in class.