New Constructions of House and Home in Argentine and Chilean Film

Houses, in the Argentine and Chilean films of the early 21st-century, provide much more than a backdrop to on-screen drama. Nor are they simply refuges from political turmoil or spaces of oppression. This volume argues that domestic spaces are instead the medium through which new, fragile common identities are constructed. The varied documentary and fiction films analyzed here - which include an early work by Oscar-winner Sebastian Lelio - use the domestic sphere as a laboratory in which to experiment with narrative, with audiovisual techniques, and with social configurations. Where previous scholarship has focused on the social fragmentation and political disillusionment visible in contemporary film, this book argues that in order to properly account for the political agency of cinema, it is necessary to move beyond deconstructive critical approaches to Latin American culture. In doing so, it expands the theoretical scope of studies in Latin American cinema by finding new points of contact between the cultural critique of Nelly Richard, the work of Bruno Latour, and theories of new materialism.