Research on Colombian Cinema

Jerónimo León Rivera Betancur Universidad de La Sabana Director of the Iberoamerican Network for the Study of Audiovisual Narratives

1. A Look Back: A Brief Account of of state policies on archives and document conservation, policies that took form only in 1986. Audiovisual Production in Colombia Between the first years and the 1940s, Colombian An investigation into Colombian cinema bears a cinema dedicated itself to designing an idealized image strong resemblance to the cinema production of that of the country through a nostalgic cinema featuring country. Both are marked by a general unfamiliarity rural values, traditional customs, and folklore. Between with what preceded them; both are incipient but more 1922 (the year of the first production) and 1940, important than the general public estimates; and both Colombian cinema released 13 movies featuring these lose their impact when fragmented or not communicat- themes alone. From the 1950s only five productions ed to others. remain, none of them representative of the national National cinema has always been subject to the film history; only in 1965 did the first milestone in ebb and flow of cultural politics of a state that goes national film making occur, with the exhibition of the from little support for the film industry to not support- movie El Rio de las tumbas (Julio Luzardo, 1965), a ing it at all, and back again to providing some help. The political film of good technical quality and storytelling. promotion of the industry has not been enough, even This movie preceded another big production Pasado el though we must recognize that in the last years this sit- meridiano (José María Arzuaga, 1967), which accord- uation has improved a little thanks to Law 814 in 2003 ing to many critics, marked a pivotal point for the his- (the “Cinema Law”), which for the first time regulates tory of Colombian cinema. and promotes cinema activity in the country. In the 1960s and 1970s the influence of interna- The public and Colombian cinema have under- tional movements such as Italian Neo-realism, the gone a relationship marked by encounters and dis- French New Wave, and the Brazilian Cinema Novo agreements, mutual convenience and the ongoing com- became evident in Colombian cinema. A committed and plaints of audiences facing the combination of cinema activist film movement, with Marxist political influence reality and violence that appears in Colombian cinema. and a greater tendency to documentary, introduced a This has led to the public’s inability to connect with the new group of young filmmakers educated abroad. They stories that the national cinema presents. brought to the big screen “complaint stories,” inspired In the first half of the 20th century, Colombian cin- by internal conflicts and social inequalities. ema took inspiration from Colombian literature. This The 1980s manifested the need in Colombia to gave it characteristics similar to that literature: bucolic, build a national film industry, even over the objections local, romantic, with high doses of nostalgia for the of a wide range of critics and aesthetic concerns. Some countryside (especially in the transition from rural to good movies had to share space with a variety of films urban areas, which began in the fifties with a massive of the so-called “popular cinema,” which sought to reach migration to the cities). These characteristics clearly the public with light products, ranging from the purely appear in works of literature such as María by Jorge entertaining to the grotesque. Its main purpose was to Isaacs; in 1922 this became the first movie in Colombian build up a Colombian film tradition that a mass audience cinema (Máximo Calvo, director). In these early years, would enjoy, through a simple narrative technique with other movies that claim the “campesino” style include low technical costs—a cheap film that would achieve Alma Provinciana (Félix Rodríguez, 1925), Allá en el good results. Some Mexican movies of great commer- trapiche (Roberto Saa, 1943), and Flores del valle cial impact in Latin America such as Sor Tequila, (Máximo Calvo, 1941). Unfortunately for the history of Capulina, and La India María compounded this phe- Colombian cinema, many of the early movies were lost nomenon by highly influencing the Colombian industry. or have deteriorated in family or personal archives, and The Mexican industry’s success generated similar stories today none of these copies are conserved due to the lack in Argentina and Brazil (pornochanchada). The big dif-

