Latin American Film Industries by Tamara L. Falicov

Abstract

Reviewed by: Latin American Film Industries by Tamara L. Falicov Paul A. Schroeder Rodríguez (bio) Latin American Film Industries by Tamara L. Falicov British Film Institute. 2019. 208 pages. $94.00 hardcover; $31.95 paper; also available in e-book. In terms of sheer output, Latin American cinema in the twenty-first century has surpassed the previous record set in the 1940s and 1950s, during the so-called Golden Age of cinema in Mexico and Argentina. In terms of reception, contemporary Latin American cinema is at least on par with the kind of critical acclaim enjoyed by the New Latin American Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. How has this unprecedented convergence of sustained high output and critical acclaim been possible? In this long-awaited volume, Tamara L. Falicov argues that a key factor has been the emergence and growth of various public-private partnerships with enough flexibility to adjust rapidly to ever-changing conditions. The book's central thesis is that in the twenty-first century, state and private initiatives are so intertwined that to separate the two would be a "false dichotomy, as it is often state legislation that promotes and incentivizes the private sector into participating in film production."1 This has been studied before at the national level, and to a lesser extent at the transnational level, but Falicov's book is the first to provide ample and detailed evidence that state and private partnerships play a major role in not just film production but also exhibition and distribution. Latin American Film Industries is the first book of its kind to be published since 1984, when Jorge Schnitman published Film Industries in Latin America: Dependency and Development.2 Just as Shnitman's book summarized much of what we knew about Latin American film industries during the so-called Golden Age of the 1940s and 1950s, as well as during the New Latin American Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, [End Page 179] Falicov's book summarizes much of what we know about Latin American film industries in the twenty-first century. Yet unlike Schnitman, who clearly privileges strong state intervention as the best way to break with what he saw as Latin American cinema's dependency on capitalist models of production and representation, Falicov avoids privileging any one mode of production, distribution, exhibition, or legislation over others. Instead, she describes a wide range of real-world interactions between private and public sectors in a number of national industries over the past two decades, leaving it up to the readers to make their own judgments based on the vast amount of information provided in five areas: state funding; private funding; distribution networks; the role of exhibitors; and the impact of legislation, screen quotas, and piracy on all of the above. She dedicates one chapter to each of these areas, framing them with an introduction plus a first chapter on the history of film studios on one end and with a conclusion that summarizes the book's main arguments on the other. In chapter 2, "State Film Funding," Falicov notes that "in the case of most Latin American film industries (with the exception of Mexico), the state remains the main purveyor of essential funding and support for filmmakers in their respective countries to produce cinema and circulate it nationally and globally"3 Much of the chapter is devoted to what she calls "film institutes," state agencies whose role varies widely by country but nevertheless share an overarching goal to develop, protect, and promote national cinema at home and abroad; one example is through the highly successful Program Ibermedia.4 In the case of Brazil, Falicov traces the country's long experience with said institutes, including the National Institute for Educational Cinema (INCE), the National Film Institute (INC), the Brazilian Film Enterprise (EMRAFILME), and the National Film Agency (ANCINE). In the case of Mexico, she briefly discusses the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema (RTC) and the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) as well as a number of tax incentives. Finally, for Argentina, Falicov discusses the National Film Institute (INC, later the National Institute for Cinema and Audiovisual Arts, or INCAA) and the city-supported Buenos Aires International Independent...