Introduction

This chapter suggests that, from the earliest sound films, filmmakers and producers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico eschewed formulations that would limit the appeal of films. It offers a corollary argument about the doubled or layered mode of address of genre films. The chapter discusses the theoretical foundations of the New Latin American Cinema (NLAC), by tracing circuits of influences—from post-revolutionary Soviet filmmakers and theorists, to intellectual debates within post-World War II Italy, to post-revolutionary Cuban filmmakers. It argues that despite the NLAC's explicit rejection of film genres, several directors overtly toyed with the western and the chanchada, as well as with adventure and action films. The chapter examines how contemporary films from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile deploy framing and editing in innovative ways in order to trouble how audiences locate themselves in relation to the pro-filmic. It provides a more diachronic view, analyzing film as a commodity form in different historical horizons.