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 29 (2010) NO. 2 — 15 ference for Colombian cinema against other Latin 2. The Study of Colombian Cinema American output was a very tentative initiative to It is important to clarify, first of all, that the infor- include sexual ingredients in a conservative society. mation presented below does not constitute a “state of In the 1990s the number of films produced in a the research” done in Colombia and other countries on year decreased considerably. This was in part due to the Colombian film, but rather a description of some of closure of FOCINE (the state enterprise dedicated to works published on this issue, intersected, obviously, the promotion of the film industry in Colombia). by government policies of research encouragement and However, this low production coincided with the pro- support. This provision could serve as input for a study duction of some of the best movies in the history of the of these things, which not only identify which and how country such as La estrategia del caracol (Sergio many studies have occurred but also report the results Cabrera, 1993), La gente de la Universal (Felipe and the methods used to address the study objectives, Aljure, 1993) and Confesión a Laura (Jaime Osorio, as well as the main topics studied. Such a report would 1990). (One should not seek a causal link between help to avoid the repetition of similar works, which these events.) Since the launch of the new law regard- often take no account of their direct antecedents. ing cinema, the film industry in Colombia has experi- There has been little research on film in enced a boom characterized by the production of more Colombia, in fact less than what academics might than 10 movies a year, with more public assistance to think, though, in recent years, interesting initiatives to movie theaters and an increase of film premieres on tel- compile what has been achieved in this way have evision. This latter increase arises from the support that emerged. It is frustrating to discover almost a com- private TV channels give to Colombian films. RCN, for monplace in research projects that “in Colombia noth- example, created a division called RCN Film dedicated ing has been done in audiovisual research.” to investing in the executive production of films. This (Personally, when I serve in juries in competitions at has benefitted the film industry in terms of marketing the local or national level for assessment of undergrad- and promotion, though it has not proven as beneficial uate and master’s theses, I note that the citations used to film narrative, which has been affected by an aes- usually refer to international authors, some Latin thetic of television drama. However, this rate of pro- American, but only a couple of Colombian authors. duction, speaking in terms of the industry, is still fairly The research projects undertaken in Colombia rarely paltry compared with other countries in the region such appear as background for future national research on as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. Ticket sales are com- similar topics.) The responsibility for this lack of pletely inadequate since, for example, Colombia’s knowledge about what has been achieved in research highest-grossing films in history barely reached a little does not rest solely on the researchers, but also on the more than a million viewers and since 1996 (the year of (increasing) efforts in classifying the material in launch of the industry) only 19 films reached the mini- Colombia—the results of investigations which could mum audience of 200,000. A look at 2006, which is the find publication in books and articles. most successful year so far for Colombian films, shows In recent years, however, there have been some that the national cinema box office reported 2,807,000 good and important initiatives to promote audiovisual viewers out of a total of more than 20 million total cin- research and raise awareness about what has been done. ema viewers, or only 13.8% (according to data to 2007 We should acknowledge the work that entities such as from the Fundación Proimágenes en Movimiento, the Ministry of Culture and the Mayor of Bogotá have which administers the cinema law). In the same period done. Similarly, we have inventories of the the work of we find more dramatic cases, such as in 1997 and 1999, institutions like the Muséo Nacional de Colombia and where the box office for local films did not constitute the Bogotá District Cinematheque, as well as the pres- 1% of the total cinema admissions, a situation similar entation of the 12th Annual Ernesto Restrepo Tirado to the consistent figures before 1990, although there is History Lecture, which in 2008 had the theme “ver- not much hard data about this issue. sions, subversions, and representations of Colombian Recent years have generated much optimism and, cinema: Recent investigations.” Similarly, we find the certainly, the film industry in Colombia is growing lit- important database of “Colciencias” (Departamento tle by little; yet we must be realistic in affirming that Administrativo Colombiano para el Fomento de la we have only changed the diapers to enter a period of Ciencia y la Tecnología) which lets you view the titles early childhood in Colombian film. of research in all fields of knowledge in the country. For

