Friday, April 26, 2013


What is Third Cinema?
Third Cinema is a militant cinema and a cinema of opposition to the dominant film institutions in the world. These latter are the cinemas of the advanced capitalist countries, such as the USA. The most notable example of a dominant cinema is that of Hollywood. Like McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Microsoft its products circulate the globe, not only occupying people's hearts and minds but also leaving little space for any alternative or opposition.

Third Cinema aims to give expression to dissident voices, especially those caught in a web of colonial or neo-colonial exploitation and oppression. It developed in the 1960s, when there was also a high tide of struggles against western domination known as National Liberation Struggles. In the succeeding years bodies of film-makers from the countries, what is often termed the Third World, have produced dynamic, exciting and politically stimulating films, telling all sorts of stories, documenting life and resistance; and producing radically different films from those made in the west.

Third Cinema is not a genre, like the Western or the Science-Fiction film. It is a space, a terrain, where people struggle, experiment, argue and contest the entertainment cinemas that occupy the majority of screen time.

What makes a Third Cinema film is what is brought to the experience by not only by the filmmakers but also, more significantly, by the film audiences.

Most examples of Third Cinema films and filmmakers are little known or seen in the UK, where this site has been made. However, as the recent movements made in response to corporate-globalization demonstrate, people want and need to hear voices from outside the dominant metropoles.



Third World Cinema
Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically. The name Third World arose during the Cold War to refer to nations that did not belong to the First or Second Worlds. While there is debate over the appropriateness of the term, and no alternative is without detractors, the term is one embraced by many Third World nations themselves, particularly in the Non-Aligned Movement.

First (blue), Second (red), and the Third World (green) countries during the Cold War era. Sometimes Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa were included before 1959-62.


Etymology

The term 'Third World' was coined by Jawaharlal Nehru (First Prime Minister of India), originally to distinguish nations that aligned with neither the West nor with the East during the Cold War, including many members of the Non-Aligned Movement. Today, however, the term is frequently used to denote nations with a low UN Human Development Index (HDI), independent of their political status. However, there is no objective definition of Third World or Third World country and the use of the term remains controversial.

The economist and demographer Alfred Sauvy, in an article published in the French magazine L'Observateur, August 14, 1952, coined the term Third World in referring to countries currently called either "developing" or "under-developed", especially in Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, that were unaligned with either the Communist Soviet bloc or the Capitalist NATO bloc during the Cold War (1945–1989).

Third World was a reference to the Tiers État, the Third Estate, the commoners of France before and during the French Revolution, opposed to the priests and nobles who composed the First Estate and the Second Estate. Like the third estate, wrote Sauvy, the Third World has nothing, and "wants to be something", implying that the Third World is exploited (as was the third estate) and that its destiny is revolutionary. Moreover, it conveyed the second concept of political non-alignment with neither the industrialized Capitalist bloc nor the industrialized Communist bloc.

Definition

In academic circles, the countries of the Third World are known as the "Third World", the "Global South", the "developing countries", and the "under-developed countries". Economic development workers refer to these nations as the "Two-thirds World" and "The South". Some developers disapprove of the "developing countries" term because the term implies that industrialization is progressive.

History

The term "third world" was first intended to refer to the way those countries were discovered and because most of them were born as colonies of more powerful nations before they became independent nations. The term later on became popular as a way to denominate countries that are still in the process of developing. In the colonial era, western imperialists exploited these countries. Once imperialism ended, these countries were left to take care of themselves, something most colonial powers never allowed. These countries were left to face the challenges of nation and state-building on their own for the first time.

As European colonies in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania gained their independence they commonly experienced widespread poverty, high birthrates, and economic dependence upon their former colonial masters. After World War II, the capitalist Western and the communist Eastern blocs fought to expand their spheres of influence to the Third World. The military and intelligence services of the United States and the Soviet Union worked secretly and publicly to influence Third World governments, with relative success.

In 1955 during the Asian/African Conference, the newly independent states (nations) asked, Is there a way to resist neo-colonialism, and live in an alternative future from two already ones already outlined for them?

