Third Cinema/Militant Cinema: At the Origins of the Argentinian Experience (1968–1971)

Abstract

The manifesto ‘Toward a Third Cinema’ is the best known document of the group Cine Liberación; in it Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino introduced their concept of three types of cinema and of ‘cine‐acción’ (film event). However, because of its early appearance in October 1969, this manifesto did not fully take into account the experience of the screening of political cinema. A later document, ‘Militant Cinema: An Internal Category of Third Cinema’, written for circulation in March 1971, develops the concept of militant cinema. In this document, for the first time, Cine Liberación expanded on the practical experience of the screening of The Hour of the Furnaces and other materials, and clarified its ideas. This article introduces their discussion of ‘militant cinema’ and shows the links between the theoretical manifestos and the practical experience of the screening of the films for political purposes during the first years of Cine Liberación’s work.