Contents. Copyrighted material List of Figures A ck n o w l e d g m e n t s Tr a n sl a t o r s P r e fa c e.

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1 Contents List of Figures A ck n o w l e d g m e n t s Tr a n sl a t o r s P r e fa c e ix xi xiii I nt r o d u c t i o n 1 1. C h a o s, My t h s, a n d S i l e n c e s : E a r l y C o l o m b i a n F i l m m a k i n g Constructing a Cinematic Discourse on La Violencia Capturing the Margin: Cinema and Liminality in Colombia G e n d e r e d G e n r e s : Wo m e n P i o n e e r s i n C o l o m b i a n F i l m m a k i n g V i s u a l D i s ju n c t i o n s : Fr o m t h e E x p e r i m e nt a l t o Tr o p i c a l G o t h i c D e c e nt e r i n g t h e Centro : Film Noir and the Metamorphosis of Bogotá Reframing Violence: Toward Other Aesthetic Languages Searching for Images, Negotiating Transnational Spaces: The Reinvention of Colombian Cinema 179 N o t e s B i b l i o g r a p h y 231 Index 253

2 CRITICAL ESSAYS ON COLOMBIAN CINEMA AND CULTURE: CINEMBARGO COLOMBIA Copyright Juana Suárez, All rights reserved. First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Suárez, Juana. [Essays. English. Selections] Critical essays on Colombian cinema and culture : Cinembargo Colombia / Juana Suárez. pages cm Translation of: Cinembargo Colombia : ensayos críticos sobre cine y cultura. Cali : Universidad del Valle, Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN Motion pictures Colombia History. I. Title. PN C6S dc A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: August Printed in the United States of America.

3 Introduction Despite Colombian filmmaking s extensive history (vast in terms of its chronological scope but not its quantity), its cinema is not identified in international circles via the concept of a Colombian film industry, but instead via a specific list of films that have garnered nominations and awards at a few festivals, in combination with the sui generis nature of the cinematographic procedures of a few directors, notably Víctor Gaviria and Luis Ospina. The presence of foreign capital and directors in films such as María llena eres de gracia ( María Full of Grace, Dir. Joshua Marston, 2004), La Virgen de los sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins, Dir. Barbet Schroeder, 2000), and Rosario Tijeras (Dir. Emilio Maillé, 2005) has accorded them more of a transnational than a Colombian affiliation. These productions have made it to the top on the international scene in a way that is relatively similar to a certain filmmaking boom in Latin America today. Prior to its current period of growth, Colombian cinema only had a collective identity and a certain assembly of talent in the 1970s under the auspices of the Compañía de Fomento Cinematográfico (FOCINE). 1 The vitality it has experienced since 2003 with the formulation of Law 814 (or the Law on Filmmaking) has now led to an industrial Colombian cinema with a more organized structure. 2 In any case, the chronic violence that has plagued the country seems to define the course of what is known as Colombian cinema, while other subjects it has broached evoke little comment. With this background, Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture: Cinembargo Colombia seeks to lay out other thematic axes, routes, and approaches that may allow for a greater understanding of Colombian filmmaking. One of the first challenges is to move beyond qualitative aesthetic judgments that have kept discussion stagnant, where films are simply catalogued as good or bad and where viewers insistently clamor for other topics that move beyond the wearisome subject of violence. With few exceptions, Colombian films do not have great cinematography in terms of their content or aesthetics. Some films accomplish great visual feats, while others seem motivated by a thematically and even visually predetermined course. Many end up being a bundle of good intentions, a description used by Luis Alberto Álvarez (1995) in referring to Canaguaro (Dir. Dunav Kuzmanich, 1981). 3 The production of recent films shows more concern for aesthetic elements, and this shift heralds better results in Colombian filmmaking in the future. Nevertheless, as I will explain later on, various processes will have to take place to improve the quality of film production.

4 2 Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture This collection of essays is not a nationalistic appraisal of Colombian cinema. Paulo Antonio Paranaguá has already warned of a pervasive complaint in Latin American filmmaking: The nationalistic fervor to value or invent a local tradition has made us lose sight of what has nurtured our cinematographic economy while depriving us of a long-term perspective, the longue durée of our new history ( Tradición 21). Paranaguá is correct in calling attention to the compartmentalized nature of histories of national cinemas, and he invites new research that supports a comparative approach in favor of novel and fertile articulations and of avoiding the traps of nationalism (18). Moreover, he is careful to specify that comparing is not homogenizing (23). Nonetheless, it is very difficult for Colombian filmmaking to take part in the type of dialogue suggested by Paranaguá without having accomplished a series of critical tasks first. One of the reasons for the repeated missteps in Colombian filmmaking derives from a lack of familiarity among emerging filmmakers with what has been done in Colombia before their time. Casual conversations with young Colombian filmmakers and my recent teaching experience as invited professor at the film school at the National University (Spring 2011) make clear to me the limited exposure they have to Colombian cinema, whether through insufficient interest or unavailability of the films. The reluctance to examine Colombia s own cinematic legacy leads many filmmakers to repeat the mistakes of the past again and again. For that reason, every so often, Colombian filmmaking as Luis Alberto Álvarez has also said resumes its cycle of inveterate errors, without learning anything from the past ( El cine n.p.). Perhaps for that reason it remains largely caught up in an approach to regional variations based on stereotypes, mockery, and belittling the other. Perhaps for that reason as well, critics who see impressive innovations in some recent productions leave aside diachronic revisions; thus, with each new good film, there is a rewriting of the birth of Colombian filmmaking. Colombian filmmaking s air of renovation in recent years specifically since the promulgation of Law 814 in 2003 can quickly turn into a formula for visibility at film festivals, due more to its novelty or rarity than to some genuine achievement. The obsession that certain critics and filmmakers themselves seem to have with festivals and competitions can become more detrimental if filmmaking does not break free from the nationalistic propaganda that characterized former President Álvaro Uribe s government ( and ) and his national marketing campaign, Colombia es pasión (Colombia is passion). I will take up this topic in greater detail in chapter 7 on frame changes in recent Colombian cinema. In a country where the discourse of plurality and diversity has become the stronghold of cultural planning and political discussions on the citizenry s role in conflict resolution, Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture: Cinembargo Colombia questions representations of race, gender, and social class in relation to mechanisms of power that delimit the construction of identity and otherness and analyzes how Colombian filmmaking expresses itself within specific social and historical contexts. I should stress the relative difficulty of detaching the discussion of any aspect of Colombian cinema from the overarching question of violence. A different discussion would attempt to separate that hydra-headed monster known as Colombian violence. 4 This collection of essays suggests the need for a

