The Permanencia Voluntaria archive and the historical study of Mexican cinema

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the archival materials held at the Permanencia Voluntaria collection in Tepoztlán, Mexico. Focusing on the documents of the production company Cinematográfica Calderón, in operation from the late 1930s to the 1990s, the article makes a case for using such material to construct critical industrial histories of Mexican cinema. Drawing on concepts from media industry studies, the article examines three intertwined aspects of the production company’s operations during the 1950s and 1960s: marketing, censorship negotiations and transnational distribution. Accordingly, it proposes that these factors be placed in conversation with cinematic texts as a way of reconsidering the place of the nation in Mexican film studies, expanding the objects of analysis in this field and re-evaluating a period of film history whose significance has largely remained overlooked.