Cinematic Views of and from the Margins

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This panel considers the work of four filmmakers who explore marginalized identities in the context of Latin American, Spanish and US cultures. At stake is how these films defy normative and Eurocentric discourses of race, gender, sexuality and religion. Through narrative, thematic and stylistic analysis, and based on postcolonial, queer and feminist theories, the essays explore how these filmmakers complicate the construction of national imaginaries and the power structures extant in them. By focusing on historically specific discursive formulations of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and nationality, these directors articulate critiques of the incomplete and fragmented project of modernity, as conceived by postcolonial studies.

Sub Track

• Film Studies

Session Organizer

• Gilberto M Blasini-Cáceres, University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee

Chair

• Luisela A Alvaray, DePaul University

Individual Presentations

• Pelo malo or The Growing (National) Pains of the Margins - Gilberto M Blasini-Cáceres, University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee

• Worlds of Others: The Films of Icíar Bollaín - Luisela A Alvaray, DePaul University

• Negotiating Faith and Sexuality in Recent Mexican Documentary Film - Carmelo Esterrich, Columbia College Chicago

• Consuming El Che: Kordavision and Chicano Engagements with the Authoring and Political Branding of Che Guevara - Carmen L Oquendo-Villar, International School of Design, Art and Architecture