16 — VOLUME 29 (2010) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS this review, we conducted a thorough search of the of cinema in Colombia. In this last category its ranking research on Colombian film in areas of communications of the critical periods in Colombia and their relation- and the arts. The database does have a major drawback: ships to newspaper reports, film appreciation, literary it only mentions the names of the projects, without any criticism, and scholarship stand out. The film chronicles possibility of knowing the contents and results of these of Hernando Valencia Goelkel (1974), one of the most studies. Magazines like Extrabismos and Kinetoscopio important film critics of the country, provides a bench- have also carried out reviews of research into film in mark that appears frequently in later studies. It provides Colombia. All of them were taken as the basis of the not only the chronicles but also important documenta- information in this text. tion about the cinema of the period in which it was writ- One of the major difficulties in a review such as ten, taking into account the important career of its this arises with the thin line between film criticism and author, who began this task in the early 1950s. history, since many of the most important books on the The work of these authors is very important, but subject of national cinema and its history do not rest on unfortunately many theoretical investigations on the research but on criticism or film appreciation, which subject of Colombian cinema do not go beyond these slightly reduces the scientific impact. In addition to references, and it is clear that each new project does not addressing the major international theoretical issues know much about its direct antecedents, which has led which deal with related subjects of film studies and the to repeatedly addressing the same issues regardless of visual image, one could say that the vast majority of the findings of similar initiatives. This situation has film studies in Colombia are based on two emblematic generated a great ignorance of what is researched at authors who have addressed the issue of film history in various institutions as well as a general feeling that Colombia: Hernando Martinez Salcedo Pardo and nothing has been done on film research in Colombia. Hernando Silva. The vast majority of the works probed Apart from the books mentioned before, we must have as a reference the works of these important consider other less widely used texts such as Valverde authors, whose work was essentially between the (1978), with its important testimonial collection of 1970s and the late 1990s in examining the different some of the most important figures of the Colombian periods of Colombian cinema and understanding a lit- film, and Laurens (1988), which makes some important tle better whether we can speak of a Colombian film contributions from the historiography of the period but style in the strict sense of the word. mainly from criticism. Several compilations of texts of In 1978 Hernando Martinez Pardo published important Colombian critics have appeared, such as the Historia del Cine Colombiano, which first compiled three volumes of Alvarez (1988, 1992, 1998), which the main Colombian milestones and has become an include chapters collecting some of his work published indispensable book for those who wish to draw differ- in the newspaper El Colombian, on the issue of ent historiographies of national cinema. That noted, Colombian cinema. Other important compilation books we cannot ignore the major French film critic Georges are Ramos (1982) and Osorio (2005). Both works col- Sadoul (1973) who briefly referred to Colombian film. lect articles already published by their authors; in the The work of Martinez Pardo is the most important his- second case it is very important to acknowledge the torical record of hits in national filmography. It consti- author’s intention to take an historical approach to the tutes an important analysis of the development and selection of certain articles so that it is not just a com- evolution of cinema in Colombia, so much so that pilation text. The compilation of major articles by more than 30 years later a work that updates or sup- Caicedo (1999), a novelist and film critic of the caleño plements the tracking and analysis that Martinez did film, deserves a special mention as well. He has has not yet appeared. become a cult author, who throughout the 1970s direct- Meanwhile, in the early 1980s, Hernando Salcedo ed the magazine Ojo al cine and whose work of film Silva (1981) offered an interesting collection and analy- criticism was picked up by friends and filmmakers Luis sis of the Colombian silent cinema period, tracing it Ospina and Sandro Romero. From a thematic point of from the first signs of cinema in the country (two years view, one can find books such as Sanchez (1987) on after the invention of the cinema), through the first fea- film violence, which does not constitute an analysis of ture films in the 1920s, reaching the late 1940s. His the topic, but provides an important resource for work combines anecdotes about the film activity in the research by presenting the transcripts of the original country with an interesting approach to a periodization scripts of four of the most important Colombian films