The term Third World became popularly used during the Cold War when many poor nations adopted it in describing themselves as aligned with neither NATO nor the Soviet Union., but instead composed an unaligned Third World. In that context, the First World denoted the US and its anti-Communist allies, concomitantly, Second World denoted the "Eastern Bloc" — the Soviet Union and its communist and socialist allies.
For the most part, Third World did not include China. Politically, the Third World emerged at the Bandung Conference (1955), which established the Non-Aligned Movement. Numerically, the Third World dominates the United Nations, but is so culturally and economically diverse that its political cohesion is hypothetical, as most Third World nations in Euroasia and Latin America have rich, growing and prosperous economies. The petroleum-rich countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, etc) and the new industrial countries (including India, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico) as well as rapidly growing countries such as Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia and Russia have little if anything in common with poor countries (e.g. Haiti, Chad, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia).

In 1972, China's Chairman Mao gave another definition of three worlds. In his definition, super power dual US and USSR belong to the first world because of their great impact on the world affairs. Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and Canada belong to the second world. Other countries in Africa, the Americas, and Asia (including China) belong to the Third World.

What is Third Cinema?

Third Cinema is an aesthetic and political project whose principles have guided filmmakers throughout the regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. While its principles were originally defined and used to rally filmmakers in the 1960s and 1970s, Third Cinema still influences filmmaking strategies and projects today. Third Cinema continues to evolve as political, social, and cultural climates change throughout the world; the tone of a Third Cinema film can reflect a revolutionary atmosphere and deliver its message with confidence, convey the disillusionment of failed or coopted revolutions, or express frustration with class, racial, or gender oppression continued colonial impulses from First World nations. For this reason, Third Cinema's importance in filmmaking history and its power to deliver social commentary with the aim of inspiring change cannot be understated.

The term “Third Cinema” reflects its origins in the so-called Third World, which generally refers to those nations located in Africa, Asia, and Latin America where historical encounters with colonial and imperial forces have shaped their economic and political power structures. The term also illustrates a response to the dominant cinematic forms of First World nations and commercial national film industries. Where First Cinema conjures images of Hollywood movies, consumption, and bourgeois values, and Second Cinema refers to European art house films demonstrating aesthetic, but not always political, innovation, Third Cinema takes a different approach to filmmaking, by subverting cinematic codes, embracing revolutionary ideals, and combating the passive film-watching experience of commerical cinema.

In its earliest stages, as articulated by the classic manifestoes and theories of the 1960s and 1970s, Third Cinema was a militant practice parallel with revolutionary struggles of this period, produced with the intention of provoking discussion with and amongst its viewers and proposing alternative visions of the past, present, and future. While some of this militancy has faded as revolutionary struggles have changed or failed and new issues have arisen, Third Cinema has evolved to address problems in nation-building projects, to express disillusionment and impotence, to respond to new forms of cultural oppression. In general, Third Cinema's aesthetic innovations involve the mixing of different genres and visual styles to situate both cultural and political critiques, rather than aiming solely for artistic excellence and expression. In this way, the filmmakers of Third Cinema select their visual elements and compositional structures to suit their message, which is why the films of Third Cinema are so diverse in their styles and forms. Though they range from newsreel shorts, to realist epics, to pseudo-documentaries, to avant-gardist pieces, Third Cinema films maintain their connection to the principles of questioning and challenging the structures of power and oppression and educating those who live under and must struggle against its domination.

What are the goals of Third Cinema? What does it address?

While the content and message of Third Cinema films vary depending on the filmmaker, the country of origin, the resources available, and the political and social climate, these films are part of the Third Cinema project because they address certain topics and adhere to particular guiding principles. Third Cinema films generally engage the following issues and address the following questions:
  • Above all, Third Cinema questions structures of power, particularly colonialism and its legacies.
  • Third Cinema aims for liberation of the oppressed, whether this oppression is based on gender, class, race, religion, or ethnicity.
  • Third Cinema engages questions of identity and community within nations and diaspora populations who have left their home countries because of exile, persecution, or economic migration.
  • Third Cinema opens a dialogue with history to challenge previously held conceptions of the past, to demonstrate their legacies on the present, and to reveal the “hidden” struggles of women, impoverished classes, indigenous groups, and minorities.
  • Third Cinema challenges viewers to reflect on by the experience of poverty and subordination by showing how it is lived, not how it is imagined.
  • Third Cinema facilitates interaction among intellectuals and the masses by using film for education and dialogue.
  • Third Cinema strives to recover and rearticulate the nation, using politics of inclusion and the ideas of the people to imagine new models and new possibilities.

