On/Off Screen. The Other Histories of Cinema in Latin America / Las otras historias del cine en América Latina explores practices of film distribution, exhibition and cinemagoing in Latin America. Over the past decade, the receiving end of the film chain, including patterns of film distribution and exhibition and the experiences of cinemagoers, has received increasing scholarly attention. Although this turn has made inroads beyond Eurocentric, Anglo-American limits, there is still a need to highlight other important cinematographic regions, especially Latin America. The symposium brings together scholars working in/on this domain from Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Cuba, and the US, etc to engage in conversations about cinema culture across the Western hemisphere.

Invited participants will also include members of the Cultura de la Pantalla network (https://revistas.usc.gal/index.php/ricd/article/view/5617), a Spanish-language network of film, media and communication researchers in Latin America (Mexico, Colombia and Cuba) and Europe (Belgium and Spain) collaborating in a series of multi-method longitudinal studies on urban cinema cultures in the Spanish-language world. Together they are writing ‘new cinema histories’ for these regions with a focus on exhibition, programming and audience experiences.  The network connects directly with wider dynamics in the field, under the header of ‘new cinema history’. This approach focusing “on the circulation and consumption of film” and examining “cinema as a site of social and cultural exchange” (Richard Maltby, 2011) has turned out to be very productive, thanks to its interdisciplinary approach and methodological openness. It has brought together both young and senior scholars who believe that it is more fruitful to write film history with an eye for the social, economic and geographical aspects of cinema cultures, than merely as an art history of the moving image or a critical reading of films.

The seminar consists of two half days on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 April (9 AM to 1 PM, CDT), each with two to three sessions. The schedule allows colleagues from Latin America, the US and Europe to participate.

All sessions will be online. Register here to receive the link.

Materials submitted by participants are posted .  Please review them before the sessions so that you can interact with the presenters. we will have plenty of time to interactions with audiences. 

As academics active within ‘new cinema history’ and/or working on cinema in Latin America, we would like to take this opportunity to build a wider network of people with similar research interests. The online symposium is a first step towards building a series of seminars exploring possible collaborations, comparative research projects, (inter)national funding. It may result in an edited collection of chapters.