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 29 (2010) NO. 2 — 17 on the subject. Despite its nascent state, we must rec- tors, as well as to the efforts of early exhibitors, high- ognize that what has appeared contributes much more lighting among others the figure of Camilo Correo, the than what people have usually estimated. We should founder of the oldest cinema chain that still exists in also recognize a great evolution between the first aca- Colombia, Procinal. demic papers, which are very akin to the critics where Along the same line we find some texts that aim data alternates with opinions, and the later ongoing to go beyond the storage of important archival materi- investigations, with their greater scientific rigor and al to propose more careful analysis; cultural or educa- more appropriate methodologies for the study of tional institutions (national or regional) primarily spon- national film culture, drawing on disciplines as diverse sor these studies. In this regard we have work by as history, sociology, literature, linguistics, and com- González and Nieto (1987) examining 50 years of munication, among others. “talkies” from the Acevedo archive; by Nieto and According to the Colombian historian and critic Oswaldo Osorio, it could be said that “what has been Rojas (1992) on the Olympia film group and the Di written about the film in the country does not even cor- Domenico family, a work funded by the Colombian respond, as it would be logical, to the slow and episod- Film Heritage Foundation; by Atehortúa (1999) on the ic dynamics of film production, but its process has been larger cultural impact of early film experience; by even more sluggish” (2008a, p. 6). López (2008) examining the mixed background of the culture of “Manizales,” a work sponsored by the insti- 3. Research Interests tute for Culture and Tourism of Bogota; and by Cadavid (2006) on the visual memory of Colombia in Clearly, however, a renewed interest in research related to national cinema has now emerged, fueled by film, released by the University of Antioquia press. growing interest in film production in Colombia and by On the period of the “surcharge law” [basically, the rise of Colombian professionals studying for their the 1970s, named for a 1972 law that affected film Masters and Doctorates in this field at (mostly foreign) company organization and production policies — universities. According to Pedro Adrián Zuluaga “If in ed.], a number of books analyze the audiovisual the ’60s the practice of cinema in Colombia was hit by products made under the policies of FOCINE: an the return of directors formed outside their country, edited volume by Cinemateca Distrital (1982) specif- something will happen, or is already happening in the ically on the effects of the law and Restrepo (1989) field of audiovisual studies” (Osorio, 2008a, p. 4). on the short- and medium-length films of the period. Reviewing the titles of the studies that we have inven- On the cinema of the 1980s one finds fewer research toried in the aforementioned collections, we find a studies; among them it is interesting to point out the large interest in the topics of (a) periods of Colombian autobiography of Gustavo Nieto Roa, Una vida de film, (b) the relationship between film and industry in película (1997). The book provides an inside look at Colombia, (c) the work of auteurs, (d) the documen- a kind of autobiography often overlooked in the tary, and (e) film criticism and film societies. country, with a focus on commercial and popular cin- ema, whose main representative is the author of the A. Periods of Colombian cinema book and whose accomplishments are so important Perhaps the most studied period in the history of that we speak of nietorroismo to refer to the Colombian cinema is the pioneer one. Scholars from Colombian comic film directed to the general public. disciplines such as history, communication, and soci- Of the approaches to this issue, perhaps the most ology have taken this approach, which obviously con- important as an input for researchers in the field is stitutes a crossing of interesting paradigms, seen often the collection assembled by the Fundación in interdisciplinary studies. In addition to the texts by Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano (2005), Largo- Laurens (1988), Valencia (1974), Salcedo (1981), and metrajes colombianos en cine y video 1915-2004, an Ramos (1982), we see other initiatives that study par- important compilation that includes not only refer- ticular periods. As noted, the first pioneers of cinema ences to documentary and fiction films in the history receive the most attention, without a doubt. This sub- of Colombia but also synopses, some data concerning ject interests Edda Pilar Duque (1988, 1992). In these production, and brief critical comments on some of texts, Duque explores the beginnings of Colombian the films. Here we see a beginning of work from the cinema with reference to the activities of film direc- universities by research groups.

