A Cinema of Liberation
Third Cinema was not just a film style; it was a radical political and aesthetic manifesto. Emerging from Latin America, particularly Argentina, in the late 1960s, it proposed a new purpose for cinema: to be a weapon in the struggle for liberation from neocolonialism, capitalism, and cultural imperialism. Its founders, Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, argued that cinema could not be a neutral art form. It was either a tool for oppressing the masses or a tool for their emancipation. Third Cinema was an explicit call to create a cinema for liberation.
The movement rejected the idea of film as mere entertainment or as a vehicle for an individual director’s personal expression. Instead, it advocated for a collective, political, and revolutionary filmmaking practice that would educate, agitate, and mobilize its audience.
The Three Cinemas Model
In their influential 1969 manifesto “Towards a Third Cinema,” Solanas and Getino outlined a theoretical model that categorized all cinema into three types:
- First Cinema: This is the Hollywood model. It is a commercial, industrial cinema that functions as a consumer good. The manifesto argued that its primary purpose is to propagate bourgeois ideology and pacify audiences, reinforcing the values of the capitalist system.
- Second Cinema: This is the European model of auteur cinema or art-house film. While it challenges the narrative conventions of Hollywood and allows for personal expression, Third Cinema theorists argued that it remains trapped within the system. It is a cinema for a bourgeois audience, and its critique of the system is ultimately contained and harmless.
- Third Cinema: This is a revolutionary alternative that rejects the previous two models. It is a decolonized cinema that is explicitly political and anti-capitalist. Its goal is not to be shown in commercial theaters but to be screened clandestinely in community centers, union halls, and universities, where it can be used as a catalyst for political discussion and action. It is a “guerrilla cinema,” made with limited resources and with the intention of being a social event rather than a passive viewing experience.
Aesthetic and Political Goals
Third Cinema films are often characterized by:
- Rejection of Narrative Convention: They often break with traditional storytelling, blending documentary footage, archival material, direct address, and fictional reenactments.
- Collective Production: The films were often made by a collective rather than a single director, emphasizing a non-hierarchical creative process.
- The “Film-Act”: The screening of the film was seen as an event—a “film-act.” Screenings were meant to be stopped and discussed, turning the audience from passive spectators into active political participants.
The most famous example of Third Cinema is Solanas and Getino’s own film, La Hora de los Hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces, 1968), a monumental four-hour documentary essay on neocolonialism in Argentina. The movement’s ideas were hugely influential for politically engaged filmmakers around the world, particularly in Africa and Asia.