5 Introduction 3 deeper analysis of the legacy of Colombia s moving images within the complex definition of national. Hence, it is impossible to ignore that violence as a constant has penetrated that very definition. Likewise, the historical constant of violence and the image it projects of Colombia is a main factor in film s reception and a certain anxious desire to have visual documents that restore the good image of the country, an issue that has persisted from the very birth of Colombian cinema to the present day, as we will see in the first and last chapters. Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture: Cinembargo Colombia emerges in response to the lack of any specialized study analyzing the role of Colombian cinema in relation to the concept of Colombian culture (or cultures). Thus, it is important to take stock of existing works on Colombian filmmaking in order to describe the starting point for my essays, the issues that motivate them, and the way in which they are framed within a long-running dialogue that, unlike Colombia s film industry or film history, has a more concrete date of birth. This introduction begins with a review of existing literature in Colombia and the United States, highlighting some urgent tasks for researchers on Colombian filmmaking, and is followed by a brief overview of each of the essays in this book. * * * Most of the bibliography on Colombian cinema consists of articles disseminated in academic and cultural journals of limited circulation. In so-called canonical or fundamental books on Colombian filmmaking, similar complaints with regard to film production surface from time to time and frequently bear witness to the ups and downs of establishing a genuine film industry. Their tendency to be organized chronologically, the interviews that are transcribed, and the technical data that are sporadically included are essential to understanding the dynamics at work in Colombia s cinematographic apparatus. As chronicles of Colombian filmmaking that reoccur periodically, they are valuable documents that should not be underestimated. With the exception of Umberto Valverde s Reportaje crítico al cine colombiano (1978) as the title indicates, a series of interviews with directors and Carlos Álvarez s Sobre cine colombiano y latinoamericano (1978), much of the earlier bibliography on Colombian cinema approaches critical analysis timidly and, in large part, identifies itself as a colloquial exercise. Such is the case with Hernando Valencia Goelkel s Crónicas de cine (1974) and Hernando Salcedo Silva s Crónicas de cine colombiano (1981). Other books have come about through compiling reviews and articles originally published throughout different time periods, such as Oswaldo Osorio s Comunicación, cine colombiano y ciudad (2005) and Realidad y cine colombiano ( 2009), as well as Salcedo Silva s work mentioned above. The journalistic nature of these last three texts should be emphasized. Journalistic chronicles are necessary in the bibliographic corpus of any cinematography. In addition, and understandably, they are produced almost immediately in response to the films exhibition. They seldom arise out of an exhaustive research process or are subject to the kind of analysis demanded by specialized journals or academic publications. Despite the fact that these chronicles or journalistic reviews are compiled

6 4 Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture into books, they should not be taken as substitutes for analytical research since they were not published with that purpose in mind. In reality, few texts on Colombian cinema come from conducting a research process that transcends classifying films into periods and taking an inventory while seeking instead to read the filmic text in greater depth in relation to its context and reread it in relation to a contemporary context. Works resulting from more rigorous research, such as Hernando Martínez Pardo s Historia del cine colombiano (1978) and Carlos Álvarez s book published in the same year, are pillars for any new bibliographic project on Colombian film, yet their dates of publication reveal that they need to be made current. On the other hand, audiences also change with time, as do approaches to and consumption of filmmaking. My own contact with the feature films under discussion, for example, has often been via DVDs (unthinkable back in the 1970s). My position as a viewer aligns itself more closely with what Janet Staiger has called the perverse spectator, or a spectator who does not do the expected and who restructures hierarchies according to his or her own expectations. 5 In recent years, we have seen a thematic shift in criticism on Colombian cinema that is revitalizing the rigorous work done by Martínez Pardo, whose Historia del cine colombiano resulted from scrutinizing the cinematographic apparatus in detail, including production, exhibition, distribution, and reception. More than thirty years after its publication, his work has become not only historic but visionary, due to the author s ability to repeatedly detect and forecast the flaws of Colombian filmmaking in its different stages. Martínez Pardo s work retains its value as a classic of historiography: it not only holds its own with other works of a similar nature on national or world cinema but also certifies the existence of Colombian cinema since the end of the nineteenth century. Books such as Hechos colombianos para ojos y oídos de las Américas (2003) by Cira Mora and Adriana Carrillo, along with the journal Cuadernos de cine colombiano, which was reactivated in 2001, have also resulted from a more rigorous and less anecdotal analysis. Some of the Cuadernos issues published in 2008 and 2009 reveal similar good intentions to foment critical research on Colombian filmmaking and other areas, but they seem rushed into publication at the expense of scholarly rigor. Perhaps consultation with a long-term editorial board that oversees each publication s research processes and final editing may be beneficial for this essential endeavor whose issues, to date, have often been highly useful to researchers. 6 Another series of thematically oriented publications are no less important, but despite being endorsed by national or institutional awards, many of them lack depth. Such is the case with Diego Cortés Zabala s La ciudad imaginada (2003) on representations of Bogotá in film, and Nazly López s Miradas esquivas a una nación fragmentada (2006) on silent film. These works reflect research on relevant and highly interesting topics but seem bereft of the kind of editorial consultation that could maximize their exploration of the subject matter. We could discuss journals and magazines on cinema as well, but the only publication in Colombia that has survived long-term is Kinetoscopio, published by the Centro Colombo Americano in Medellín. It often includes dossiers on Colombian filmmaking from different time periods; it offers interviews and useful commentaries,