18 — VOLUME 29 (2010) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS B. The relationship between cinema and industry This is why we can find studies of his work published in Colombia in Venezuela (Dunno Gottberg, 2003), as well as two interviews made with Gaviria (2002; Driver & This subject is also outlined in some texts. Some Jennings Tweddell, 2008). In addition there are studies books refer to the subject of legislation on cinema. such as the doctoral thesis by Jácome (2006) and the Besides the brochures and information on the law of analytical work on the issue of the “disposable human cinema, Suárez (1988) specifically discusses condition” made by Jáuregui and Suárez (2002) start- Colombian legislation on cinema; more economic detail ing from the analysis of the characters in three appears in the studies published in Convenio Andrés Colombian films, where issues such as the objectifica- Bello/Ministerio de Cultura/ Proimágenes en Movi- tion of the individual and the loss of their human dig- miento (2003). Rey (2003) examines cultural policies nity in the term “disposable” is explored. Wilson and trends in cinema in Evocar la vida: Contextos y (2007) explores Gaviria’s film, Rodrigo D No Futuro variaciones en el cine latinoamericano reciente, a piece and offers a comparison between the film Umberto D based on a conference given at the Museum of Fine Arts by the Italian neorealistic director Vittorio De Sica and in Houston in September, 2003. the film by Víctor Gaviria. Despite the absence of many books on the sub- On the cinema of violence in Colombia, as well ject, this topic appears over and over in the calls for as touching the work of Gaviria, Kantaris (2008) pub- research conducted on the subject of film and in thesis lished an article on urban cinema and violence in programs in communication and economics. Along Colombia, and Quintero (2007) investigates Gaviria’s these lines, Acosta (2008, p. 34) found 13 papers relat- work in his doctoral thesis at Wayne State University. ed to this issue in the country. Along with the projects Other auteurs who have received academic attention related to the history of Colombian cinema (19 proj- relate more to the subject of the documentary, which I ects) such research addresses the more common inter- will mention in the next section. ests in Colombia, many of them having a very strong presence of conflict issues, violence, and cinema. This D. The documentary interest appears more strongly in studies from the U.S. The theme of the documentary is particularly academy where we can find over a dozen papers on the important for Colombia, since these films are particu- topic of violence in Colombian and Latin American larly important in the 1970s, starting from the interest cinema. The studies made by American universities of the filmmakers to denounce the country’s social show very important details about Colombian film problems and to make an important contribution to from an outside perspective; these include the work of community support. The documentary of the 1970s is Suarez (2005, 2008a, 2008b), Caro (2006, 2008), characterized, as already mentioned, by the political Kantaris (2007, 2008) and Lopez (2000, 2003). tendencies of the left and the almost militant position in support of the communities affected by social problems C. The work of auteurs in Colombia. When it comes to the work of auteurs, the films of It is important to note that, unlike film, documen- Victor Gaviria, with their neo-realistic character and tary production is not centralized in Colombia. The quasi-documentary nature, strongly related to contem- most important schools of documentary filmmakers in porary urban violence in the country, receive a great Colombia have emerged in Cali in the 1970s and deal of interest. The historical, social, and stylistic rel- Medellín in the 1980s Important initiatives have also evance has captured the attention of researchers; there- emerged with projects from the Colombian Caribbean fore, we can find interviews and analysis of his films in coast, and of course, from Bogotá. The development of Ruffinelli (2002) which, according to the critic the documentary in recent years has also been strength- Oswaldo Osorio “is the most complete treatment that ened by the appearance of film schools like the has been done on the Antioquian director, addressing National University in Bogotá and the impetus given his visual universe, literary themes, and methods from by the school of documentary filmmakers from Cali several perspectives: Criticism, analysis, interviews, that has grown under the School of Social and testimony of its employees” (Osorio, 2008b). His Communication at the Universidad del Valle. work has a powerful attraction to researchers from U.S. Gender has also received support from regional universities who have discussed the issue of and national television, and in this regard we find proj- Colombian cinema—for a list, see Suárez (2008b). ects of documentary series such as Yuruparí (promoted

