Third Cinema
Encyclopedia
Third Cinema is a Latin American film movement that started in the 1960s-70s which decries neocolonialism
, the capitalist
system, and the Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money. The term was coined in the manifesto
Towards a Third Cinema, written in the late 1960s by Argentine
filmmakers Fernando Solanas
and Octavio Getino
, members of the Grupo Cine Liberación
. Published in 1969 in the cinema journal
Tricontinental
by the OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America ), Towards a Third Cinema started with a quote by anti-colonialist writer Frantz Fanon
: ""...we must discuss, we must invent..."
Beside the Argentine Grupo Cine Liberación, Tercer Cine included Raymundo Gleyzer's Cine de la Base, the Brazilian Cinema Nôvo
, the Cuban revolutionary cinema and the Bolivian film director Jorge Sanjinés
.
Solanas and Getino's manifesto considers 'First Cinema' to be the Hollywood production model that promulgates bourgeois values to a passive audience through escapist spectacle and individual characters. 'Second Cinema' is the European art film
, which rejects Hollywood conventions but is centred on the individual expression of the auteur director. Third Cinema rejects the view of cinema as a vehicle for personal expression, seeing the director instead as part of a collective; it appeals to the masses by presenting the truth and inspiring revolutionary activism. Solanas and Getino argue that traditional exhibition models also need to be avoided: the films should be screened clandestinely, both in order to avoid censorship
and commercial networks, but also so that the viewer must take a risk to see them.
Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural forces to control a country in lieu of direct military or political control...
, the capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
system, and the Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money. The term was coined in the manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
Towards a Third Cinema, written in the late 1960s by Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
filmmakers Fernando Solanas
Fernando Solanas
Fernando Ezequiel 'Pino' Solanas is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and politician....
and Octavio Getino
Octavio Getino
Octavio Getino is an Argentine film director who is best known for co-founding, along with Fernando Solanas, the Grupo Cine Liberación and the school of Third Cinema....
, members of the Grupo Cine Liberación
Grupo Cine Liberación
The Grupo Cine Liberación was an Argentine film movement that took place during the end of the sixties. It was founded by Fernando Solanas, Octavio Getino and Gerardo Vallejo...
. Published in 1969 in the cinema journal
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Tricontinental
Tricontinental
Tricontinental is a leftist quarterly magazine founded during the 1966 Tricontinental Conference, currently published by the Cuban organisation OSPAAAL.The magazine receives much funding from sympathetic Italian groups....
by the OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America ), Towards a Third Cinema started with a quote by anti-colonialist writer Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon was a Martiniquo-Algerian psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose work is influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism...
: ""...we must discuss, we must invent..."
Beside the Argentine Grupo Cine Liberación, Tercer Cine included Raymundo Gleyzer's Cine de la Base, the Brazilian Cinema Nôvo
Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo was practised by Brazilian filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s. In Portugal, Novo Cinema flourished after the 1960s, where it lasted, inspired by Italian Neo-Realism and the French movement of the New wave, the direct cinema techniques, and by the ideals the Carnation Revolution up to...
, the Cuban revolutionary cinema and the Bolivian film director Jorge Sanjinés
Jorge Sanjinés
Jorge Sanjinés is a Bolivian film director and screenwriter. He founded the production group Groupo Ukamau. He won the ALBA Prize for Arts in 2009.-Film career:...
.
Solanas and Getino's manifesto considers 'First Cinema' to be the Hollywood production model that promulgates bourgeois values to a passive audience through escapist spectacle and individual characters. 'Second Cinema' is the European art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
, which rejects Hollywood conventions but is centred on the individual expression of the auteur director. Third Cinema rejects the view of cinema as a vehicle for personal expression, seeing the director instead as part of a collective; it appeals to the masses by presenting the truth and inspiring revolutionary activism. Solanas and Getino argue that traditional exhibition models also need to be avoided: the films should be screened clandestinely, both in order to avoid censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
and commercial networks, but also so that the viewer must take a risk to see them.
Further reading
- Wayne, Mike Political Film:The Dialectics of Third Cinema. Pluto Press, 2001.
- Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, "Towards a Third Cinema" in: Movies and Methods. An Anthology, edited by Bill NicholsBill NicholsBill Nichols is an American historian and theoretician of documentary film. His study Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary covers the theory of documentary film, a topic neglected by mainstream film theory...
, Berkeley: University of California Press 1976, pp 44-64
See also
- Political cinemaPolitical cinemaPolitical cinema in the narrow sense of the term is a cinema which portrays current or historical events or social conditions in a partisan way in order to inform or to agitate the spectator...
- Tomás Gutiérrez AleaTomás Gutiérrez AleaTomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed more than 20 features, documentaries, and short films, which are known for his sharp insight into post-Revolutionary Cuba, and possess a delicate balance between dedication to the revolution and criticism of the social, economic,...
, Cuban film-maker - Kidlat TahimikKidlat TahimikEric de Guia , better known as Kidlat Tahimik , is a film director, writer and actor whose films are commonly associated with the Third Cinema movement through their critiques of neocolonialism.One of the most prominent names in the Filipino film industry, he has garnered various...
, Philippine film-maker - Djibril Diop MambétyDjibril Diop MambétyDjibril Diop Mambéty was a Senegalese film director, actor, orator, composer and poet. Though he made only a small number of films, they received international acclaim for their original and experimental cinematic technique and non-linear, unconventional narrative style. Born to a Muslim family...
, Senegalese film-director - The Dictator Novel, a Latin American contemporary literary genre
- Cinema NovoCinema NovoCinema Novo was practised by Brazilian filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s. In Portugal, Novo Cinema flourished after the 1960s, where it lasted, inspired by Italian Neo-Realism and the French movement of the New wave, the direct cinema techniques, and by the ideals the Carnation Revolution up to...
- Films depicting Latin American military dictatorshipsFilms depicting Latin American military dictatorshipsThis is a list of movies that, in one way or another, are closely related to the military dictatorships in Latin America that appeared during the context of the Cold War.-Argentina:* Funny Little Dirty War * The Official Story...
External links
- "Towards a Third Cinema" available online.