By incorporating cultural and political critiques and challenging viewers with new compositional structures and genre juxtaposition, Third Cinema harnesses the power of film to increase social consciousness about issues of power, nationhood, identity, and oppression around the world. For audiences within these regions, particularly those facing cultural and political subordination, Third Cinema aims to illustrate the historical and social processes that have brought about their oppression and to indicate where transformation is required. For viewers outside these regions, Third Cinema presents the realities of Third World nations as they are, avoiding sensationalism or romanticism, in order to educate the viewing public and to encourage dialogue about alternative visions of the past, present, and future. As Third Cinema principles continue to guide filmmakers from the Third World or Third World diaspora with access to media and film resources in the First World, these messages will hopefully become more prevalent and make social change more possible.

Finally, it is important to note the distinction between Third Cinema and Third World Cinema. As indicated above, Third Cinema is an aesthetic and political project which is guided by certain principles in order to challenge power structures. Third Cinema films are generally produced by filmmakers located within the Third World regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America and intended for audiences in these regions. However, Third Cinema can also include films made by filmmakers located in the so-called First or Second Worlds as long as they adhere to the guiding principles and are made in support of the Third World perspective. (The Battle of Algiers by the Italian Gillo Pontecorvo is a classic example.) This project is sometimes referred to by other names, including Third World Cinema, but Third World Cinema, or world cinema, is a much broader category which generally includes commercial or art house films produced in Third World countries as well as films with social and political commentary made before (or after) the advent of the Third Cinema movement. Though some view Third Cinema as a project of a particular revolutionary period which has now ended, its legacy is visible in films being produced today in the Third World as well as by Third World diaspora populations now located within the First World and in organizations using the power of media for social justice. In short, Third Cinema is still alive—and just as powerful.

Styles and Forms of Third World Cinema

The filmmakers of Third Cinema employed a variety of styles and forms to illustrate their message. The methods selected often reflected the resources they had available, the content of their work, and the filmmaking conditions of the period. The styles and forms described below are some of the most common in Third Cinema.

Documentary

The filmmakers of Third Cinema produced some of the most innovative works using various forms of documentary. Ranging from newsreel styles, to TV reportage and eyewitness reports fused with fictional accounts, to creative use of heavy-handed propaganda, television commercials, and photographs, documentary styles illustrated their revolutionary message in innovative ways. Filmmakers using documentary styles often viewed cinema as a site of debate and used images to visualize these concepts in a concrete way. Some filmmakers, such as Santiago Álvarez, made newsreel shorts using still images and carefully selected songs and sounds because these were all he had access to in Cuba. Others filmed documentary footage of coups or protests and were forced to produce and edit their work in exile. Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino's La Hora de los Hornos (Hour of the Furnaces) and Patricio Guzman's La Batalla de Chile (Battle of Chile) are two classic examples of documentary style films; for these films, the fusion of documentary footage with other elements helped shape their revolutionary message by suiting its content.

Cinema Novo

Cinema Novo was a cinematic style used in Brazilian films of the 1960s and 1970s. Cinema Novo is generally associated with the films of Glauber Rocha due to his influential essay “Estética da Fome” (Esthetic of Hunger), but also includes important works such as Nelson Pereira dos Santos's Vidas Secas (Barren Lives). The main aim of Cinema Novo was to clearly demonstrate the scarcity of resources experienced by many in the Third World. For Glauber Rocha, Cinema Novo was revolutionary in its aim to make the hunger of millions of people understood intellectually, by both those who live it and those who do not, using language (or lack thereof) and images capable of reflecting conditions of poverty. In his words, Cinema Novo is “an evolving complex of films that will make the public aware of its own misery.” Cinema Novo was often filmed from the perspective of the people, avoided actors with major star power, and used lighting, cameras, and camera angles creatively to fit the films' budgets. It also avoided existential commentary on poverty, instead presenting it as it is experienced.

Allegory

Allegory is used in Third Cinema to illustrate problems in a few different ways. In many films, one character is used to represent a larger group, particularly members of a particular social or political class, and illustrates the problems and conflicts experienced within this group. Ousmane Sembene's characters often are used allegorically, such as in Moolaadé, where the Mercenary stops a public whipping and is murdered for his values, and the tribe leader's son returns from overseas and must make a decision to leave tradition behind in favor of progress. In other films, the past is used to speak about the present, such as when a historical character's name or image is used to reflect a present-day persona. Particular sequences or scenes can be used as symbolic examples of desire or frustration experienced by those involved in a struggle against colonialism or domination.

