What is Third Cinema?

Third Cinema is a cinematic movement from Third World countries, mainly Latin America and Africa, that emerged as an alternative to Hollywood (First Cinema) and European films (Second Cinema). Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino coined the term in their 1969 manifesto, “Toward a Third Cinema”. Third Cinema films often portray social realities, emphasizing issues like poverty, identity, tyranny, colonialism, class, and cultural practices. Rooted in Marxist aesthetics, it was influenced by Bertolt Brecht, John Grierson, and Italian Neorealism. Third Cinema seeks to end the division between art and life, promoting critical and intuitive cinema to foster a new, emancipatory mass culture. The movement began in Latin America in 1967, spreading anticolonial approaches worldwide.

Where and when did Third Cinema begin?

Third Cinema emerged in Latin America with a strong anti-colonial sentiment at the Festival of Latin American Cinema in Viña del Mar, Chile, in 1967. This movement gained momentum with the release of The Hour of the Furnaces , a radical film analyzing Argentine history and politics in the 1960s, accompanied by the manifesto, "Towards a Third Cinema". The movement's approach subsequently became more diverse, as seen in Chilean Raúl Ruiz’s Three Sad Tigers (1968), which explored social change within Santiago's underworld. Overcoming obstacles such as dictatorships and state sponsorship, Third Cinema expanded globally, particularly in Europe, through international exposure.

How is Third Cinema different from mainstream Hollywood films?

Third Cinema distinguishes itself from mainstream Hollywood films (First Cinema) through its aesthetic, political objectives, and production approach. Emerging from Third World countries, particularly Latin America and Africa, Third Cinema critiques Hollywood's focus on entertainment and technical skill, and Europe's aesthetic focus. Unlike mainstream cinema, Third Cinema emphasizes social realism, addressing issues like poverty, colonialism, and identity. It often employs non-professional actors and directors, prioritizing the viewer's role in creating meaning, and blurring the line between representation and reality. Third Cinema uses film as an ideological tool, inviting viewers to become producers of culture rather than passive consumers.

What are the main goals of Third Cinema filmmakers?

Third Cinema emerged as a cinematic movement in Third World countries, offering an alternative to Hollywood and European films. Third Cinema's main goals: * A socially realistic portrayal of life * Emphasis on issues like poverty, identity, tyranny, colonialism, class, and cultural practices * Ending the division between art and life * Insistence on critical and intuitive cinema to produce a new emancipatory mass culture, inviting viewers to explore the spaces between representation and reality and become producers rather than consumers of culture * Challenging traditional approaches

How does Third Cinema relate to politics or social change?

Third Cinema is a cinematic movement in Third World countries that serves as an alternative to Hollywood and European films. Third Cinema films strive to be socially realistic portrayals of life and emphasize topics and issues such as poverty, national and personal identity, tyranny and revolution, colonialism, class, and cultural practices. Rooted in Marxist aesthetics, Third Cinema calls for an end to the division between art and life and insists on critical and intuitive cinema to produce a new emancipatory mass culture. Third Cinema began in Latin America with a strong anticolonial emphasis. The anticolonial approach became less doctrinaire, providing options for social change.

Can you name some important films or directors from the Third Cinema movement?

Third Cinema is a cinematic movement that emerged in Third World countries as an alternative to Hollywood and European films. It focuses on portraying social realities and addressing issues like poverty, colonialism, and identity. Key figures and films include: * Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino : Argentine filmmakers who coined the term "Third Cinema" and produced La hora de los hornos ( The Hour of the Furnaces ). * Raúl Ruiz : Chilean director known for Tres tristes tigres ( Three Sad Tigers ), which explores social change within the Santiago underworld. * Ousmane Sembène : Senegalese director whose films, such as Xala and Moolaadé , mix African and Western elements while critically examining local culture. * Miguel Littin : Chilean film director of La tierra prometida ( The Promised Land ). * Abderrahmane Bouguermouh : An Algerian filmmaker who directed La Colline oubliée ( The Forgotten Hillside ). * John Akomfrah : From the Black Audio Film Collective, challenged traditional British documentary approaches in Handsworth Songs .