7 Introduction 5 but many pieces are largely anecdotal and impressionistic (as is the case in magazines with large circulation in the country) and they do not offer significant analysis or a critical foundation. Research on the course taken by this publication along with others that have not survived (e.g., Cuadro, Ojo al cine, and Arcadia va al cine ) and those that are moving into the online sphere could give us insight into their type of criticism and their production conditions, in addition to the practices of spectatorship in Colombia. Acción! Cine en Colombia catalogues a wealth of information, documents, and illustrations. This editorial endeavor began as a complement to the exhibition of the same name held at the National Museum from October 2007 to January Its efforts are strengthened by a team of historical and research consultants composed of people whose work on Colombian filmmaking covers a vast territory, whether as researchers or as personnel from film institutions. Pedro Adrián Zuluaga was the lead investigator and writer. Beyond the descriptive nature characteristic of this type of book in keeping with the detailed objectives of the museum s work Zuluaga offers a critical vision that makes the catalogue an indispensable tool for research on the topic. The museum s exhibition becomes a reference point for the balance between criticism and practice in Colombian filmmaking. 7 The emergence of blogs and other Internet spaces is facilitating the publication of additional material on the topic. Oswaldo Osorio maintains a section on Colombian cinema in his blog Cinéfagos ; the content is very similar to his journalistic reviews. Director Julio Luzardo and a team of collaborators write En rodaje, a virtual magazine oriented to provide information on directors, films, actors, and events related to cinema, television and photography. Pedro Adrián Zuluaga consistently writes on Colombian cinema in his blog La pajarera del medio. He also includes interviews and makes available materials for discussion. This blog has become one of the major referents in contemporary criticism in the field. The list of such publications may be more extensive. However, at the moment, these are the three major virtual resources that bridge geographical gaps, although they are all written in Spanish. * * * With the recent support for filmmaking in Colombia, particularly with the possibilities for its distribution that have opened up since the promulgation of Law 814, studies on Colombian cinema have increased in other parts of the world. In particular, as a scholar and researcher who has worked for US universities, I can briefly take stock of the topics that predominate in those spaces and profile the fields of knowledge currently explored by Colombian filmmaking. 8 The reference to US production is not intended to confirm any hegemony of knowledge but instead to establish a position within both of the scholarly worlds that I inhabit most frequently: the United States and Latin America, particularly Colombia. I note a bit wryly that my position inevitably responds to performer Guillermo Gómez-Peña s description of an intellectual coyote (smuggler of ideas). 9 With regard to the United States, it is important to keep in mind that, although the Law on Filmmaking has opened up some new spaces, in actual fact it was also the production of La Virgen de los sicarios and María llena eres de gracia that sparked

8 6 Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture greater curiosity among US scholars toward Colombian cinema. It would be inaccurate to say that these two productions revitalized some preexisting interest: with the exception of Víctor Gaviria s first two feature films, Rodrigo D. No futuro (Rodrigo D. No Future, 1990) and La vendedora de rosas (The Rose Seller, 1998), US academic circles had barely taken notice of the topic. Any other allusion was typically sporadic and descriptive, and with few exceptions, hardly any academic research can be listed. One dividing line would be the type of cinema known as the sicaresca, which allows us to include studies published prior to 2000; although critiques are scarce, they merit consideration. 10 Likewise, that same line facilitates taking stock of the overall status of studies on Colombian cinema from that year to the present in order to describe work that is being done as well as what is missing. In no case do I try to offer a global or all-encompassing view. It is important to point out the role played by departments of languages and literatures where study is focused on the Spanish language and Latin American literature. Although filmmaking and film studies exist at numerous US universities, work on Colombian cinema has capitalized in particular on research conducted primarily by literature professors. 11 This differs radically from the way that the four major cinematic traditions in Latin America Argentine, Brazilian, Cuban, and Mexican filmmaking historically have been approached. While many studies have emerged in the same way from literature and cultural studies departments, various influential works on these cinematic traditions have come from specialists in film studies. Departments of languages and literatures have also generated translations of works by Latin American critics, which take on equal importance. 12 The fact that, in large part, Colombian filmmaking is being analyzed by researchers whose first concentration is literature marks this view of film in a unique way. Simultaneously, it draws the importance of cultural studies into the discussion because the elasticity of this field s themes and methods has broadened its spectrum to include cinema and other visual arts as subjects for research and teaching. When specialists in cultural studies and literature examine film, the consequence in some cases is a greater attention to those elements most closely related to literature: narrative, characters, and temporal and spatial framing, for example, without paying careful attention to the language of the camera. 13 Despite the fact that classes specifically on film are taught within the framework of cultural studies, film is often incorporated in a supplementary way, which is also reflected in the type of academic production carried out in those departments. On the other hand, the lack of familiarity that often surfaces in undergraduate courses with regard to the social and political contexts that a film might allude to whether it is on Colombia or any other country frequently takes up time that could be useful for a discussion of the visual elements. (Seldom does the image of the tourist reader that the narrator offers in La Virgen de los sicarios turn out to be so opportune, since the new context has to be explained and translated for him or her in detail.) Another factor connected to fields of study relates to how research is catalogued. Due to its connection with literature, it is possible to find works on Colombian filmmaking included in specialized databases on literature and not in those that are frequently used for research on film from the United States and other corners of the world.