Classic Third Cinema Films

Below is a list of classic films of Third Cinema. These films are widely viewed as the “greatest hits” of Third Cinema, for their commitment to the principles of Third Cinema and their innovative forms. Please note that many other films have engaged Third Cinema's ideological project, challenged social inequality, and confronted dominant political ideologies. Please let me know of any major omissions!
Unfortunately, many of these films are out-of-print and are difficult to obtain for personal viewing. However, public and university libraries are likely to have these films available for viewing and it is well worth the effort to find them. You may also be able to find them on Netflix or at a local independent video store which specializes in foreign film.

Africa

Afrique, Je Te Plumerai (Africa, I Will Fleece You) • Jean-Marie Téno • Cameroon •
Alexandria Why? (Iskandariya Leh?) • Youssef Chahine • Egypt •
The Battle of Algiers (La Battaglia di Algeri) • Gillo Pontecorvo • Algeria •
Le Damier (The Draughtsmen Clash) • Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda • France/Gabon
La Noire de... (Black Girl) • Ousmane Sembene • Senegal • Moolaadé • Ousmane Sembene • Senegal/Burkina Faso •
Xala • Ousmane Sembene • Senegal •

Asia

Cyclo (Xich lo) • Tran Anh Hung • Vietnam •
In Search of Famine (Aakaler Sandhane) • Mrinal Sen • India
Pather Panchali • Satyajit Ray • India •
Salaam Bombay! • Mira Nair • India •
Wedding in Galilee (Urs al-jalil) • Michel Khleifi • Palestine •
Yellow Earth (Huang tu di) • Chen Kaige • China

Latin America

La Batalla de Chile (Battle of Chile) • Patricio Guzman • Chile
Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol) • Glauber Rocha • Brazil • Cabra Marcado para Morrer (Twenty Years After) • Eduardo Coutinho • Brazil
El Chacal de Nahueltoro (The Jackal of Nahueltoro) • Miguel Litten • Chile •
De Cierta Manera (One Way or Another) • Sara Gómez • Cuba
La Hora de los Hornos (Hour of the Furnaces) • Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino • Argentina •
Lucía • Humberto Solas • Cuba •
Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment) • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea • Cuba •
Documentary/Newsreel Films of Santiago Álvarez • Cuba •
Sugar Cane Alley (Rue cases nègres) • Euzhan Palcy • Martinique •
Terra em Transe (Land in Anguish) • Glauber Rocha • Brazil •
La Última Cena (The Last Supper) • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea • Cuba
Vidas Secas (Barren Lives) • Nelson Pereira dos Santos • Brazil •
Yawar Mallku (Blood of the Condor) • Jorge Sanjinés • Bolivia

Classic Texts and Theories

The Third Cinema project developed out of the period of the 1960s and 1970s inspired by the revolutionary and political struggles in nations throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Many filmmakers were inspired by classic texts of the period, and some even wrote film manifestoes to explain and clarify the intentions and innovations of their films and to rally others to their cause. Below please find short descriptions of some of these major texts. While it may be difficult to obtain some of the films of Third Cinema, the texts and theories that inspired them are still generally accessible. Moreover, film and cultural theorists have also published various works outlining the history of Third Cinema, describing its impact, and analyzing its legacy. Some of the most useful are also listed below.

Frantz Fanon • Martinique • The Wretched of the Earth • first published in 1961 •
The Wretched of the Earth examines the psychological impact of colonialization and the challenges of the process of decolonization on creating a new national consciousness. Fanon cautions against maintaining colonial legacies through economic dependence, creating new struggles and conflicts among Africans from other nations, and forgetting the reasons for and the importance of the liberation struggle. Most significantly for Third Cinema, Fanon outlines the advocates the creation of a national culture which reflects the revolutionary struggle to free oneself from the legacy of colonialism and the true beliefs and ideals of a nation.

Paulo Freire • Brazil • Pedagogy of the Oppressed • first published in 1968 •
Pedagogy of the Oppressed highlights the need for the oppressed to educate themselves about their oppression in order to free themselves from the image of oppression that they have internalized from the oppressors. By viewing their subordination as a situation that can be transformed, they can commit to their own liberation. Freire indicates that the model of “problem-posing education”, or education where people ask critical questions of their world, their reality, their environment, and their relationship with the world, is necessary for transcending oppression through revolution.

Julio García Espinosa • Cuba • “For an Imperfect Cinema” • first published in 1969 •
“For an Imperfect Cinema” argues for the importance of cinema to commit to the revolutionary struggle so that its audience can understand that they live in a world they can transform. Instead of focusing solely on artistic excellence and the finished project, Imperfect Cinema focuses on illustrating the problems of the world and the process by which they were created and encouraging the audience to analyze it and come to its own conclusions.