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 29 (2010) NO. 2 — 19 by Audiovisual, the state capital firm in the 1980s), research from the social sciences or from the arts, Rostros y rastros of the Universidad del Valle de Cali because it channels its support primarily towards tech- and Muchachos a lo bien of the Regional Corporation nological innovation, towards experimentation in the and the Social Foundation in Medellin. These projects, hard sciences, and towards the neuralgic problems of among others, have not only had a major impact on the the country where they have identified strategic inter- momentum of the documentary, but also in recording ests. Communication is obviously absent in the big pic- the history and stories of the country and its regions. ture and film is only a little less so. In the order of ideas, research on documentary A review of the GroupLac database, without has also gained great significance and has received doing an exhaustive check of the existence of the pub- greater interest in research projects in the country. lished results of the studies, shows projects related to Among the works we find books such as Gutiérrez and Colombian film from the faculties of arts, communica- Aguilera’s (2002) study of the Colombian documentary tion, and social sciences. To search for what was inves- and more than a dozen graduate theses related to the tigated in the film area, we conducted a search of the topic. It should be noted that from the research groups research groups that relate to communication, sociolo- registered in “Colciencias” several projects relate to the gy, history, and visual arts, finding a total of 445 theme of the documentary, although the number is research groups. In communication 95 groups appear probably bigger than what has been reported. in Colciencias, of which only 26 are recognized and grouped by Colciencias in categories A, B, and C, E. Film criticism and film societies according to their level of expertise and intellectual Critics and film clubs in Colombia have not been production. Of the 95 groups, only five have some limited to their everyday work and, given the great level of output related to the subject of the study of film importance of both movements in the country, have from some perspective, although more than 10 declare published some work on their craft, and the signifi- film in their statements as their object of study. cance and limitations of what they do in a country like The research group on Colombian communica- Colombia with its major problems of cultural policy tion, culture, and citizenship of the National University and management. The memories of film critics’ meet- of Colombia reports a research line in film history in ings in Pereira appear in Ossa (1999); short stories and the 1970s and two projects related to the theme of film, essays by film clubs promoted by the National but curiously none of them in relation to the 1970s. The Association of “Cineclubes,” in Colmenares (2003); products are an article published in the journal Signo y works on and about journalistic film criticism, in Pensamiento (Acosta, 1999) and a book published by Posada (1996) and Restrepo (1997). Goliardos (Mora, 1999). The Javeriana University of Bogotá has a group 4. Academic Research working on communication, media, and culture; it has a line of investigation in culture and media narrative To the panorama above we can add projects fund- and one which produced studies on narration in ed by the universities of the country. These appear mar- Colombian film from 1950-2000 (Alba & Ceballos, ginalized by many of the compilations due to their low 2002) and two articles by Arias: “Cine y vida cotidiana profile and little impact, resulting in a limited number of en la Bogotá de los años veinte” (2007a) and “Glauber books and articles available for search. Colciencias, the Rocha: una estética (polítca) del cine” (2007b). The main government agency responsible for the promotion group also presented a paper on nationalistic discourse of research in Colombia has a database to register pro- in recent Colombian cinema at the Twelfth Annual duction research groups called GroupLac. GroupLac Lecture of History Ernesto Restrepo Tirado in 2008. assembles lists of researchers, projects, products, and Similarly, we find listed the doctoral thesis of Maritza research groups by areas of knowledge and universities. Ceballos of the Autonomous University of Barcelona If the registration of titles of research appears in the Puesta en escena de las pasiones en el cine. Tesis de database, though, it will only mention that they have doctorado; 1998 – 2005,” [Staging the Passions at the been made or were made, but without further references Movies, 1998-2005]. Published in TDX (Theses and to these studies we can only assume that the files will be Dissertations Online) in 2006, it forms the basis for two on the shelves of universities with limited access. To articles Ceballos, 2006a, 2006b). this situation we must add the fact that Colciencias At the University of La Sabana we find listed the Colombia lists very little in regards to the promotion of Media Research Center, which declares a line of

