Interpreting independence in Latin American cinema today: the digital option
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Accepted Version
Date
2012-08
Authors
de la Garza, Armida
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Peter Lang
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Abstract
Globalisation has transformed “independence” into, at best, “inter-dependence”. In Latin American film, this process has been experienced as a decline in the national productions, now usually co-productions, and a tendency towards the self-exoticising as films cater for a festival-circuit global audience; similarly, theatrical exhibition takes place in one of a handful of the global multiplex complexes. Moreover, narrative film itself has long been regarded as inherently “dependent”, on the conservative sectors that have provided its finance, with the word “independent” referring to authorial features only. However, the very same processes that have allowed for such an unprecedented corporate control of these film industries have also spawned a parallel network of local, regional and national filmmaking, distribution and exhibition through digital media. From the “Mi Cine” project in Mexico to the “Cine Piquetero” in Argentina, digital filmmaking is empowering viewers and restoring agency to local filmmakers. In this paper I argue for this understanding of “independence” in the contemporary cinematic spheres of Latin America: the re-appropriation, amidst the transnationalism of the day, of the democratising potential of cinema that Walter Benjamin once thought was inherent to the medium.
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Keywords
Digital Cinema , Mexico , Independence
Citation
De La Garza, A. (2012) 'Interpreting Independence in Latin American Cinema Today: The Digital Option' In: Richardson, B. and Kelly, L. (eds.). Power, Place and Representation: Contested Sites of Dependence and Independence in Latin America. Oxford: Peter Lang. pp. 157-172 doi: 10.3726/978-3-0353-0336-0
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© 2012, Peter Lang: Oxford. This is the author accepted manuscript (i.e. manuscript version after peer-review) of the book chapter. The definitive published version of record is available from https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/44716