Video usage on documentary in the Southern Cone: aesthetic and productive transformations

CAMPO, JAVIER

St. Andrews, Escocia

Conferencia; 47th Annual Conference de la Society for Latin American Studies.; 2011

Society for Latin American Studies.

Video technology had an influence, though late, decisive in documentary film production in the Southern Cone. The introduction of this technological device in the film medium was delayed by the military dictatorships who suspended the technical and cultural innovation in the subcontinent. Thus the filmmakers who exiled were those who started experimenting with video, like the Argentine Fernando Solanas in Los hijos de Fierro -Fierro's sons- (1984) and Chileans Marilú Mallet and Patricio Guzmán Diario Inconcluso -Unfinished diary- (1982) and En nombre de Dios -In God's name- (1986), respectively. Video usage in documentary filmmaking had a large increase during the 90’s, productive and aesthetic changes were decisive for the creation and diffusion of new methods of carrying out documentary, in line with global changes in documentary that had been taking place in previous years. In this sense the objective of this work is to investigate formal and productive changes that led the new medium for increasing the production of documentary films in the Southern Cone, while addressing local and international literature reference.