Overview

Nearly three decades after the end of the dictatorship of General Pinochet, the documentary cinema of Chile has confronted with sophisticated and incisive approaches the memory of this nation’s historical catastrophe. More than any other medium amidst a diverse and active political memory culture, documentary films have exposed state-sponsored atrocities and their perpetrators, recovered survivors’ memories of loss, suffering, and resilience, and posed decisive questions that continue to unsettle the collective conscience of Chileans today. Documentary Cinema in Chile contributes an original focus to an established critical literature in English on screen culture’s responses to the aftermath of historical disaster, while also engaging with the rapidly expanding Spanish-language critical literature concerned with the legacy of dictatorship in Chile and other South American countries. Through an encompassing discussion of documentaries made during and after the 1973-1990 military regime, this book is an essential source for students, researchers, and general readers interested in the historical legacy of genocidal atrocity in post-conflict societies and the role of cinema, more precisely the documentary film, in processes of working through collective trauma and national reconciliation.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr Antonio Traverso (Curtin University, Australia)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN:  

9781784535858

ISBN 10:   1784535850
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   19 March 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Preface Introduction PART I CONCEPTS, HISTORIES, APPROACHES Chapter 1 Historical trauma, political memory culture and documentary film in Chile Chapter 2 (Trans)national Chilean cinema: activist, memory and conceptual documentary PART II THEMES, IMAGES, SUBJECTS Chapter 3 Martyr and dictator: documentary of revolution and dictatorship Chapter 4 Victim and perpetrator: documentary of atrocity and disappearance Chapter 5 Exiles and homecomings: documentary of memory and nostalgia Chapter 6 (Post)selves and (post)memories: documentary and (trans)generational memory PART III THE DOCUMENTARY ARCHIVE Chapter 7 Archival footage, public television and online media Chapter 8 Post-dictatorship documentary and (no)reconciliation in Chile Appendix 1 Interviews with Filmmakers Appendix 2 Film Production Files Bibliography Filmography

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Author Information

Antonio Traverso studied philosophy in Chile in the 1980s and completed a PhD on the philosophy of vision at Murdoch University, Australia, in 2003. He is Senior Lecturer in Screen Studies at Curtin University, Australia, and his publications include: (as editor) Southern Screens: Cinema, Culture and the Global South (2016) and (as co-editor) El Documental Político en Argentina, Chile y Uruguay (2015), Political Documentary Cinema in Latin America (2014), and Interrogating Trauma: Collective Suffering in Global Arts and Media (2011).

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