Read: “Towards a Third Cinema” by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino (1969)

This manifesto was published in 1969 by leftist transnational magazine Tricontinental, named after the Cuban conference held that year by the organization of solidarity with the people of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (OSPAAL). It opposed “First Cinema” (aka Hollywood Cinema), as well as “Second Cinema” (aka Author’s Cinema), which departs from the explicit commercial filmmaking practices of “First Cinema” and develops some political critique but still glorifies a single cinematic author. “Third Cinema” emerges as a way to build on “Second Cinema’s” lack of political mobilization. It advocates for a guerrilla filmmaking unit, in which all participants involved see the camera as a weapon and as a revolutionary tool.

“Radical Legacy of the Zapatista’s Media Strategy” by Rory Padgett for Svllywood Magazine This text outlines the legacies of the Zapatistas, an indigenous resistance movement emerging in Chiapas, Mexico in the 1990s to counteract the neoliberal Mexican state. Among many of their horizontally-led, autonomous initiatives was their media strategy, which continues to influence many contemporary filmmaking collectives and political organizers today.

Watch:

Coyolxauqui (Dir. Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, 2016, 10min)

Synopsis: Coyolxauhqui is a searing evocation of femicide in rural Mexico. It recasts the dismemberment of the Aztec moon goddess Coyolxauhqui by her brother Huitzilopochtli, sun, human sacrifice and war god. A visual poem about the cyclical nature of traditional myths and rituals, Coyolxauhqui is part of a trilogy that proposes itself as an act of political resistance, exploring the connection of current Mexican femicides to larger cultural formations. (from Vdrome)

Black as Resistance/ Trans as Transcendent – a prayer & a love note for my sibling, lovers & kin (Dir. Aqua River Moon, 2022, 1min)

Synopsis: a spell, prayer & love note for Chinara Ritual’s 2020 Black history month spells for Black Trans liberation

Equilíbrio (Dir. Olinda Yawar Tupinambá, 2021, 12min)

Synopsis: Equilíbrio, focuses on the environmental problematic and how civilization has used the planet in a hostile and disharmonious manner. Equilíbrio is a warning for humanity from the spirit of the forests. (from film website)

Discussion Questions:

• How does the notion of a collective filmmaking unit inform your own cinematic practice?
• What is the role of “abstraction” and “absence” in the imagery of the films?
• What connection/disconnections can you observe between the images and sound in the films?
• What political struggles do you see raised in the films? How?

Additional Sources:

https://kadist.org/work/coyolxauhqui/

https://ancestralidadytrance.space/