ABSTRACT
In most countries, the idea of a "national" cinema has long been more an aspiration than a reality. This chapter begins with a few general comments on the concept of national cinema and its relation to Hollywood. It then expands that discussion to the more specific Latin American context; and develops one case study, Chilean national cinema, as a concrete example of some of those complexities. A national cinema is always the result of a theoretical effort positing it as a relatively unified object, even when the goal is showcasing its complexity. Chilean cinema presents at least four basic ways—two more directly commercial and two more artistically inclined—in which non-Hollywood national cinemas can develop. The two forms of Chilean national cinema on the artistically inclined end of the spectrum correspond to two varieties of the art house film, or festival film.
