Originally issued in hardcover in 1996 by Garland Publishing, this important reference work is now available in paperback for a wider audience. A distinguished team of contributors has compiled entries on 140 significant South American feature films from the silent era until 1994. The entries discuss each film's subject matter, critical reception, and social and political contexts, as well as its production, distribution, and exhibition history, including technical credits. The entries are grouped by country and arranged chronologically. Both fiction and documentary films (some no longer in existence) are included, as well as extensive title, name, and subject indexes and glossaries of film and foreign terms.

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Argentina (edited by Timothy Barnard)
• Bolivia (edited by Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron)
• Brazil (edited by Ana López and Peter Rist)
• Chile (edited by Timothy Barnard and Peter Rist)
• Colombia (edited by Paul Lenti)
• Ecuador (edited by Timothy Barnard)
• Paraguay (edited by Peter Rist)
• Peru (edited by Isaac León Frías)
• Uruguay (edited by Timothy Barnard)
• Venezuela (edited by Timothy Barnard, Mitch Parry, and Peter Rist)
• Table of Films
• Original-language Film Title Index
• English-language Film Title Index
• Film Directors Index
• Contributors Index
• Name and Title Index
• Subject Index: South American Cinema
• Subject Index: South American Society
• Glossary of Brazilian Terms
• Glossary of Film Terms
• Works Consulted
• Notes on Contributors