20 — VOLUME 29 (2010) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS research that focuses on mass culture and cultural documentary as a text in representing the city, a chapter industries with a study project called “Narratives of the of the book resulting from the journeys of investigations conflict set up in Colombian cinema” developed by of the University of Medellin. Sandra Ruiz Moreno and Jerónimo Rivera Betancur The communication research center at the between 2007 and 2009. The publications of the group University of Manizales has presented three film proj- include articles on armed conflict and Colombian cine- ects: “Tropología del Cine. Metáfora, metonimia, ale- ma (Ruiz, Escallón, Niño, Romero, & Rueda, 2007), goría y símbolo en el cine de autor” [Film Tropology. characters in Colombian films (Rivera, 2007a), the his- Metaphor, metonymy, allegory and symbol in the art- tory of Colombian cinema (Rivera, 2007b), and cinema house] (2008) and “Trabajo de analisis poético y retóri- as entertainment (Rivera, 2008). co de tropos al interior del cine de autor contemporá- In the city of Medellín the research group IMAGO neo” [The work of poetic analysis and rhetorical tropes has developed two projects related to film. In the first, within the contemporary auteur cinema] and “Mitos y Jerónimo Rivera, Uriel Sánchez, and Jhon Jaime Osorio arquetipos en el cine contemporáneo occidental” have conducted research on the consumption habits and [Myths and archetypes in contemporary Western cine- preferences of the students of the first semester of com- ma] (2007). The center has also published features on munication in relation to the cinema and the contribu- the productions written by Carlos Fernando Alvarado tion of the former to their skills prior to their college for the newspaper, Pagina, which from their titles entrance. The second project, undertaken by Ernesto could be criticism or movie reviews rather than Correa and Jerónimo Rivera. was about the characters, research texts. the actions and the scenarios of the Colombian film Out of all the research groups from history between 1990 and 2005. Among the projects listed departments, we found one that relates history to visu- appear papers for the meetings of the Latin American al sources from the National University of Colombia in Federation of Faculties of Communication (Felafacs, Medellin. This group presents a tutorial on Italian neo- Bogotá, 2006), the Film Festival “Feria de las Flores de realism and a project planned to create a basis for con- Medellín,” the VII Conference on Research at the sultation of audiovisual materials and theoretical liter- University of Medellín, and the 10th anniversary of the ature on image, film, and video to structure a line of Faculty of Communication of the Catholic University research in history and film. However, we do not know de San Antonio in Murcia, Spain in 2007. We also find in what state the project is, which was dated for 2006. articles on the film consumption patterns of students It is worth noting that, although there are groups with (Rivera, Osorio, & Sanchez, 2006a), images and sound topics that could be studied by way of film such as (Rivera, Sanchez, & Osorio, 2006), villains in identity and cultural memory, we did not find any proj- Colombian movies from 1990 to 2005 (Lopera, 2007), ects listed from studies related to film and history. the fragmented continuity between cinema fact and fic- Finally, I have the feeling there is a large under- tion (Correa, 2002), anecdotal cinema (Velez, 2007), count in the area of the arts. Out of 145 groups regis- and the fictional treatment of local events (López, tered in Colciencias, only 16 groups appear recognized 2005). From the same center comes a book on film nar- and updated. Some names of the groups suggest an rative (Correa, Rivera, Caminos, & Ruiz, 2008). It was interest in cinema and audiovisual research, but one published under the imprint of the University of cannot know the details of their academic approaches. Medellín with the participation of research groups in At the same time, we must recognize that the format Colombia, Argentina, and Spain and came about as a established by Colciencias favors scientific research result of the VIII Conference on Research at the and many research groups in the area of film mix aca- University of Medellín. demic research with artistic work. This explains why Also at the University of Medellín, the they probably will not appear in light of the measure- Communication and Identity group conducted a research ment rubric applied to them. In this regard, researchers project related to the topic of cinema: the representation in this area have complained in several academic sce- of identities of Medellin in a documentary about the city narios where Colciencias has previously made its pres- between 1994 and 2005. Derived from this project and ence. However, we must recognize the existence of other works of the group, C. López (2008) wrote about some projects that come from the area of arts. First, the identity and industry in Colombian film, based on uni- research group, “Reflections on the production of versity practices, while A. López (2008) reports on the audiovisual material” at the Manuela Beltran

