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- Convenors:
-
Beatriz Tadeo Fuica
(University of St Andrews)
Sarah Barrow (University of Lincoln)
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- Chair:
-
Santiago Oyarzabal
(Warwick University)
- Location:
- UP 4.212
- Start time:
- 12 April, 2013 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
Since the 1990s several films have been made on a shoestring budget and supported by international funds. Thus, this panel seeks to analyse and compare specific examples from different nations in order to explore current national/transnational tensions present in Latin American cinemas.
Long Abstract:
Since the 1990s, it has been easy to trace a certain number of films made in diverse nations of Latin America, which share several production and formal characteristics. Examples of these are: the exploration of minimalist aesthetics, the use of black and white 16 mm stock and the intervention of non-professional actors; in short: the fact that they were made on a shoestring budget. Several influences, ranging from Independent American cinema, to European movements such as neo-realism, can be identified. Moreover, it is surprising to see that many of these films were supported, especially in the post-production stage, by international funds. Hubert Bals Fund, associated with Rotterdam's International Film Festival, for example, has supported films such as Rapado (Martín Rejtman, 1991) or 25 Watts (Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, 2001). Thus, on the one hand, this panel seeks to investigate the impact these international factors had on diverse Latin American cinemas, where these cinemas place themselves globally and the local resonance of these films. On the other hand, specific films will be critically analysed to reflect upon the depiction of their nations, their protagonists and their spaces. Examples will be given from well established cinemas such as Argentina, to smaller, almost non-existent ones, such as Peru or Uruguay. Ultimately, this panel offers an opportunity to generate a dialogue between national and transnational perspectives in order to throw light on the study of the complexities of recent Latin American Cinema(s).
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on the figure of the adolescent and young adult slacker and its portrayal in New Argentine Cinema. I will explore how this type of character might be useful to understand some of the narratives produced during the worst economic and social crisis in modern Argentine history.
Paper long abstract:
This paper focuses on the figure of the adolescent and young adult slacker and its portrayal in New Argentine Cinema. I will explore how this type of character - made famous cinematically by Richard Linklater in the film aptly name Slacker - with all its aura of stasis and laziness, might be useful to understand some of the narratives produced during the worst economic and social crisis in modern Argentine history. My main arguments will be focused on the [middle] class-inflected nature of this figure, an interesting counterpart to the many marginal and working class characters that populate this cinematography. For matters of space I will base my analysis in the films of Martín Rejtman, Raúl Perrone, and Ezequiel Acuña, although the paper's ultimate aim is to put New Argentine Cinema in dialogue with other cinematographies, both in Latin America and the rest of the world, thus suggesting a possible reading of Argentine cinema in [global] context.
Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses the two films directed by Esteban Sapir, Picado Fino (1996) and La Antena (2007), which occupy an ambiguous (and marginal) position in contemporary Argentine cinema: neither mainstream nor part of the movement known as New Argentine Cinema.
Paper long abstract:
An overwhelming majority of contemporary criticism on Argentine cinema is devoted to the movement known as New Argentine Cinema (NAC) and to filmmakers such as Pablo Trapero, Adrian Caetano, and Lucrecia Martel. One particular director, however, has been almost completely ignored by current scholarship on the topic: Esteban Sapir. This may be because Sapir's films are very difficult to classify: although they share important features with the key representatives of NAC such as Pizza, Birra, Faso (Caetano & Stagnaro 1998) and Mundo Grúa (Pablo Trapero 1999) - very low-budget, independent productions that break with mainstream film narrative - they also differ in significant ways. Sapir is not concerned with the aesthetics of realism, and his films draw on aspects of genre cinema, rely heavily on non-diegetic music, and avoid any naturalistic style. This presentation will discuss Sapir's two feature films, Picado Fino (1996) and La Antena (2007). In the first place I will show how, although dramatically breaking with realism, the films' formalised style, fast cutting and innovative shot composition still constitute a cinematic strategy for reflecting on the same issues of social fragmentation, anomie, and change that are so clearly represented in NAC. I will also claim that the films' black and white cinematography is used to convey a Manichean political discourse - a choice that establishes a direct link with the genres that inform the films (crime film, the thriller, fantasy), and which serves as an ideological commentary on recent Argentine society.
Paper short abstract:
The film Estrellas, through a mixture of documentary and fiction proposes a discussion of the role of non-professional actors and the representation of the shantytowns that the New Argentinian Cinema and TV have made during the last two decades.
