Subject Area: Hispanic Studies
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: Americas Studies

Note: This course will not be offered in 2010.

Latin American cinema has recently enjoyed unprecedented international success. Films such as Amores perros, Babel, Y tu mamá también, Faun's Labyrinth, City of God among others, have received international prizes and their directors have been invited to work in major U.S. studios: Alejandro González Iñárritu directed the acclaimed 21 Grams; Alfonso Cuarón the international hit Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Children of Men; Guillermo del Toro the cult movie Hellboy; Fernando Meirelles The Constant Gardener.This has prompted many film critics to talk about a “Latino invasion of Hollywood”. Their successful blending of local themes (national politics, racial, class and gender identity) and the global film language, which often capitalizes on sexuality and violence --the lingua franca of contemporary cinema-- has allowed many of these films to achieve cross-over appeal with international audiences.
The aims of this course are:
•to examine the so-called New Wave of Latino and Latin American cinema through a study of films produced from the 1990s to the present by a new generation of film-makers born after 1960.
•to show the way in which these films, produced and received in the context of neoliberal economic policies and cultural globalization of Latin(o) America stand in a clear contrast to the revolutionary politics and aesthetics associated with the Latin American New Cinema/Third cinema of the 1960s -1980s.

Note: Taught in English. Knowledge of Spanish is desirable but not required. All readings are in English and all films are subtitled.