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 29 (2010) NO. 2 — 21 University of Bogota presents three research projects exchange of research projects and output of different on audiovisual production which has products related researchers and groups, including the exchange and to the theme of film. These include the “Painted sce- circulation of publications, the creation of discussion narios of expressionist cinema” by Ricardo Guerra in forums on policy issues of communication and culture, the seminar, “Let there be light: a journey through the the realization of joint research projects, and the pro- history of cinematography photography” (2008) and motion of events and possible academic programs. “the use of film and audiovisual as a source for histor- In the Iberoamerican area, the Iberoamericana ical research” by Juana Rubio in the Audiovisual Audiovisual Narrative Research Network (INAV) has, Festival of “El Cerro de Guadalupe” (2008). There are since 2005, promoted research and academic exchange also some degree projects related to the topic of cine- among media professionals of Latin America with a ma. Some groups with names and lines of research that common interest in the study of visual narratives. are very interesting appear yet they do not provide any Among its main objectives, it looks to increase the pres- information on projects. This is the case of the groups ence of the study of audiovisual narratives in the meet- “Documentary Colombia” and “Kinos, perpetual ings of communication faculty and researchers in Latin motion”” of the National University. This last one only America, promoting the development of research in mentions the completion of a study in 2006 on film Latin American countries and generating common technology. This situation also occurs with the research methodologies through discussion of research method- group “History of the Colombian film” of the ologies in visual narratives. The network has 79 research University “Nueva Colombia,” which has no informa- members from Spain, the USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico, tion recorded. The research group “Estudios de la ima- Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. gen de la Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano de Bogotá” presents research in Colombia, 2007–2008, which has 6. Conclusion no related information that has been published. We know that beyond the borders of Colombia, Much remains to be done but the road traveled some research dedicated to the theme of Colombian has already begun. It is clear, however, that the efforts cinema exists. Yet there also exists a great ignorance in have not been few but have been widely dispersed. The the country about it, indicated by the small number of first task should be, in the spirit of this article, the clas- references to this work—only some texts from master’s sification and categorization of research made in and doctoral study on literature or Latin American Colombia on the various aspects related to films from studies from universities in the U.S. and Europe. different sectors involved in the issue: state agencies and academic and independent researchers. Such a review should, of course, set aside the projects imple- 5. Professional Associations of mented in other countries (mainly in the United States) for researchers interested in the Colombian and Latin Researchers American cinema. If research in the field of audiovisual communi- Anyway, we must recognize that this picture is cation, and particularly in the field of cinema, is emerg- probably just an illusion because we know the titles of ing, much more has the intention of researchers to val- research projects, papers, and books but we do not have idate similar studies or share knowledge with col- much information on their content. Similarly, it is very leagues and peers from other universities. Here, then, possible that there are many other projects not includ- we must highlight the efforts (most of them isolated) of ed here since they are only known in the institution that some groups of researchers who have tried to build a sponsored them. So, after joining forces, the scientific community around the topic of communica- researchers in the field should agree on certain lines of tion research. investigation that permit them to develop this field of First, we must mention Redicom, an association study and exercise pressure for the support and promo- of communication researchers convened from the tion of policies to fund research, which from the state Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Its main objective is are still very insufficient. to strengthen the academic field of communication In conclusion, let me emphasize the words of through research, development, and management; Pedro Adrián Zuluaga, Colombia’s leading film critic through the production and circulation of knowledge in “This wave of scholars is the call to produce new communication and culture; and through the ongoing knowledge about a cinema like Colombia’s that has

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