Third Cinema ( es, Tercer Cine) is a
Latin American film movement
Latin American cinema refers collectively to the film output and film industry, film industries of Latin America. Latin American film is both rich and diverse, but the main centers of production have been Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Latin Americ ...
that started in the 1960s–70s which decries
neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, gl ...
, the
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
system, and the
Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money. The term was coined in the
manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
''Hacia un tercer cine'' (''Toward a Third Cinema''), written in the late 1960s by
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
filmmakers
Fernando Solanas
Fernando Ezequiel "Pino" Solanas (16 February 1936 – 6 November 2020) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter, and politician. His films include; '' La hora de los hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces)'' (1968), '' Tangos: el exilio de Gardel'' ...
and
Octavio Getino, members of the ''
Grupo Cine Liberación'' and published in 1969 in the cinema
journal
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period
*Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
''
Tricontinental'' by the
OSPAAAL
The Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America ( es, Organización de Solidaridad de los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina), abbreviated as OSPAAAL, was a Cuban political movement with the stated purpose of ...
(Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America).
Definition
Solanas and Getino's manifesto considers 'First Cinema' to be the Hollywood production model that idealizes
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
values to a passive audience through escapist spectacle and individual characters. 'Second Cinema' is the European
art film
An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
, which rejects Hollywood conventions but is centred on the individual expression of the
auteur
An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
director. Third Cinema is meant to be non-commercialized, challenging Hollywood's model. Third Cinema rejects the view of cinema as a vehicle for personal expression, seeing the director instead as part of a collective; it appeals to the masses by presenting the truth and inspiring revolutionary activism. Solanas and Getino strongly argue that traditional exhibition models also should not be used: the films should be screened clandestinely, both in order to dodge
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
and commercial networks, but also so that the viewer must take a risk to see them.
There are still some difficulties to clearly define what is considered "First Cinema" versus "Third Cinema". For example,
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
, one of the largest centres of film production in the world, can be viewed as resistance against "First Cinema" due to political, cultural and aesthetic differences, but at the same time it can also be said that Bollywood is a popular commercialized industry.
Manifestos
There are four manifestos accredited to beginning the genre of Third Cinema:
Glauber Rocha
Glauber de Andrade Rocha (; 14 March 1939 – 22 August 1981) was a Brazilian film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most influential moviemakers of Brazilian cinema and a key figure of Cinema Novo. His films ''Black God, White ...
’s “Aesthetic of Hunger” (1965),
Julio García Espinosa
Julio García Espinosa (5 September 1926 – 13 April 2016) was a Cuban film director and screenwriter.Jorge Sanjinés
Jorge Sanjinés (born 31 July 1936 in La Paz, Bolivia) is a Bolivian film director and screenwriter. He founded the production group ''Grupo Ukamau''. He won the ALBA Prize for Arts in 2009.
Film career
Jorge Sanjinés brings highly political fi ...
, and finally “Toward a Third Cinema” (1969) by
Fernando Solanas
Fernando Ezequiel "Pino" Solanas (16 February 1936 – 6 November 2020) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter, and politician. His films include; '' La hora de los hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces)'' (1968), '' Tangos: el exilio de Gardel'' ...
and
Octavio Getino. Although all four define the broad and far reaching genre, Solanas and Getino's “Toward a Third Cinema” is well known for its political stance and outline of the genre.
"Toward a Third Cinema"
Explaining the neo-colonialist dilemma and the need for “a cinema of subversion” or “a revolutionary cinema”, “Toward a Third Cinema” begins by explaining the dilemma that the anti-imperialist film-maker is left with a paradoxical need to survive within as well as subvert “the System”.
“Third cinema is, in our opinion, the cinema that recognizes in that struggle the most gigantic cultural, scientific, and artistic manifestation of our time, the great possibility of constructing a liberated personality with each people as the starting point – in a word, the decolonization of culture.”
Solanas and Getino define the problem with 'the System' (the political and cultural authorities in place) as being one that reduces film to a commodity that exists to fill the needs of the film industry that creates them—mainly in the United States. This “spectator cinema” continues a lack of awareness within the masses of a difference between class interests or “that of the rulers and that of the nation”.
