(In)visible cinemas: Reusing archival footage in Latin American cinema [special issue of New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film]

Since the turn of the millennium, academic interest in Latin American cinema has grown tremendously and “New Cinemas” have been identified throughout the continent (see Nagib, 2003; Aguilar, 2008; Page, 2009; Martin-Jones and Montañez, 2009; Andermann, 2012; Andermann and Fernández Bravo, 2013; Barrow, 2014). This label has usually referred to films made within the last twenty years, and to signal the presence of lesser-known cinemas in international distribution and exhibition outlets such as film festivals, microcines and cineclubs. It has also been used to refer to an upsurge of production which might share specific contexts and aesthetic quests. Research on this body of work has been extremely important and has contributed to the visibility of films which would have traditionally received little attention. This special issue, however, aims to take a step forward and focus on contemporary films (fiction and documentary) and television series which, through the incorporation of archival footage, give visibility to works previously made in countries without established film industries such as Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay, and some more marginal productions from Argentina. The majority of the productions discussed here have not yet been discussed by English-speaking academia