Argentina

• state protectionism with rigorous system of pre- and post-prod censorship from coming of sound until 1984.
• Influence of Brazilian cinema nuovo–Cine Liberacion group in late 60s, in response to doldrums of commercial industry and social upheavals of era.

1968: The Hour of the Furnaces –three-part agit-prop doc combining newsreel and doc footage with dramatic re-enactments and printed slogans in a rapid-fire montage distinctly revolutionary (and non-rational) in its appeal.  Primarily agent of ideology.

1973: Juan Peron from returned from exile in Spain to be president–then military coup–industry paralysis

1982: Falkland Islands war with Great Britain; collapse of Argentine dictatorship & restoration of democracy.  No censorship no exiles returned–wave of films examining the past–mainly re: “the disappeared” during the “dirty war” of terror, torture, and murder conducted from 1976-1983 by generals vs. suspected subversives.

1983: Funny, Dirty Little War by Hector Olivera

1984: Camila by Maria Luisa Benberg

1985: The Official Story by Luis Puenzo (Oscar winner)

Chile

Alsino and the Condor (1983) Nicaraguan/Cuban/Mexican/Costa Rican co-prod by Miguel Littin about the friendship between an American military adviser and a peasant boy.

• naive today, but this remains an audacious aesthetic and theoretical achievement.