To the authors, films of 'the System' do not function to change or move the culture forward; they function to maintain it.
Availability of technology
![Vallejo, peron, solanas, getino](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Vallejo%2C_peron%2C_solanas%2C_getino.jpg)
With the advancement of technology in film in the late 1960s (simplification of cameras and tape recorders, rapid film that can be shot in normal light, automatic light meters, improved audio/visual synchronization), Solanas and Getino argue that an alternative cinema is finally possible. The authors cite the
Imperfect Cinema movement in Cuba,
Cinegiornali liberi in Italy,
Zengakuren
Zengakuren is a league of university student associations founded in 1948 in Japan. The word is an abridgement of which literally means "All-Japan Federation of Student Self-Government Associations." Notable for organizing protests and marches, ...
documentaries in Japan as proof that it is already happening.
Urging the need to further politicize and experiment with the format of film—mainly the documentary—Solanas and Getino illustrate the somewhat obscure and non-universal steps that must be taken to make “revolutionary cinema”:
“Real alternatives differing from those offered by the System are only possible if one of two requirements is fulfilled: making films that the System cannot assimilate and which are foreign to its needs, or making films that directly and explicitly set out to fight the System.”
The "guerilla-film-unit"
Paradoxically, Solanas and Getino continue to state that it is not enough to simply rebel against 'the System'. The manifesto uses
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
and the
French New Wave
French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...
throughout as a formidable example of a group which failed to properly to subvert 'the System'. Referring to it as “second cinema” or “author's cinema”, the problem begins with the genre's attempt to exist parallel, be distributed by, and funded by 'the System'. Solanas and Getino quote Godard's self-description as being 'trapped inside the fortress'
and refer to the metaphor throughout the manifesto.
Because of this paradox of subversion but need for distinctions between commodified rebellion and “the cinema of revolution”, Solanas and Getino recognize that film-makers must function like a
guerilla
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tact ...
unit, one that “cannot grow strong without military structures and command concepts.”
The authors also recognize that the difficulties encountered by those attempting to make revolutionary cinema will stem mainly from its need to work as a synchronized unit. Claiming that the only solution to these difficulties is common awareness of the basics of interpersonal relationships, Solanas and Getino go further to state that “The myth of the irreplaceable technicians must be exploded.”
The guerilla-film unit requires that all members have general knowledge of the equipment being used and caution that any failure in a production will be ten-fold that of a first cinema production. This condition—based on the fact that monetary support will be slim and come mainly from the group itself—also requires that members of the guerilla-film unit be wary and maintain an amount of silence not custom to conventional film-making.
“The success of the work depends npermanent wariness, a condition that is difficult to achieve in a situation in which apparently nothing is happening and the film-maker has been accustomed to telling all…because the bourgeoisie has trained him precisely on such a basis of prestige and promotion.”
Distribution and Showing
The manifesto concludes with an explanation for how to best distribute third cinema films. Using their own experience with ''
La Hora de los Hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces)'', Solanas and Getino share that the most intellectually profitable showings were followed by group discussions. The following elements (Solanas and Getino even refer to them as
mise en scène) that “reinforce the themes of the films, the climate of the showing, the ‘disinhibiting’ of the participants, and the dialogue”:
* Art pieces such as recorded music, poetry, sculpture, paintings, and posters
* A
program director to chair the debate and present the film
* Refreshments such as wine or
yerba mate
Yerba mate or yerba-maté (''Ilex paraguariensis''; from Spanish ; pt, erva-mate, or ; gn, ka'a, ) is a plant species of the holly genus ''Ilex'' native to South America. It was named by the French botanist Augustin Saint-Hilaire. The leave ...
When distributed correctly, third cinema films will result in the audience members becoming what Solanas and Getino refer to as “man-actor-accomplices”
as they become crucial to the film achieving its goal to transform society. It is only when the “man-actor-accomplice” responds to the film that third cinema becomes effective.