Glauber Rocha • Brazil • “Aesthetic of Hunger” • first published in 1965 •
“Aesthetic of Hunger” explains the goals of Cinema Novo and the importance of representing hunger and misery so that it can be intellectually understood by those who experience it.

Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino • Argentina • “Towards a Third Cinema” • first published in 1969 •
“Towards a Third Cinema” coins the term Third Cinema to describe films that attempt to provide alternatives to mainstream, commercial cinema espousing bourgois values as well as auteur cinema which relies on funding and distribution from capitalist sources. For Solanas and Getino, Third Cinema includes films that break free of these dominant molds and subvert the system in order to fight against it. At its best, this subversion of cinematic codes and messages will move the audience to action, becoming mobilized and politicized through the education provided by the films.


Ella Shohat and Robert Stam • Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media •
Includes useful analyses of the development of the term “Third World” and the history and goals of Third Cinema, as well as critical studies of racial stereotyping and biases in films from various genres and regions.

Michael T. Martin, ed. • New Latin American Cinema: Theory, Practices, and Transcontinental Articulations •

Legacy

Despite the perception of some that Third Cinema belongs to the past, its legacy lives on in new films being produced by talented directors all over the world. The best way to see these films is at film festivals celebrating films from particular regions, heritages, or forms. Below is a listing of film festivals grouped alphabetically by US city where you can find films guaranteed to challenge your perspectives and inspire you. Many of these film festivals are prime locations to view films produced by immigrant populations or US-born children of immigrants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

For a comprehensive schedule of upcoming film festivals worldwide, please see IMDB's extensive list.

Chicago

Los Angeles

New York

Park City, Utah

San Diego

San Francisco

Seattle


Some of Third world Cinema’s

Afrique jeteplumerai Salaam Bombay Cyclo Wedding

Brazil_black_god_white_devil

Brazil_vidas_secas
Cabra-marcado-para-morrer Pathar Panchali

Chile_labatalladechile

Damier

Decierta

In search of famine terraemtranse

Lahora

Lucia Moolaade

Yellow Earth

Sugarcane

Battle of Algiers

Xala

Lanoirede

Latin American cinema refers collectively to the film output and film industries of Latin America. Latin American film is both rich and diverse. But the main centers of production have been Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba.
Latin American cinema flourished after the introduction of sound, which added a linguistic barrier to the export of Hollywood film south of the border.
Mexican movies from the Golden Era in the 1940s and 1950s are significant example of Latin American cinema, with a huge industry comparable to the Hollywood of those years. Mexican movies were exported and exhibited in all Latin America and Europe. The film Maria Candelaria (1944) by Emilio Fernandez, won the Palme D'Or in Cannes Film Festival. Famous actors and actress from this period include Maria Felix, Pedro Infante, Dolores del Río, Jorge Negrete and comedian Cantinflas. Argentine cinema was a big industry in the first half of the twentieth century.
The 1950s and 1960s saw a movement towards Third Cinema, led by the Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino. In Brazil, the Cinema Novo movement created a particular way of making movies with critical and intellectual screenplays, a clearer photography related to the light of the outdoors in a tropical landscape, and a political message.
Cuban cinema has enjoyed much official support since the Cuban revolution, and important film-makers include Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.
In Argentina, after a series of military governments that shackled culture in general, the industry re-emerged after the 1976 – 1983 military dictatorship to produce the The Official Story in 1985, becoming the only Latin American movie to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Other nominees for Argentina were The Truce (1974), Camila (1984), Tango (1998) and Son of the Bride (2001).

More recently, a new style of directing and stories filmed as been tagged as "New Latin American Cinema."

In Mexico movies such as Como agua para chocolate (1992), Cronos (1993), Amores Perros (2000), Y tu mamá también (2001), Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and Babel (2006) have been successful in creating universal stories about contemporary subjects, and were internationally recognised, as in the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Mexican directors Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga have gone on to Hollywood success.
The Argentine economic crisis affected the production of films in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but many Argentine movies produced during those years were internationally acclaimed, including El abrazo partido (2004), Roma (2004) and Nueve reinas (2000), which was the basis for the 2004 American remake Criminal.
The modern Brazilian film industry has become more profitable inside the country, and some of its productions have received prizes and recognition in Europe and the United States. Movies like Central do Brasil (1999) and Cidade de Deus (2003) have fans around the world, and its directors have taken part in American and European film projects.
Latin American Countries:

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