Latin American films are enjoying unprecedented success with audiences around the world, with filmmakers garnering top awards both in the United States and at international film festivals. A Companion to Latin American Cinema brings together filmmakers, critics, historians, and scholars to provide a wide–ranging collection of newly commissioned essays and interviews that explore the ways in which Latin American cinema has established itself on the international film scene in the twenty–first century

The authors address the important national cinemas of such countries as Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as the emerging cinematic traditions of Cuba, Bolivia, Guatemala, and others. Interviews with acclaimed auteurs and leading voices of Latin American cinema are also featured, including Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu and Chilean director Pablo Larraín. A variety of thematic, theoretical, and historical perspectives are explored, including new movements and developments in Latin American cinema and how technological advances have allowed smaller South and Central American nations to nurture a film industry without state funding. Scholarly and thought–provoking, A Companion to Latin American Cinema offers bold insights into a cinematic tradition that has emerged at the vanguard of twenty–first–century filmmaking.

“This superb collection sheds important light on the recent shifts in understanding of the geopolitical and commercial (re)positioning of Latin American cinema in the global marketplace, tracking the vibrant and fast–paced circuits of commerce, affect and soft power with nuance and verve.  The scholarship is illuminating, often compelling, as it engages with stardom, performance, nostalgia, memory and politics and mobilizes discussion on the importance of the digital turn and the ineluctable pull between the local and the global whilst also taking stock of new directions both in theory and practice. A discrete section of interviews with directors is a most welcome inclusion in what is an indispensable book for those who want an informed analysis of the contemporary landscape in Latin American cinema.” ~ Dr Sarah Wright, Professor of Hispanic Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London

"A richly informed and probing analysis of one of the world′s most dynamic film–making regions. Indispensable” ~ Demetrios Matheou, film critic and author of The Faber Book of New South American Cinema

“An essential and highly readable study that investigates cinematic languages of Latin America s vibrant film scene to provide a curated collection on resurgent methodologies of fictional storytelling and documentaries. This extremely useful resource maps the current state of production, distribution, and exhibition, and the political trajectories of the cinema of Latin America. Particularly invaluable is the inclusion of interviews with key players from the moving image sector of that region.” ~ Nico Marzano, Cinemas Manager, ICA