9 Introduction 7 However, those departments have opened up an important space for the study of Latin American cinematographic traditions. Given that such literature departments are the source for works on Colombian filmmaking, it is not surprising that the interest generated by Fernando Vallejo s novel created a niche that eventually favored its film adaption. Nonetheless, the connection between film and literature should not be reduced to this framework. Obviously, the dialectic between these two art forms goes back a long way, although it extends to film and literature from all traditions and ages. In Latin America, it began with silent film, which quickly turned to Romanticism and its reserves of novels for its first adaptations (a tradition that grew with the passage of time to include novels from other periods) and continued through avant-garde movements and the plethora of possibilities offered by film for both the visual and the literary imagination. Similarly, we should take into account that the trajectory of the film/literature exchange has had a marked effect on literature by writers such as Manuel Puig, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Julio Cortázar, and Alberto Fuguet, just to name a few. In the case of Colombian literature and its connection to cinema, there are specific cases such as writer Gabriel García Márquez s relationship with filmmaking that runs from his work in the 1950s with Álvaro Cepeda Samudio to writing screenplays for films, to adapting some of his novels (and the near impossibility of adapting others), to his work as president of the San Antonio de los Baños School of Filmmaking in Cuba. Another segment is represented by Andrés Caicedo s obsession with cinema and his work with the film club movement in Cali, his critical production (quite prolific despite his short life), and the ghostly shadow that his work has cast over a generation of film lovers and critics. We can also include Fernando Vallejo s incursion into filmmaking and his disenchantment with what he winds up calling the hoax of the twentieth century. 14 Academic production on all three figures is scarce, which is most surprising in García Márquez s case given his huge popularity. 15 The role that the adaptation of novels plays in present-day Colombian filmmaking must be assessed. For some critics and directors, this phenomenon reflects something of a dearth of stories for the screen; for others, it is simply evidence of the closeness between the two art forms. Nonetheless, the inclusion of Colombian writers from more recent generations, such as Jorge Franco Ramos, Santiago Gamboa, and Mario Mendoza, in the curriculum of Latin American literature programs assures that the adaptation of their novels will be considered an object of study, both in academic publications and in potential master s theses or doctoral dissertations. These may be on Colombian literature or on pervasive topics in current Latin American literature such as violence, the center versus the margin, studies on the city, representation of the marginal subject, noir novels, narcotrafficking, and displacement, among others. For that reason, I propose drawing a dividing line with the advent of films on the sicaresca. Although many critics have made use of the newly coined term, no comparative study exists to date justifying whether the Spanish context in which the picaresque novel arises (halfway between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance) and the particular characteristics of this genre can shed light on any parallel with Colombia as it has been shaped by narcotrafficking culture, or whether this does not go beyond a mere play on words. 16

10 8 Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture Prior to 2000 and the interest in films on young assassins and narcotrafficking, other eras in Colombian filmmaking were largely unknown. In her essay on Early Cinema and Modernity in Latin America, Ana M. López traces the arrival of filmmaking as one more import of modernity to Latin American countries and analyzes its development in relation to the complex global interactions and transformational experiments that made its dissemination possible ( Early Cinema 48). López alludes to María (1922) and Aura o las violetas (1924) as examples of foundational narratives that were quickly adapted to film. There is a notable absence of any other mention of Colombian filmmaking in her essay, despite the fact that the spectrum of topics discussed is shared by Colombia s limited silent film production. A review of Garras de oro: The Dawn of Justice (original title) appears in the critical filmography, South American Cinema The section on Colombian filmmaking was overseen by journalist and film and theater critic Paul Lenti. Some points that commonly emerge in the few existing approaches to this film by P. P. Jambrina can be discerned in the review: the controversial topic of the loss of Panama, the production s advanced technical nature in comparison with other Colombian silent films from the time period, and its supposed suppression due to influence from the US government. The entry on this film was contributed by Jorge Nieto, former director of the Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano (Colombian Film Heritage Foundation). Furthermore, the selection includes filmographical entries for La langosta azul ( The Blue Lobster, 1954), Chircales (The Brickmakers, 1968), El río de las tumbas ( River of Tombs, 1965), La mansión de Araucaima ( Araucaima Mansion, 1986), and Visa USA (1986), and closes with Rodrigo D. No futuro (Rodrigo D. No Future, 1990). Due to the nature of this reference work, each review is headed by technical data; awards won by the films are noted at the bottom of each entry. In general, rather than providing an exhaustive study, nearly all the reviews make use of critical texts existing at the time, such as Martínez Pardo s Historia del cine colombiano mentioned above. Despite its short selection, this is one of the few books in English that offers an overview of Colombian filmmaking. With regard to Garras de oro, it is worth remembering that one of the first attempts at an extended analysis was carried out by Juan Buenaventura as a master s student in what was then the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Kansas. 17 Among the works reviewed by Lenti, productions by Marta Rodríguez and Jorge Silva are the most frequently cited. In both of her major works on New Latin American Cinema, Julianne Burton focuses on these two filmmakers. In her wellknown book on Cinema and Social Change in Latin America: A Conversation with Filmmakers (1986), Burton includes an interview with these directors. In The Social Documentary in Latin America (1999), her compilation of various essays on the topic, the critic includes one of her own pieces on strategies of representation in 15 Latin American documentaries produced between 1958 and 1972, including Chircales. 18 One of the works omitted from Lenti s selection is Cóndores no entierran todos los días (A Man of Principle, 1984), a production by Francisco Norden that achieved a certain international transcendence and is quite well-known in various academic circles. Although it is difficult to find studies on this adaptation of Gustavo Álvarez Gardeazábal s novel, this film merited significant attention from Fredric Jameson in

