ABSTRACT
The paper examines Martín Rejtman's critical documentary work in the context of broader representations of Argentina, especially Buenos Aires, as a multicultural society. It contends that the notion of multiculturalism, as a description of postcolonial social formations, does not properly apply to the Argentine case, and that the construction of an image of Buenos Aires in terms of a harmonious, multiracial coexistence is an injurious misrepresentation. The paper first focuses on Rejtman's new approach to the cultural analysis of immigration in Argentina as it stems from the imposition of 'curiosity' and the adoption of an ethnographic perspective. Secondly, it assesses the relationship between this new proposal, the notion of multiculturalism, and its applicability to the Argentine context. Finally, it appraises the connections between the analysis of contemporary Argentina and the significance of the progression from a poetics of fiction to a poetics of documentary in Rejtman's Copacabana (2006) and his other films.
