The Politics of Authorship in Latin American Indigenous Filmmaking

Heightened coverage of indigeneity in recent Latin American film, prompted by the release of Birdwatchers (Marcho Bechis, 2008), La teta asustada (Claudia Llosa, 2009), El abrazo de la serpiente (Ciro Guerra, 2015) and Ixcanul (Jayro Bustamante, 2015), has afforded an exciting critical juncture in which scholars of Indigenous filmmaking are well placed to intervene. Analyses of these transnationally-produced and circulated works, for all their productive insights, have tended to eclipse the influence of Indigenous-authored productions in the region which, for multiple reasons, are not able to reach the same 'global' audiences. In building a productive interface between diverse disciplines and communities of practice, this fellowship seeks to challenge this position, illuminating the contemporaneity and global relevance of Indigenous filmmaking from Latin America, and analyzing the enmeshed and coalescing histories of recent Latin American and Indigenous film.

The project builds on my existing work conducted with the Latin American Coordinating Council for Indigenous Film and Media (CLACPI), the foremost umbrella organization promoting Indigenous filmmaking in the region. By way of three collaborative outputs, in addition to a single-authored book, the research will model ethically-guided methods to the field in theory and praxis. The complex relationship between authorship and the languages of production, which characterize the diverse aesthetics of the films in addition to their funding and distribution prospects, forms a focal point for these joint activities. In current film programming circuits and teaching provision, the languages of Latin American cinema are considered to be overwhelmingly Spanish or Portuguese. Indeed, the relationship between these languages and the development of Latin American Film Studies has been key to the discipline's emergence on Modern Languages degree programmes. This sits uncomfortably, however, with the multilingual films produced by Indigenous directors in the region. Latin American Indigenous filmmaking thus compels scholars, audiences and funding bodies alike to rethink the linguistic and cultural diversity of the region in relation to aesthetics and authorship practices.

Responding to this imperative, a Translation Forum will be staged during the CLACPI-organized FICMayab' Film Festival in 2018, gathering leading practitioners of audiovisual translation alongside Indigenous linguists in order to tackle this crucial issue. Decision-makers and public institutions who work in the design and delivery of policy and initiatives for filmmaking in the region will be targeted through the production of a Code of Good Practice focusing specifically on the issue of audiovisual translation for Indigenous films. These recommendations will also influence the production of a set of 5 newly-subtitled films into English, enabling them to qualify for a wider range of exhibition and funding opportunities, and which will be screened during the Mother Tongue Festival at the Smithsonian Institution at the end of the fellowship. A series of 4 Web Residencies pairing Indigenous filmmakers with scholars to produce 'virtual takeovers' of pages around a designated theme, will also extend awareness of Indigenous film practice and create generative exchanges between scholarship and directors in order that the public profile of the field be raised. The book will provide a comparatist approach to authorship in Latin American Indigenous filmmaking, offering detailed consideration of formal characteristics of the films, while remaining attuned to local contexts of production and circulation. Overall, the explicit engagement with authorship, language diversity and audiovisual translation throughout the Fellowship will influence perceptions of film's role in reflecting cultural heterogeneity and facilitate public and scholarly access to a more diverse ecology of film form.

This project is designed to produce impact not only for the Fellow, scholarly peers, future researchers, and the wider public, but also for the Latin American Indigenous filmmakers and collectives with whom I work. It develops further the work I have undertaken since 2010 with the umbrella organization for Indigenous filmmaking in Latin America, the Latin American Coordinating Council for Indigenous Film and Media (CLACPI), which comprises approximately 50 member associations and individuals from across the region. In pioneering new ways of thinking about Indigenous authorship in dynamic relation to the field of Latin American film, the research aims to shape critical debates far beyond the realm of Latin American Indigenous filmmaking itself, raise CLACPI's profile and ability to influence policy, benefit filmmakers who will be better positioned to apply for funding and training opportunities, and enrich the film offering available for international audiences.

The Fellowship addresses major concerns that are significant to the wellbeing and vitality of cultures worldwide, including debates pertaining to minority languages, intercultural communication and exchange, and the contribution of the arts to society. Latin American Indigenous filmmaking is an unwieldy category of artistic production, which, like the category of Latin American film more generally, tends to simplify the distinct languages, modes of production and aesthetics which are mobilized in its name. Across the region, languages such as Quechua and Guarani, to cite just two of the most widely-spoken languages, inscribe film narratives. Some films are produced in Indigenous-inflected Spanish and Portuguese, peppered with Indigenous terms also, while others are delivered entirely in Indigenous languages, making the field highly complex and also extremely rich.

The Fellow will explore this crucial issue by organising a Translation Forum where academics, directors, and linguists alike can strategise regarding audiovisual translation challenges for Indigenous films. Hosted during the CLACPI film festival, FICMayab', in 2018, this Forum will delineate the factors which affect the circulation and appreciation of Latin American Indigenous films and will culminate with the writing of a set of recommendations and a Code of Good Practice aimed at influencing arts councils in their design of initiatives for linguistically-diverse film cultures. A series of 4 Web Residencies - virtual 'takeovers' of specific pages on the project website where directors will reflect on a select theme in partnership with scholars - aim to broker long-term collaborations between academics and filmmakers, and develop interpretive frameworks in the field of Latin American Indigenous Filmmaking. Students and a new generation of researchers will also benefit from this amplified exposure to the methodologies being used to analyse filmmaking, which, in turn, will forge new teaching and research directions. In partnership with CLACPI, a selection of 5 films will be selected for the Fellow to subtitle into English, thus enabling the works to qualify for a wider range of exhibition and funding avenues. The final subtitled films will be screened in the Mother Tongue Film Festival, hosted by the Smithsonian in Washington D.C, a prestigious platform upon which to disseminate the knowledge, innovations, recommendations and not least pride in Indigenous-language film, cultivated through the work of the Fellowship. Finally, this multifaceted study of authorship will lead to the first transnational study of authorship in Indigenous Latin American film, and illuminate broader questions pertaining to the nature of filmic authorship more generally. Overall, the insights borne of this project strive to transform the field by illuminating the conditions and possibilities for the interpretation of the works and enlarging substantially the production and circulation horizons of Latin American Indigenous film.