“Freeing a forbidden truth means setting free the possibility of indignation and subversion. Our truth, that of the new man who builds himself by getting rid of all the defects that still weigh him down, is a bomb of inexhaustible power and, at the same time, the only real possibility of life.”
History
Third Cinema manifestos and theories evolved in the 1960s and 1970s as a response to the social, political, and economic realities in Latin American countries which were experiencing oppression from Neo-colonial policies. In their manifesto, Solana and Getino describe Third Cinema as a cinematic movement and a dramatic alternative to First Cinema, which was produced in Hollywood, for the purpose of entertaining its audiences; and from Second Cinema that increased the author's liberty of expression. Fundamentally different, Third Cinema films sought to inspire revolution against class, racial and gender inequalities. Spectators were called upon to reflect on social injustices and the process by which their realities occurred, and to take action to transform their conditions. Even though Third Cinema films arose during revolutionary eras in Latin America and other countries, this filmmaking is still influential today. This style of filmmaking includes a radical form of production, distribution and exhibition that seeks to expose the living conditions of people at the grassroots level.
Purpose and Goals of Third Cinema
Third Cinema seeks to expose the process by which oppression occurs; and to criticize those responsible for social inequality in a country or community.
Some of the goals of Third Cinema are:
* Raise political consciousness in the viewer/spectator
* Expose historical, social, political and/or economic policies that have led to exploitive conditions for the nation
* Engage spectators in reflection which will inspire them to take revolutionary action and improve their conditions
* Create films that express the experiences of the masses of a particular region
* Produce and distribute films that are uncensored by oppressive entities
Production
Due to their political nature, Third Cinema films were often censored and therefore, the production and distribution of these films were innovative. Films used documentary clips, news reels, photographs, video clips, interviews and/or statistics and in some cases, non-professional actors. These production elements are combined in an inventive manner to create a message that is specific to its local audience. The staff in production share all aspects of the production process by working collectively. In Third Cinema, for example, a Director can be the Cameraman, the Photographer or the Writer at different phases of the production. Since Third Cinema films were highly politicized, they often lacked the funding and support needed for production or distribution and instead sought funding outside government agencies or traditional financing opportunities available to commercial films. Other unique aspects of Third Cinema film production is the use of their local natural landscape for film shootings often in parts of the country not previously seen. This unique feature was augmented by highlighting the local history and culture of its nation.
Women in Third Cinema
Third Cinema's critique and resistance of Hollywood's imperialist “spectator” cinema also opened for differing representations of women in film. While feminist film movements in the United States in the 1970s critiqued the
eurocentric
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world ...
and
heteronormative
Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most ...
sexism within the First-World, the
intersection of
heterosexism
Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of female–male sexuality and relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexua ...
with racism and imperialism seemed to get little attention from mainstream film journals.
Because of the reluctance of First-World feminists to acknowledge the importance of nationalism and geographic identity within differing struggles of women, the films made by the women of Third Cinema were usually seen as “burdened” from the Western feminist perspective by these identities.
“Notions of nation and race, along with community-based work, are implicitly dismissed as both too “specific” to qualify for the theoretical realm of “feminist theory” and as too “inclusive” in their concern for nation and race that they presumably “lose sight” of feminism.”
Along with the advancement and availability of technology, and the revolutionary tactics proposed by Third Cinema,
third-worldist
Third-Worldism is a political concept and ideology that emerged in the late 1940s or early 1950s during the Cold War and tried to generate unity among the nations that did not want to take sides between the United States and the Soviet Union. The ...
feminist film-makers began to tell their own stories. Because the genre proposed a non-homogeneous approach to cinema (one which allowed variation from region to region and intersection between fiction and documentary), differing stories of “womanhood” and women's position within revolutions could be told. Lebanese film director
Heiny Srour commented in one interview:
“Those of us from the Third World have to reject the ideas of film narration based on the 19th century bourgeois novel with its commitment to harmony. Our societies have been too lacerated and fractured by colonial powers to fit into those neat scenarios.”