Third Cinema

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Also called:: Third World Cinema

Related Artists:: Ousmane Sembène

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Third Cinema

cinema movement

Also known as: Third World Cinema

Written by

John LeBlanc

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History

Top Questions

What is Third Cinema?
Third Cinema is a cinematic movement from Third World countries, mainly Latin America and Africa, that emerged as an alternative to Hollywood (First Cinema) and European films (Second Cinema). Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino coined the term in their 1969 manifesto, “Toward a Third Cinema”.

Third Cinema films often portray social realities, emphasizing issues like poverty, identity, tyranny, colonialism, class, and cultural practices. Rooted in Marxist aesthetics, it was influenced by Bertolt Brecht, John Grierson, and Italian Neorealism. Third Cinema seeks to end the division between art and life, promoting critical and intuitive cinema to foster a new, emancipatory mass culture. The movement began in Latin America in 1967, spreading anticolonial approaches worldwide.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Third Cinema
2. History of film: Africa
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Where and when did Third Cinema begin?
Third Cinema emerged in Latin America with a strong anti-colonial sentiment at the Festival of Latin American Cinema in Viña del Mar, Chile, in 1967. This movement gained momentum with the release of The Hour of the Furnaces, a radical film analyzing Argentine history and politics in the 1960s, accompanied by the manifesto, "Towards a Third Cinema".

The movement's approach subsequently became more diverse, as seen in Chilean Raúl Ruiz’s Three Sad Tigers (1968), which explored social change within Santiago's underworld. Overcoming obstacles such as dictatorships and state sponsorship, Third Cinema expanded globally, particularly in Europe, through international exposure.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Cuba: Film
2. Third Cinema
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How is Third Cinema different from mainstream Hollywood films?
Third Cinema distinguishes itself from mainstream Hollywood films (First Cinema) through its aesthetic, political objectives, and production approach. Emerging from Third World countries, particularly Latin America and Africa, Third Cinema critiques Hollywood's focus on entertainment and technical skill, and Europe's aesthetic focus.

Unlike mainstream cinema, Third Cinema emphasizes social realism, addressing issues like poverty, colonialism, and identity. It often employs non-professional actors and directors, prioritizing the viewer's role in creating meaning, and blurring the line between representation and reality. Third Cinema uses film as an ideological tool, inviting viewers to become producers of culture rather than passive consumers.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Third Cinema
2. New Hollywood: History
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What are the main goals of Third Cinema filmmakers?
Third Cinema emerged as a cinematic movement in Third World countries, offering an alternative to Hollywood and European films.

Third Cinema's main goals:
* A socially realistic portrayal of life
* Emphasis on issues like poverty, identity, tyranny, colonialism, class, and cultural practices
* Ending the division between art and life
* Insistence on critical and intuitive cinema to produce a new emancipatory mass culture, inviting viewers to explore the spaces between representation and reality and become producers rather than consumers of culture
* Challenging traditional approaches
1 Britannica Source
1. Third Cinema
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How does Third Cinema relate to politics or social change?
Third Cinema is a cinematic movement in Third World countries that serves as an alternative to Hollywood and European films. Third Cinema films strive to be socially realistic portrayals of life and emphasize topics and issues such as poverty, national and personal identity, tyranny and revolution, colonialism, class, and cultural practices.

Rooted in Marxist aesthetics, Third Cinema calls for an end to the division between art and life and insists on critical and intuitive cinema to produce a new emancipatory mass culture. Third Cinema began in Latin America with a strong anticolonial emphasis. The anticolonial approach became less doctrinaire, providing options for social change.
1 Britannica Source
1. Third Cinema
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Can you name some important films or directors from the Third Cinema movement?
Third Cinema is a cinematic movement that emerged in Third World countries as an alternative to Hollywood and European films. It focuses on portraying social realities and addressing issues like poverty, colonialism, and identity.