11 Introduction 9 Signatures of the Visible. In his chapter On Magic Realism in Film, Jameson opens his discussion with an extended commentary on the concept of magic realism in a few Latin American writers; later on given his interest in historical cinema he focuses on Norden s film. It is nearly impossible to find scholarly works on other film productions from the 1970s and 1980s. One significant contribution is the extensive descriptive article by Ilene S. Goldman on the onetime group known as Cine Mujer; the article appears in Visible Nations: Latin American Cinema and Video (2000), edited by Chon Noriega. The preponderance of studies on the subject and marginality and the debate over testimonial literature opened up a space to examine feature films by Víctor Gaviria, with particular attention to his modus operandi, his traces of Neorealism, and his portrait of the margin. In his book Against Literature (1993), John Beverley was the first to mention Rodrigo D. No futuro as a visual text that problematized not only the place of the margin (a topic soon to reach saturation point in many studies) but also the uses of mass culture in the United States, becoming a model for leftist political culture in Latin America. Although Beverley limits himself to two brief comments on the significance of punk music in this film, its connection to his critical work is not gratuitous. His comments emerge at a culminating moment in the discussion on postcolonial studies and subaltern studies, a topic for which Beverley was the standard-bearer at that time. For that reason, later chapters in the same book ( The Margin at the Center: On Testimonio and Second Thoughts on Testimonio ) would soon become mainstays of how to approach Víctor Gaviria s filmmaking. Additionally, frequent screenings of La vendedora de rosas which coincided in those years with the premiere of several Latin American productions on youth at the margin created a favorable atmosphere for new studies. Numerous papers on Gaviria have been presented at various conferences and major and minor symposia, although despite the apparent interest, published scholarly production on this director continues to be limited. The only work to come out in book form to date is Víctor Gaviria: los márgenes al centro by Jorge Ruffinelli. In addition to looking back analytically at the director s filmography, Ruffinelli includes interviews with various crew members, close friends from his film circles, and actors from his films. The volume compiled in Objeto Visual, the journal published by Venezuela s National Cinémathèque and edited by Luis Duno-Gottberg, who is based in the United States, is a similar case and is also dedicated to Víctor Gaviria s filmmaking. This work s enormous value resides in its diversity of critical positions in favor of or against the director s methodology. There is notable participation by scholars from the United States in this volume (whether they are US scholars or not), alongside critics and professors from Venezuela, Colombia, and even the United Kingdom in the case of Geoffrey Kantaris. He has published some of his pieces on Colombian filmmaking in journals such as Revista Iberoamericana and more recently in a compilation of essays on Latin American cinema and the global market, edited by Deborah Shaw (117 33). 19 Violencia, representación y voluntad realista, an extensive interview with Gaviria that is frequently cited, was conducted by Carlos Jáuregui 20 and appears in proceedings from a symposium on violence and the city that was held in Jáuregui s extensive research on cultural cannibalism in all its manifestations in

12 10 Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture Latin America informs the nature of the questions, with a particular emphasis on topics such as the director s view of the margin and that segment of the population considered residual by society that has been called disposable, to its detriment. A more recent interview was published in the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies. 21 Jáuregui and I have published a frequently cited study on the ethics of the gaze in Gaviria s first two feature films, comparing them to the film adaptation of La Virgen de los sicarios. The discussion takes its theoretical framework from Emmanuel Levinas s work on the ethics of an approach to the other. It seeks to discern the process by which visibility is conferred on the marginal subject in opposition to the prophylactic intent of Schroeder s film, which is quite faithful to Vallejo s novel. For the most part, existing studies have followed a similar comparative approach and soon began to include the full-length film adaptation of Rosario Tijeras, which was widely distributed in the United States. Doctoral dissertations or master s theses, most of which are in preparation or not yet published, also capitalize on these comparisons. Another aspect in these comparative studies traces the connections with Latin American films portraying childhood or youth in marginal areas, such as Pixote, a lei do mais fraco (Pixote, the Law of the Weakest, Dir. Héctor Babenco, Brazil, 1984), Cidade de Deus (City of God, Dir. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, Brazil, 2002), and Amores perros (Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexico, 2000). In 2007, an essay came out comparing Vittorio de Sica s Umberto D (1952) and Gaviria s Rodrigo D. (1990) in a book on Italian Neorealism and global cinema, revitalizing a topic that has been frequently mentioned but seldom developed in works here and there on Gaviria s feature films. In this essay, Kristi Wilson highlights the relevance of a particular vein of Neorealism that persists in Latin American cinema. The fact that this analysis appears alongside essays spanning films from other Latin American traditions as well as African, Chinese, and Eastern European cinema is symptomatic of the longevity of Rodrigo D., undoubtedly already a classic of Latin American filmmaking. At the same time, it signals the possibility of new studies and, perhaps, the prospect of beginning to read the corpus of Colombian filmmaking in light of other national cinemas. As I have noted, both La Virgen de los sicarios and María llena eres de gracia indicate a highpoint of interest in Colombian filmmaking. Paradoxically, although they are considered Colombian productions, their directors (Barbet Schroeder and Joshua Marston, respectively) are not Colombian. Despite this, the transnational circumstances of these films are understandable if we take into account that international collaboration and co-production (which in any case have been a constant in filmmaking) are now more inevitable than ever given current geopolitical and economic trends. The draw of adapting Vallejo s novel has a lot to do with themes that were already emerging in Gaviria s production, and as I have indicated, critical studies have been justifiably comparative. Additionally, the treatment of homosexuality in both the novel and its film adaptation situates it within the corpus of queer studies. María llena eres de gracia, for its part, has not only circulated extensively through departments of Spanish and literature but also through women s and gender studies and departments of sociology and anthropology, among others. The film s subject

13 Index Acción! Cine en Colombia 5 Acevedo Álvaro 21 Acevedo Arturo 21, 22 Acevedo Gonzalo 21 Acevedo Historical and Cinematographical Archives 21 action fi lm(s) 90, 165, 196 adaptation(s) 7, 184, 201, 184 Cóndores no entierran todos los días of foundational narratives 8, 18, 20 La mansión de Araucaima 130, 138 La Virgen de los sicarios 10, 52, , 154, 181, 201 Paraíso Travel 192, 201 Perder es cuestión de método , 201 Rosario Tijeras 10, 201 Satanás 201 aesthetics of garbage 75 of hunger 75 of violence 184 affect 87, 199 affective discourses 172 affective marginalities 82, 162 affective territories 200 Afro-Colombian community 200 Afro-Colombian groups 176 Afro-Colombian organizations 116 Afro-descendant communities 105, 115, 176 Agamben, Giorgio 82, 83 Agarrando pueblo 14, 69, 75 78, 92, 130, 134, 153 Al fi nal del espectro 185 Alape, Arturo 47, 108 Alcántara Herrán, Pedro 137 Aljure, Felipe 141, 148, 149, 157, 169, 170, 175, 176 Alma provinciana 13, 17, 18, 26 28, 38, 39, Althusser, Louis 71 Álvarez, Carlos 3, 4, 47, 104, 123, 125, 126, 127 Álvarez, Julia 47, 104 Álvarez, Luis Alberto 1, 2, 56, 57, 79, 82 Álvarez Gardeazábal, Gustavo 8, 53 Amapola, la fl or maldita 95, Amaya, Alberto 201 Amnesty International 109 Amor, mujeres y fl ores 11, 95, 105, 111 Amores perros 10, 185 Anderson, Benedict 33, 50, 161 Angulo, Guillermo 123 animation 77, 103, 185 anomia 84 Appadurai, Arjun 192, 194 April 9, 1948 see El Bogotazo Arbeláez, Carlos César 179, 180, 189, 199, 201 Arbeláez, Ramiro 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 74, 76, 125, 134 Arboleda, Paola 98, 100 Arcadia va al cine 5 Arocha, Jaime 176 Arocha, Luis Ernesto 127 Arroyo, Leila 116, 117 Arzuaga, José María 121, 125, 126, 127, 150 audience(s) 41, 72, 80, 93, 129, 149, 160, 170, 172, 177, 186, 190, 194, 199 audience formation 19, 42; creation 187 audience rejection 125