Notable films include
Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror (19 July 1929 − 13 April 2020) was a French filmmaker of French West Indies descent. She is best known for her feature film ''Sambizanga'' (1972) on the 1961–1974 war in Angola.
Early life and education
Born Sarah Ducados i ...
’s ''
Sambizanga
Sambizanga is one of the six urban districts that make up the municipality of Luanda, in the province of Luanda, Angola.
Overview
Sambizanga has a 14.5 km² area and about 244,000 inhabitants. Limited to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, ...
'' (Mozambique, 1972) which takes place in Angola where a woman awakens to “revolutionary consciousness” to the struggle of the ruling party the MPLA. In
Heiny Srour’s documentary ''
Saat al Tahrir (The Hour of Liberation)'' (Oman, 1973) followed women fighters during the revolution in
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
. Srour’s 1984 film ''Leila wal dhiab'' (''
Leila and the Wolves'') (Lebanon) followed the role of women in the Palestine Liberation Movement.
Helena Solberg Ladd’s ''
Nicaragua Up From the Ashes'' (U.S. 1982) documents the role of women in the
Sandinista
The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after ...
revolution.
Sara Gomez’s ''
De cierta manera (One Way or Another)'' epitomizes Third Cinema’s involvement in the intersection of fiction and documentary as it gives a feminist critique of the Cuban revolution.
Third Cinema film-makers by Country
This is an incomplete list and still does not reflect the number of film-makers that have contributed to Third Cinema.
Aesthetic and Filmmaking Style
The aesthetic of Third Cinema is influenced by its low budget and amateur film makers, leading to a style of film not reliant on special effects and action set pieces, but rather on real life events and subtle stories. This deviation from the traditional Western film structure can be seen today reflected in both documentary and feature films. In the age of digital filmmaking, it’s become easier than ever to produce a film without technical training or access to expensive equipment. Some notable examples of this are
guerilla documentaries (See: The Gurilla Filmmakers Handbook). Robert Greenwalt’s timely films released through grass-roots organizations, “
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War” and “
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism” were shot in historical Hollywood places where movies like “Gone with the Wind” were originally filmed. “Outfoxed” was one of his secretive films about the distortion of information by
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
(Boynton, 2004).
Sean Baker, an American filmmaker who shot an entire movie on an
iPhone 5S
The iPhone 5S (stylized and marketed as iPhone 5s) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the seventh generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, and unveiled in September 2013, alongside the iPhone 5C.
Th ...
, created the most talked-about iPhone film called “
Tangerine
The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...
.” Following two Los Angeles prostitutes around the glowing city, viewers are reminded how he tends to cast unlikely protagonists. Other artists in the industry are creating films with iPads, digital cameras, and creating motion with bicycles, all hinging on the low-budget, surprise-delivering spirit of the Third Cinema (Murphey, 2015).
Third Cinema continues to inspire and challenge modern and current artists and filmmakers. The ripples of this movement can still be seen in both overall
aesthetic
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
and in its ability to challenge political ideals and standards as well as what is “typical” in the movie industry. This influence of modern works has been appreciated all over the world. Experts agree that Solanas and Getino urged for “Third Cinema can and should emerge from everywhere” (Saljoughi, 2016). The purposeful activism sparked by Third Cinema was not defined to play catch-up to wealthier filmmakers, but to spark innovative creation in third world populations. Marked by risk-taking and storytelling, the genre is not secretive in its aims (Sarkar, n.d.).
Political Agenda
Third Cinema attempted to unite
Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
populations experiencing oppression, focusing on Central America, Africa and Asia (Ivo, 2018). The motivation of these films was to inspire these populations to revolution against the controlling regimes. Third Cinema established a departure from both the norms of commercial Hollywood films, as well as the Second Cinema movement of European art films. Rather than create dramatic storylines, these artists strove to show the drama of everyday life while promoting
critical thinking
Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgement. The subject is complex; several different definitions exist, which generally include the rational, skeptical, and unbiased analysis ...
