Latin American Women Filmmakers ─ Production, Politics, Poetics

Latin American women filmmakers have achieved unprecedented international prominence in recent years. Notably political in their approach, figures such as Lucrecia Martel, Claudia Llosa and Bertha Navarro have produced innovative and often challenging films, enjoying global acclaim from critics and festival audiences alike. They undeniably mark a 'moment' for Latin American cinema. Bringing together distinguished scholars in the field-and prefaced by B. Ruby Rich-this is a much-needed account and analysis of the rise of female-led film in Latin America. Chapters detail the collaboration that tends to characterise its ethos-in many ways distinct from the largely masculine 'Third Cinema' auteurism which preceded it-as well as the transnational production contexts, unique aesthetics and socio-political landscape of the key industry figures. Through close attention to the particular features of national film cultures, from women's documentary filmmaking in Chile to comedic critique in Brazil, and from US Latino screen culture to the burgeoning popularity of Peruvian film, this timely study demonstrates the remarkable possibilities for film in the region. The book will allow scholars and students of Latin American cinema and culture, as well as industry professionals, a deeper understanding of the emergence and impact of the filmmakers and their work, which has particular relevance for contemporary debates on feminism and postfeminism.

Deborah Martin is Senior Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies at University College London. She has published widely on Latin American film including Of Border Guards, Nomads and Women: Painting, Literature and Film in Colombian Feminine Culture (2012) and The Cinema of Lucrecia Martel (2016).Deborah Shaw is Reader in Film Studies at the University of Portsmouth, UK, where her key research interests are in transnational film theory and Latin American cinema. She is the founding co-editor of the Transnational Cinemas journal and her books include Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Ten Key Films (2003) and The Three Amigos: The Transnational Filmmaking of Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Alfonso Cuaron (2013).