Latin American ethnographic cinema: between exploration and denunciation

Abstract

Between the decades of 1950 and 1970, a large number of ethnographic documentary films were made in Latin America. At a time when anthropological studies were being transformed and documentary filmmaking underwent a revolution because of new technologies, the films presented themselves as an original product of said cultural, scientific and cinematic changes. This article will study the most emblematic films and the filmmakers with the most extensive filmographies: Humberto Mauro (Brazil), Jorge Ruiz (Bolivia), Manuel Chambi (Peru), Sergio Bravo (Chile), Jorge Prelorán (Argentina), Margot Benacerraf (Venezuela), and Rolf Blomberg (Ecuador), among others. The aim of this article is to inquire into the filmographies and career trajectories of said directors in order to become acquainted with their vision on the popular cultures they documented spanning from the Andes to the coast and from the jungle to the countryside. This article thus intends to present this as the first appearance of a ‘common feeling’ among Latin American filmmakers.