Film, Indigenous Video, and the Lettered City's Visual Economy Revisited

Abstract

Audiovisual media have become increasingly pervasive in Latin America. Indigenous film and media studies has become a robust and interdisciplinary scholarly field that spans film and cultural studies, visual anthropology, film festival studies, and the writings by activists and participating filmmakers. Third cinema film makers across the hemisphere saw their struggle against US neo-imperialism and internal colonialism allied with anticolonial struggles in Africa and Asia. Social, political, and economic power and their critique are articulated through audiovisual media and in response to them. A full understanding of the lettered city must therefore include its (audio) visual economy. Collaborative and community film and video in Indigenous languages differs locally in its becoming and must be distinguished from the array of aesthetically stunning films that have also been made in collaboration with Indigenous non-professional actors or communities. Collaborative and community video have found support from international non-governmental organizations, international foundations, national arts councils, and film festival grants.