14 254 Index audience(s) Continued Colombian/national/domestic audience 4, 18, 19, 20, 30, 31, 88, 128, 158, 159, 166, 175, 180, 189, 191, 193 of experimental cinema 122 foreign/international/global audience 42, 74, 79, 180, 186 Latin American audience 189 Augé, Marc 173 Aura o las violetas 8, 18, 20, 21, 22 auteur cinema 123, 126, 175, 186 avant-garde fi lm 122 Avelar, Idelber 22 Baiz, Andi 189, 201 Bajo el cielo antioqueño 13, 17, 18, 22 26, 32, 38 41, 69, 84, 89, 166 Bakhtin, Mikhail 24, 76 bambuquero fi lms 123 Barranquilla Group 124 Baudrillard, Jean 85, 87, 91, 166 Benjamin, Walter 82 Benjumea, Carlos 153, 191 benjumeísmo 191, 192 Bernal, Augusto 129, 130 Beverley, John 9, 85 Bhabha, Homi 161 Big Stick diplomacy 35, 36 Birri, Fernando 70, 82, 83 Black Maria Film School 188 Bloque Metro 91 see also La Sierra; paramilitary Bluff 185 Bolívar soy yo 15, 157, Bordwell, David 19, 31 Brand, Simón 189, 192, 201 Braun Herbert 44, 45, 51, 65 Brazilian Modernism 75 Brecht, Bertolt 105 Brechtian theatrical principles 109 Bright, Sara Bruzual, Alejandro 82, 83, 86 Buenaventura, Juan Guillermo 8, 12, 31 Buñuel, Luis 61, 82, 86, 124, 130 Burton, Julianne 8, 11, 72, 101 Bustamante, Diana 188 Cabrera, Sergio 141, 147, 153, 154, 193, 201 Caicedo, Andrés 7, 129, 130, 134, 135, 140 Caicedo, Juan Diego 70, 71 Calderón, Camilo 103 Cali Film Club 129 Cali Group 122, 129, 130, 136 Caliwood 122, 129, 130, 136, 140 Calvo, Máximo 18, 21, 33, 41 Campesinos 47, 95, Campo, Óscar 157, 172, 173, 185 Canaguaro 1, 14, 43, 48, 56 59, 193 Canal Ramírez, Gonzalo 124 cannibalism 10, 140 cultural cannibalism 9, 75, 126, 130, 135 Cardoso, Patricia 95, 181, 183, 189 Carmen Carrascal 99 Carne de tu carne 53, 54, 76, 121, 130, 131, 133, 135, , 172 Carrasquilla, Tomás 22 Carrillo, Adriana 4, 21, 22 Carrillo, Jairo 185 Carrizosa, Eulalia 97, 99 Carvajal, Eduardo 75, 136 Cartagena Film Festival 190 Catholic Social Action 25 censorship 54 El drama del 15 de octubre 69 Fernando Vallejo s fi lms 19, 58, 60, 61 Garras de oro 29, 30, 35, 41, 42 La Violencia fi lms 45, 46, 47, 51, 58, 80 in Spain 80, 125, 126 Centro Colombo Americano Medellín 4 Cepeda Samudio, Álvaro 7, 121, 124 Chanan, Michael 46, 180 chanchadas 192 Chandler, Raymond 143, 150 Chaparro, Alejandro 115 Chaparro Valderrama, Hugo 19 Chapman, James 182 Chircales 8, 14, 69, 70 74, 105, 106, 108, 110, 126 chulavitas 56, 57 see also La Violencia; guerrilla, groups chusmeros 57 see also La Violencia; guerrilla, groups Cine Club Colombia 124 Cine en femenino 118 Cine Mujer 9, 14, 95, , 117, 118, 119 cinema novo 49, 58, 70, 75, 105, 184 cinéma vérité 73

15 Index 255 Cinemateca Distrital 29, 98 cinephilia 122, 129, 135, 150, 172 Cinotti, Arrigo 31 Cities in Crisis. A Matter of Survival 102 Cities in Crisis. What s Happening? 95, 101, Ciudad Lunar Producciones 188 civilization and barbarism 13, 18, 23, 27, 63, 107 Clamores 116 Claqueta 189 Claude-Antoine 74 CMO Producciones 188, 193 coca leaf 114 cocaine 91, 134, 164, 165 distribution 111, 165 processing 164 production 165 coffee 25, 108, 113 industry 22, 166 production 24, 166 production regions/zones 44, 51, 60 Colombia es pasión/colombia is Passion 2, 176, 191, 198 Colombian Institute of Culture/Instituto Colombiano de Cultura 99, 103 colombianidad/colombianness 50, 170, 175, 176, 191 colonial city 144, 147, 148 legacy 23 metaphors 63, 130 order 14, 89, 137 patterns 107 period/times , 144 colonialism 70, 81, 133 comedy 26, 99, 128, 146, 153, 162, 169, 185, 196 Comisión Fílmica 198 Como los muertos 61 Compañía de Fomento Cinematográfico see FOCINE comunas 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 92, 194 Con su música a otra parte 95 Cóndores no entierran todos los días 8, 14, 43, 48, 52 56, 109, 193 Confesión a Laura 14, 43, 61, 65 66, 145 Consejo Nacional de las Artes y la Cultura en Cinematografía 189 Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca CRIC 108, 109 Conservative party 36, 54, 60 Conservative political affi liation 51, 64 Conservative power 53 Conservatives 32, 44, 45, 50, 51, 54, 57, 64 consumer 17, 77, 126, 153, 160, 189, 193, 194, 212 goods 136, 190 society 85, 87 consumerism 155 consumption 77, 153, 154, 170, 190, 193, 194 drug consumption 83, 173 sacol consumption 87 Conway, Christopher 162 Coral, Ricardo 192 Corporación Financiera Popular 58 Cortés Zabala, Diego 4 cosmetics of violence 184 Crang, Philip 182, 201 Craske, Nikki 97 Cromwell, William Nelson 35, 37 Crónica roja 14, 43, 50, 60 61, 80 Cruz Carvajal, Isleni 77, 107, 109, 113 Cruz Usma, Jacinto (Sangre Negra) 51 Cuadernos de cine colombiano 4, 74 Cuadrillas de San Martín 101 Cuadro 5 Cuarón, Alfonso 181, 183, 184 Cuban Revolution 45, 46, 70, 132 Dalton, Scott 69, 92, 118, 195 Danza de los millones 28 Davis, Emily S 11 de Andrade, Oswald 77 de Sica, Vittorio 10, 125, 126 del Diestro, Alfredo 18 del Toro, Guillermo 181, 183, 184 Deleuze, Gilles 80, 167 Dennison, Stephanie 182, 186 Deus e o diabo na terra do sol 57, 74, 109 di Doménico, Donato 21, 33 di Doménico, Francesco 150, 181 di Doménico, Vincenzo 17, 18, 33, 150, 181 di Doménicos 19, 20, 21, 41 Diafragma Producciones 188 Díaz Espino, Ovidio 35, 37