Paper long abstract:
The documentary Estrellas (Federico León and Marcos Martínez, 2007) bring forward a series of questions regarding several of the characteristics of the New Argentinian Cinema and the films of directors such as Adrián Caetano (Pizza, birra y faso, 1997) and Pablo Trapero (Mundo grúa, 1999). Through the figure of Julio Arrieta, a non-professional actor from a shantytown, the film examines the representation that Argentinian filmmakers have made of marginalized people. The use of what Arrieta calls "face-bearer" actors, that is to say, non-professional actors who get roles according to their looks and cannot play against type, and their future once they are the focus of the spotlight, is one of the topics of the film. In order to argue this conception, Arrieta proceeds to shoot a sci-fi film about an alien invasion to his shantytown to prove that they can participate in stories of a different genre and Estrellas presents us the backstage of the film. Also, the film proposes a different aesthetic, dispensing altogether of what could be called a vérité style, choosing instead a series of static shots well planned in advance that chose not to wallow in the poverty of the slums at the same time that blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction. Ultimately, Estrellas raises a series of problematic questions regarding the representation of the "other", the choice of certain aesthetics decisions and the possibilities of cooperation between the filmmaker and the subject.
Paper short abstract:
This paper sets out to explore the distinctive features of Días de Santiago (Josué Méndez, 2004, Peru) in terms of both its aesthetic qualities and its production history, and argues for it to be considered as a ‘landmark’ work for national and regional cinema.
Paper long abstract:
In August 2004, debut feature Días de Santiago by 'new' Peruvian film-maker Josué Méndez finally screened in Lima at the capital's major film festival to great acclaim, after several months of worldwide screenings and prizes, including a nomination for the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Festival which also supported its completion and distribution costs. The release strategy was deliberate: Peruvian critics had become prone to respond unfavourably to 'national' films, accusing them of being unambitious and lacking in stylistic innovation. This film - with its minimalist aesthetics, international support, and formal references to films such as those by Wong Kar Wei and Scorcese - offered something refreshingly different in their view. At the same time, it took a new approach to the representation of conflict, with a focus on the trauma suffered by a young combatant returning to civil life after a stint serving in the Armed Forces.
This paper sets out to explore the distinctive features of this film in terms of both its aesthetic qualities and its production history, and argues for it to be considered as a 'landmark' work. I aim to place it not only in the context of Peruvian cinema but also as a film that resonates with others like it across Latin America - in terms of funding and distribution strategies, aesthetic choices and a thematic emphasis on 'coming of age' that provides an oblique yet meaningful response to the socio-political context of a turbulent period in national and regional history.
Paper short abstract:
This paper seeks to explore what it is that the Uruguayan film 25 Watts (Rebella and Stoll, 2001) is evoking or referring to when citing aesthetic choices made by international Independent filmmakers. It also aims at exploring in greater depth the current landscape of Uruguayan cinema.
Paper long abstract:
In 2001, the Uruguayan film 25 Watts (Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll) received the Tiger Award at Rotterdam's International Film Festival. While it was aesthetically innovative in Uruguay, many of its aesthetic choices were already present in films produced elsewhere. Several film critics and scholars have pointed out that 25 Watts was influenced by the works of some Argentine and American Independent directors. However, while there were mainstream productions with certain patterns and filmmaking styles from which to deviate both in Argentina and in the United States, this does not seem to have been the case in Uruguay. This analysis seeks to explore what it is that this Uruguayan film is evoking or referring to when citing these foreign directors. This paper focuses on some specific sequences in 25 Watts which make us reflect upon the dialogue the film establishes with the international circulation of independent films and with the creation of a marginal space within local audiovisual media.
The national and international success of 25 Watts was the beginning of ControlZ Films, the most prolific Uruguayan production company. Many others have also contributed to the undeniable increase in the number of Uruguayan films made during the first decade of this millennium. The development of specific local policies and the creation of funding bodies, together with international factors, have developed a new context. Consequently, this presentation also aims at exploring in greater depth the current landscape of Uruguayan cinema.
Paper short abstract:
The encounters between man and nature are at the core of many contemporary Latin American films. Hence, this paper aims to explore how such encounters are portrayed and how that representation is influenced by local and/or global factors.
Paper long abstract:
The focus on the encounters between man and nature has been recurring in the field of cultural production from its beginnings. In cinema, these encounters have arisen frequently and have been considered from different perspectives, in various forms and with divergent political, ideological and philosophical purposes. Many contemporary Latin American productions portray this relationship of man with nature in a minimalist way, mainly due to economic necessity, but also to aesthetic choices that seem to follow Bazinian premises. Accordingly, this paper aims to explore how that encounter is consecrated in formal terms, particularly through the cases of La hamaca paraguaya (Encina 2006), Alamar (González Rubio 2009) and La Libertad (Alonso 2001). Considering the local problematic inherent to the spaces represented and the influences of international capital in the production process, national-transnational theoretical approaches will also be discussed. As many critics and scholars have noted, it has become de rigueur to analyze films from transnational approaches following theories of globalization. Nonetheless, the collaboration of different nations in the production phase has been a common practice in filmmaking since its early stages and yet national criticism has prevailed. Therefore, what remains of local identity in the aforementioned films, in spite of this new internationalism, will be also contemplated when reviewing the interrelations of man and nature.