Key figures and films include:
* Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino: Argentine filmmakers who coined the term "Third Cinema" and produced La hora de los hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces).
* Raúl Ruiz: Chilean director known for Tres tristes tigres (Three Sad Tigers), which explores social change within the Santiago underworld.
* Ousmane Sembène: Senegalese director whose films, such as Xala and Moolaadé, mix African and Western elements while critically examining local culture.
* Miguel Littin: Chilean film director of La tierra prometida (The Promised Land).
* Abderrahmane Bouguermouh: An Algerian filmmaker who directed La Colline oubliée (The Forgotten Hillside).
* John Akomfrah: From the Black Audio Film Collective, challenged traditional British documentary approaches in Handsworth Songs.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Third Cinema
2. History of film: Africa
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Third Cinema, aesthetic and political cinematic movement in Third World countries (mainly in Latin America and Africa) meant as an alternative to Hollywood (First Cinema) and aesthetically oriented European films (Second Cinema). Third Cinema films aspire to be socially realistic portrayals of life and emphasize topics and issues such as poverty, national and personal identity, tyranny and revolution, colonialism, class, and cultural practices). The term was coined by Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, the producers of La hora de los hornos (1968; The Hour of the Furnaces), one of the best-known Third Cinema documentary films of the 1960s, in their manifesto “Hacia un tercer cine” (1969; “Toward a Third Cinema”).

(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)

Third Cinema was rooted in Marxist aesthetics generally and was influenced by the socialist sensibility of German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, the British social documentary developed by producer John Grierson, and post-World War II Italian Neorealism. Third Cinema filmmakers went beyond those predecessors to call for an end to the division between art and life and to insist on a critical and intuitive, rather than a propagandist, cinema in order to produce a new emancipatory mass culture.

Ethiopian-born American cinema scholar Teshome Gabriel identified a three-phase path along which films have emerged from Third World countries. In the first phase, assimilationist films, such as those of Bollywood in India, follow those of Hollywood in focusing on entertainment and technical virtuosity and de-emphasize local subject matter. In the second phase, films feature local control of production and are about local culture and history, but they tend to romanticize the past while neglecting social transformation. Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi (1968; “The Money Order”), about a traditional man confronting modern ways, and Burkinabé director Gaston Kaboré’s Wend Kuuni (1983; “God’s Gift”), about a mute boy who regains his speech after viewing a tragedy, characterize the second phase. In the third phase, combative films, such as Chilean film director Miguel Littin’s La tierra prometida (1973; The Promised Land), place production in the hands of the people (instead of local elites) and use film as an ideological tool.

Despite their geographical and historical specificity, Third Cinema films do not conform to any one aesthetic strategy but instead employ whatever formal techniques—mainstream or avant-garde—that suit the subject at hand. Often, directors and actors are not full-time professionals. Craftsmanship is discouraged, and more emphasis is placed on the viewers’ role in creating the film, inviting them to explore the spaces between representation and reality and become producers rather than consumers of culture.

Third Cinema began in Latin America in 1967 with the strong anticolonial emphasis at the Festival of Latin American Cinema in Viña del Mar, Chile, and the release of The Hour of the Furnaces, a radical and controversial rendering of Argentine history and politics in the 1960s, with its accompanying manifesto, “Towards a Third Cinema.” That anticolonial approach then became less doctrinaire in feature films such as Chilean Raúl Ruiz’s Tres tristes tigres (1968; Three Sad Tigers), which provided a variety of options for social change in its examination of the Santiago underworld through a single handheld camera, emphasizing the city’s atmosphere of entrapment. The Third Cinema approach spread worldwide through international exposure, especially in Europe, overcoming the obstacles of dictators and state sponsorship in the 1970s .

In Africa the Third Cinema was illustrated notably in the films of Sembène, such as Xala (1975) and Moolaadé (2004), with their mixture of African and Western elements and their critical approach to local culture. Another example of Third Cinema was Algerian filmmaker Abderrahmane Bouguermouh’s La Colline oubliée (1997; The Forgotten Hillside), which was shot in the Berber language and treated the traditional ways of its mountain-dwelling characters with ambivalence.

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Third Cinema films do not have to be located in the Third World. In the British films of the Black Audio Film Collective (and related groups such as Sankofa), such as John Akomfrah’s Handsworth Songs (1986), both the style and the substance of the traditional British documentary approach to race relations were challenged.

John LeBlanc

Third Cinema

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