The role of European cultural institutions in the circulation of European cinema and the development of Chilean film culture (1955-1989)

ongoing

This project studies the role of European cultural institutions (ECIs) depending on their Ministry of Foreign Affairs in promoting national cinemas abroad and developing local film cultures in Chile. It compares the role of the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, the Institut Français, the Centro Cultural de España, and the Goethe Institut in two key historical periods (1955-1973 and 1974-1989) in which these institutions were the main gatekeepers and providers of European cinema in Chile. The action will be hosted at the Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi) of UANTWERPEN under director Prof. Philippe Meers’ supervision and at the Centre of Research in the Arts (CoRA) based at Oxford Brookes University under director Prof. Daniela Treveri Gennari’s supervision. Through an interdisciplinary approach in the line of New Cinema History, the research will analyse the transnational connections embedded in local film cultures and facilitated by cultural diplomacy. It aims to generate new empirical data on this under-researched area of study, from a peripheral and non-Eurocentric standpoint. Its objectives are: To identify European films that circulated in Chile thanks to ECIs, and the social and institutional networks involving this process; To explore the emerging imaginaries of “European”, “political” and “quality cinema” attached to this circulation and influencing local film cultures; and to analyse the local reception of these films and ideas. The methodology will combine archival and qualitative research, drawing on the researcher’s previous experience and her training at both the beneficiary institution and the secondment. The main results include an online open access database, network analysis and a qualitative dataset; the researcher’s training in cutting-edge academic skills and digital humanities; valuable inputs that can inform international cultural policies; and new collaboration networks between academic and non-academic international institutions.