Hybridization, intermediality and performance in the modern Latin American short film

Abstract

Between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s, the Latin American short film produced practically outside the film industry played a fundamental role in film renewal within a general context of dynamism and modernization of the regional cultural field. This article comparatively analyzes a representative corpus of short films from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and Chile during the indicated period, with the purpose of establishing the modern sense of this audiovisual production. To do this, we approach the films based on three closely linked contrast ranges: the hybridization of cinematographic models, the intermediality between cinema and various artistic disciplines, the deviation in the construction of the canonical character and the incorporation of the performance. From the study of these three variables it is possible to unravel the specificities and common points around this phenomenon developed in cinematographies with heterogeneous traditions.