16 256 Index Dimendberg, Edward 142, 143, 146, 155 Dindicué, Benjamín 109, 110 see also indigenous leaders displacement 7, 11, 15, 58, 61, 69, 74, 116, 154, 158, 161, 196, 197, 198 forced displacement 46, 55, 105, 115, 158, 159 Documentary Filmmaking Foundation 112 Duno-Gottberg, Luis 9, 80, 82, 195 Duque, Ricardo 137 Durán, Ciro 56, 73, 74, 75, 69 Durán, Mauricio 101 Echeverri, Jorge 14, 121, 127, 128, 129, 191, 201 Ehrenberg, Matías 201 Ejército de Liberación Nacional ELN 44 see also guerrilla, groups El alma del maíz 95 El ángel del acordeón 96 El Bogotazo 43, 45, 46, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 65, 66, 145 El carro 191 El colombian dream 15, , 157, 175, 176 El cruce 127 El drama del 15 de octubre 13, 17, 18 20, 41, 61, 69, 150 El embajador de la India 192 El hermano Caín 44, 80 El hombre de la sal 95, 101, 103 El milagro de la sal 124 El paseo 189 El potro chusmero 80 El proyecto del diablo 172 El reino de los cielos 95 El río de las tumbas 8, 14, 43, 48 50, 55, 56, 58, 59 El río del tiempo 51, 52, 55 El vuelco del cangrejo 179, 195, 197, 199, 200 En la tormenta 14, 43, 48, 50 52, 55, 61, 64, 80 Es mejor ser rico que pobre 192 Escobar, Arturo 106, 117 Escobar, Pablo 88 Escobar, Rita 97 Esta fue mi vereda 124 exclusion 69, 73, 79, 107, 111, 154, 191 exclusionary 63, 64, 80 see also inclusion experimental cinema 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 140, 201 experimental fi lm 122, 123 experimental genre 124, 127 Faguet, Michèle 78 Falicov, Tamara 184 Farnsworth-Alvear, Ann 25, 40 feminism 96, 97, 98, 100, 117 feminist cinema 97, 105 feminist theory/theories 98, 145 Fernández, Emilio Indio 48 Festival folclórico de Fómeque 95, 101, 103 Figueroa, Gabriel 48 fi l m n o i r 14, 48, Fisher, Juan 189 Flaherty, Robert 70, FOCINE 1, 41, 52, 53, 58, 65, 67, 78, 79, 99, 118, 157, 179, 186, 187, 188, 189, 191, 193, 196, 200 Fondo Mixto para la Promoción Cinematográfica 187, 188, 189, 197 Fonds Sud Cinéma Foster, David W. 152 Franco, Fernell 136 Franco, Francisco 125, 137 Franco Ramos, Jorge 7, 11, 201 Frente Nacional 44, 137, 138 Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia FARC 43, 44 see also guerrilla, groups Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano (Colombian Film Heritage Foundation) 8, 17, 27, 28, 29, 34, 41, 42, 65, 127 Gabrielli, Ricardo 189 Gaitán, Jorge 192 Gaitán, Jorge Eliécer 43, 45, 53, 54, 56, 65, 145 see also El Bogotazo Gallego, Cristina 188 Gamba, Efraín 201 Gamboa, Santiago 7, 153, 154, 201 Gamín 14, 56, 69, García, Dago 128, 189, 191, 192, 201 García, Daniel 188 García Canclini, Néstor 153, 189, 193

