Film audiences in Latin America and the Caribbean

2024-12-17

Research on film audiences in Latin America have attracted the attention of specialists in recent decades. Jesús Martín-Barbero (1987) and Néstor García Canclini (1993) promoted conceptual shifts that allowed a renewed approach to the dynamics of cultural consumption. Thus, they analysed the relationship between audiences’ practices and the cultural offer, how they modify their meanings from reception processes, and how they are transformed by their film experiences. In line with this regional discussion, in Brazil Jean-Claude Bernardet (1995) proposed a critical revision of the classical historiography of national cinema, which mainly studied films and authors, suggesting that other elements,  such us the functioning of the market and reception patterns, should be regarded as key elements of national film history.

Encouraged by these conceptual and methodological turns, throughout the 21st century we can see increasing research on the region’s cultural history that reflects on the meanings of cinemagoing (Ferraz, 2012; Bamba, 2013; Rosas Mantecón, 2017; Freire and Ferraz, 2018; Kriger, 2018; Rosas Mantecón and González, 2021; Kriger and Poppe, 2023; Rosas Mantecón and Zirión, 2024; among others). In Brazil, there have been thematic seminars dedicated to the subject since 2009, in the annual meetings promoted by the Sociedade Brasileira de Cinema e Audiovisual (Socine). Simultaneously, the increase in the number of historical and ethnographic studies demonstrates the transdisciplinary character of the analyses being carried out in the country (Pires, 2021: 69-70).
Motivated by the growing exchange between Latin American researchers dedicated to cinema audiences and exhibition spaces, and by the fact that the HoMER (History of moviegoing, exhibition and reception) conference was held for the first time in Latin America, we put together a roundtable on Audience and Cinemagoing Studies in Latin America and the Caribbean: A State of the Art (Rio de Janeiro, 10-12 July 2024). This dossier proposal on Cinema Audiences in Latin America and the Caribbean seeks to expand the roundtable’s call for papers, including both research articles and book reviews that reflect on past and contemporary audience practices in the different countries of the region.

Potential topics include:

  • Cinema audiences in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • Reflections on memories and audiences’ practices in film theatres, film clubs and/or Latin American film festivals.
  • ‘Cultured’ and popular cinephilias, new cinephilias and fan
  • Viewing on streaming platforms and new forms of online exhibition.
  • Piracy and other informal ways of consuming cinema.

Guest Editors:

Ana Rosas Mantecón

PhD in anthropology, professor and researcher at the Department of Anthropology of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa. Specialist in cinema, museum and heritage audiences, and policies towards cultural access. She has promoted dialogue between the theory and practice of cultural management through participation in international, national and regional programs for the professionalization of managers, applied research and audience development.

Among his publications, the books stand out: Pensar los públicos (2023); the co-coordination of Claroscuros de la memoria. Culturas cinematográficas y mundos urbanos (2023), with Antonio Zirión Pérez; the co-coordination of Públicos iberoamericanos del cine mexicano de la Época de oro. Trayectorias analógicas y digitales de una identidad compartida (2021) with Juan Carlos Domínguez Domingo; the co-coordination of Cines latinoamericanos en circulación. En busca del público perdido (2020), with Leandro González, which received the Essay Award on Cinema in Latin America and the Caribbean awarded by the New Latin American Cinema Foundation; coordination of Butacas, plataformas y asfalto. Nuevas miradas al cine mexicano (2019); and the authorship of  Ir al cine. Antropología de los públicos, la ciudad y las pantallas (2017).

Bianca Salles Pires

Bachelor's degree in social sciences and master's degree in sociology from Universidade Federal Fluminense. PhD in Human Sciences (Sociology) from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. He is undertaking a post-doctorate in Anthropological Sciences at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa (Conahcyt scholarship, Mexico). It is part of the research group “Film and audiovisual festivals: stories, policies and practices”, CNPq, Brazil. Its main research themes are cinema audiences, cultural cinema circuits, Latin American audiovisual festivals, film clubs, and documentaries. Topics on which he has published in books and specialized magazines.

María Paz Peirano

PhD in Social Anthropology (University of Kent, United Kingdom), she is a professor and researcher at the University of Chile. Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her work focuses on the dynamics of the construction of the cultural field and the development of Chilean film culture, on which she has published in various books and journals. She is co-author of Film Festivals and Anthropology (2017) and La vieja escuela. El rol de cine-arte Normandie en la formación de audiencias (2020), and is the lead Researcher of the project ‘Públicos de cine en Chile: cultura cinematográfica, cinephilia y procesos de formación’ (Fondecyt nº1211594).

 

Bibliographic References: 

BAMBA, Mahomed (Org.) A recepção cinematográfica: teoria e estudos de casos. Salvador: EDUFBA, 2013.

BERNARDET, Jean-Claude. Historiografia clássica do cinema brasileiro: metodologia e pedagogía. São Paulo: Annablume, 1995.

FREIRE, Rafael de Luna; FERRAZ, Talitha. Apresentação do Dossiê Estudos de exibição e públicos cinematográficos: histórias, memórias e práticas. C. Legenda, Niterói, n. 36, 2018.

FERRAZ, Talitha. A Segunda Cinelândia Carioca: cinemas, sociabilidade e memória na

Tijuca. Rio de Janeiro: Multifoco, 2012.

GARCÍA CANCLINI, Néstor. El consumo cultural y su estudio en México: una propuesta teórica. In. Néstor García Canclini (coord.), El consumo cultural en México. Cidade do México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1993, p. 15 - 42.

KRIGER, Clara (Comp.). Imágenes y públicos del cine argentino clásico. Buenos Aires: Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2018.

KRIGER, Clara; POPPE, Nicolás (editores). Salas, negocios y públicos de cine en Latinoamérica (1896-1960). Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros, 2023.

MARTÍN-BARBERO, Jesús. De los medios a las mediaciones. Comunicación, cultura y hegemonía. Barcelona: Gustavo Gilli, 1987.

PIRES, Bianca S. Los grandes mercados: Brasil. In DOMÍNGUEZ DOMINGO, Juan Carlos; ROSAS MANTECÓN, Ana (coords.) Públicos iberoamericanos del cine mexicano de la Época de Oro. Trayectorias analógicas y digitales de una identidad compartida. Cidade do México: PROCINECDMX, 2021. p. 67 - 97. 

ROSAS MANTECÓN, Ana. Ir al cine. Antropología de los públicos, la ciudad y las pantallas. Cidade do México: Gedisa Editorial/Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 2017.

ROSAS MANTECÓN, Ana; GONZÁLEZ, Leandro. Cines latinoamericanos en circulación. En busca del público perdido. Cidade do México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 2020.

ROSAS MANTECÓN, Ana; Zirión, Antonio (coords.) Claroscuros de la memoria. Culturas cinematográficas y mundos urbanos. Cidade do México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana/Juan Pablos Editor, 2023.