Women Directors in Latin American Cinema

The presence of women as characters and stars has been essential for the emergence of cinema as a modern spectacle. However, the role of women in the industry as creators and directors has met an unequal appreciation. What perspectives, struggles and triumphs confront women directors in Latin America? How genres, ideas and aesthetic choices are transformed under the feminine gaze of a director? Along with a brief historic survey of women filmmakers in global cinema and fundamental concepts to analyze films, this course explores specific works by Mexican, Argentinean and Latin American women filmmakers that have founded and enriched the history of cinema in the Spanish speaking world. Screenings include films (or sequences) by Matilde Landeta, María Novaro, Claudia Saint-Luce, Patricia Riggen (México); María Luisa Bemberg, Lucrecia Martel and Lucía Puenzo (Argentina), Sara Gómez Yera (Cuba), Margot Benacerraf (Venezuela), Claudia Llosa (Perú) among others.