17 Index 257 García Espinosa, Julio 71 García Márquez, Gabriel 7, 121, 124 García-Moreno, Diego 189 Garras de Oro (The Dawn of Justice) 8, 13, 17, 18, 20, 28 38, 39, 41 Gaviria, Carlos 179, 180, 195, 196 Gaviria, Víctor 1, 6, 9, 10, 14, 19, 67, 69, 78 88, 90, 91, 92, 126, 127, 141, 142, 154, 157, 162, 167, 170, 175, 180, 193, 194 Geiger, Jeffrey 102 generación de los maestros 123 Getino, Osvaldo 182 Goldman, Ilene S 9, 98, 99 Golpe de estadio 193 Gómez, Laureano 123, 137, 172 Gómez, Libia Stella 95, 141, 144, 146 Gómez, Sara 96 Gómez-Peña, Guillermo 5 González, Álvaro 123 González, Efraín 60 González, Miguel 137 González Iñárritu, Alejandro 10, 181, 183, 184 González-Stephan, Beatriz 18, 160 Goodis, Davis 143 gothic 14, 121, 122, Grau, Enrique 121, 124 Gruesso, Libia 116, 117 Gruta simbólica 22 Guerra, Ciro 157, 167, 175, 179, 188, 197, 201 Guerrero, Rodrigo 201 Guerrilla 44, 46, 58, 172 groups 45, 56, 57, 59, 61, 115, 158, 159, 160, 167, 168, 172, 175, 193 guerrilla movements 57, 62 guerrillas 43, 168, 173, 193 Gutiérrez Alea, Tomás 105, 130 Halperín Donghi, Tulio 36 Hammett, Dashiell 143 Harcourt, Wendy 106, 117 Hawley, Joshua D. 36 Herlinghaus, Hermann 82, 83, 84, 86, 162 Hollywood 11, 21, 22, 70, 75, 90, 142, 143, 165, 183, 189, 191 homophobia 85, 134, 149 homophobic anxiety 85 homophobic jokes 149 horror fi lm(s) 129, 185 horror genre 131, 136 Houston, John 150 Hubert Bals Fund 189, 197 Ibermedia 189, 197 imperfect cinema 49, 70, 71, 105 imperialism 81, 133 cultural imperialism 85 US imperialism 40, 70 inclusion 79, 88, 154, 165, 167, 191 see also exclusion indigenous communities 98, 105, , 112, 113, 115 leaders 98, 108, 112, 113, 115 memory 109 territories 113, 114 Isaacs, Jorge 18 Jambrina P.P. 8, 18, 28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 38, see also Garras de oro Jameson, Fredric 8, 9, 80, 81, 109, 154 Jara, René 106 Jaramillo, Alejandra 147, 148 Jaramillo, María Mercedes 60 Jáuregui, Carlos 9, 10, 140 Jiménez, Alberto 58 Johnson, Randal 184, 186, 194 Kantaris, Geoffrey 9, 45, 46, 64, 79, 83, 86, 161, 164, 174 Kaplan E. Ann 96, 97 Karen llora en un bus 185 Karim, Aisha 174 kidnapping 166, 172, 175, 176 Kinetoscopio 4, 201 King, John 179 Konstantarakos, Myrto 184 Kuhn, Annette 101 Kuzmanich, Dunav 1, 43, 48, 56, 57, 58 La cerca 195 La desazón suprema: Retrato incesante de Fernando Vallejo 51, 61 La estrategia del caracol 141, 147, 153, 155, 193 La Gaitana 108 see also indigenous leaders

18 258 Index La gente de La Universal 14, 141, , 153, 156, 170 La gran obsesión 124 La historia del baúl rosado 14, 95, 141, , 147 La hoja sagrada La langosta azul 8, 14, 124, 125 La mansión de Araucaima 8, 121, 136, 129, 135, La mirada de Myriam 99 La pena máxima 128, 191 La primera noche 15, 157, , 175 La realidad del aborto 98 La sangre y la lluvia 195, 198, 201 La selva vendida 101 La sierra 14, 69, 91 93, 118, 195 La sociedad del semáforo 179, 195, 196, 198, 201 La sombra del caminante 15, 157, , 175, 197 La tragedia del silencio 18, 21 La vendedora de rosas 6, 9, 14, 69, 78 88, 162, 166, 167 La Violencia 13, 43 67, 69, 70, 74, 80, 81, 89, 90, 103, 107, 108, 113, 123, 130, 135, 136, 137, 140, 142, 157, 162, 170, 193, 196 La Virgen de los sicarios 1, 5, 6, 10, 19, 52, 61, 69, 79, 88 91, 154, 181, 195, 201 La voz de los sobrevivientes 109 Lame, Quintín 108, 114 see also indigenous leaders Laurens, Mauricio 58 Law 814 Law on Filmmaking, Ley de Cine 1, 2, 5, 12, 13, 15, 41, 96, 118, 141, 157, 158, 167, 169, 175, 177, 180, , 197, 200, 201 Lawrence, Bruce 174 Lefebvre, Henri 142, 143 Lenti, Paul 8, 12, 124 León Giraldo, Diego 98, 127 Levinas, Emmanuel 10, 90 Liberal Party 56 Liberals 32, 44, 45, 50, 51, 54, 55, 57, 58, 137 liberation cinema 49, 70, 105 Lim, Song Hwee 182, 186 Lionnet, Françoise 182, 183 Littín, Miguel 70 Lizarazo, Camila 96 Llegaron las feministas 118 Lleras Camargo, Alberto 33 Loboguerrero, Camila 95 López, Ana M. 8, 17, 18, 32, 46, 47 López, Mario 44 López, Nazly 4, 25 López, Nereo 124 Lozano, León María El Cóndor 53, 55 Los caminos a Roma 55 see also El río del tiempo Los colores de la montaña 180, 189, 195, 197, 198, 199 Los días azules 51 see also El río del tiempo Los hijos del trueno Los hipopótamos de Pablo 185 Los olvidados 61, 82 Los santísimos hermanos 95, 101, Los últimos malos días de Guillermino 95 Los viajes del viento 179, 195, Lund, Kátia 10, 181, 195 Luzardo, Julio 5, 43, 56, 59, 48, 49, 50, 80, 123, 135 Lynch, Kevin 146 machismo 62, 66, 134, 149, 152, 159 Magdalena River 31, 37, 38, 39, 44, 48, 169 Maillé, Emilio 1, 195, 201 Malamor 14, 121, Mamagay 192 MAMBO 100, 101, 102, 104 Man with a movie camera 102 Margin 7, 9, 10, 61, 69 93, 141, 162, 166, 168 marginal sectors 19, 87, 92, 134, 168, 194 marginal subject 7, 10, 126, 163 marginality 69 93, 148, 153, 162, 194 María 8, 18, 20, 21 María Cano 95 María llena eres de gracia 1, 5, 10, 11, 181 Martel, Lucrecia 96, 182 Martín-Barbero, Jesús 83, 135, 155, 160 Martínez, Felipe 185 Martínez, Margarita 69, 92, 118, 195 Martínez, María Inés 137, 138 Martínez Pardo, Hernando 4, 8, 19, 20,