(Gonon, n.d.). This rejection of traditional film democratized the industry and opened the possibility for smaller scale stories to be told (Wayne, 2019).
Solanas and Getino actually wrote the main part of their manifesto in dictator-controlled Argentina. When Solanas was exiled in Paris, he gave the Third Cinema a more broadened definition, adding the importance of the “conception of the world” (Stollery, 2002). While many a filmmaker have deemed the movement antiquated and not of progressive value, experts re-envision the Third Cinema as an object of analysis (Dixon & Zonn, 2005).
More recently, the military repression of Cuba in the 1970’s slowed this creative filmmaking on the island.
The Edinburgh Film Festival held a conference on Third Cinema in 1986, marking a resurgence of the genre. The result of this conference was the publication of Questions of Third Cinema by many authors, which failed to include contributors from Latin America and even Solanas and Getino themselves. Third Cinema is then discussed as encompassing most Latin American films and all films that have political charge and meaning.
Third Cinema Films
* ''
Agarrando Pueblo,'' Louis Ospina and Carlos Mayolo (Colombia, 1978)
* ''
Antonio das Mortes
''Antonio das Mortes'' ( pt, O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro, lit. "The Dragon of Wickedness Against the Holy Warrior") is a 1969 Brazilian western film directed by Glauber Rocha. It is often cited as the last installment of Rocha's ...
'', Glauber Rocha (Brazil, 196
Film Link* ''
Blood of the Condor
''Blood of the Condor'' ( qu, Yawar Mallku, es, Sangre de cóndor) is a 1969 Bolivian drama film co-written and directed by Jorge Sanjinés and starring Marcelino Yanahuaya. The film tells the story of an indigenous Bolivian community receiving me ...
'', Jorge Sanjines (Bolivia, 196
Film Link* ''
La Hora de Los Hornos'', Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getina (Argentina, 196
Film Link* ''
Mandabi
''Mandabi'' (French: ''Le Mandat'', "The Money Order") is a 1968 film written and directed by Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. The film is based on Sembène's novel '' The Money-Order'' and is the director's first film in his native Wolof la ...
'', Ousmane Sembene (Senegal, 196
Film Link* ''
Memorias del Subdesarrollo
''Memories of Underdevelopment'' ( es, Memorias del Subdesarrollo) is a 1968 Cuban Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. The story is based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes entitled ''Inconsolable Memo ...
'', Thomas Guiterrez Alea, (Cuba, 196
Film Link* ''
México : La revolución congelada'', Raymond Glevzer (Argentina, 197
Film Link* ''
The Principle Enemy'', Jorge Sanjines (Peru, 1974)
* ''
Towers of Silence
A ''dakhma'' ( fa, دخمه), also known as a Tower of Silence, is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation (that is, the exposure of human corpses to the elements for decomposition), in order to avert contaminat ...
'', Jamil Dehlavi (Pakistan, 197
Film Link* ''
Vidas Secas'', Nelson Perreira Dos Santos (Brazil, 196
Film Link
See also
*
Political cinema
*
Dictator novel
The dictator novel ( es, novela del dictador) is a genre of Latin American literature that challenges the role of the dictator in Latin American society. The theme of ''caudillismo''—the régime of a charismatic ''caudillo'', a political stron ...
, a Latin American contemporary literary genre
*
Films depicting Latin American military dictatorships
This is a list of movies that are related to the military dictatorships in Latin America and Caribbean that appeared during the context of the Cold War.
Argentina
* '' The Hour of the Furnaces'' (1968)
* ''Last Days of the Victim'' (1982)
* '' J ...
Further reading
*Wayne, Mike ''Political Film:The Dialectics of Third Cinema''. Pluto Press, 2001.
*Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, "Towards a Third Cinema" in: ''Movies and Methods. An Anthology'', edited by
Bill Nichols, Berkeley: University of California Press 1976, pp 44–64
*All Third Cinema manifestos collected and translated into English in this book:
New Latin American Cinema Vol. 1'
References
{{Film genres
Film organisations in Argentina
Latin American cinema
Movements in cinema
Third-Worldism