Latin America: A Documentary History

“Our cinema should be political, and as beautiful as possible.” (Marta Rodríguez)

Marta Rodríguez

The earliest manifestation of the documentary instinct in Latin America occurred in Mexico before World War I, during the Revolutionary years following the uprising of 1911, when the immediate success of actualities depicting the momentous events of the day helped to stimulate the early growth of Mexican cinema. In the absence as yet of any dominant international cinematic model for political reportage—newsreels were only in their...