Latin American Documentary Filmmaking is the first volume written in English to explore Latin American documentary filmmaking with extensive and intelligent analysis. David William Foster, the leading authority on Latin American urban cultural production, provides rich, new interpretations on the production of gender, political persecution, historical conflicts, and exclusion from the mainstream in many of Latin America’s most important documentary films.

Foster provides a series of detailed examinations of major texts of Latin American filmmaking, discussing their textual production and processes of meaning. His analysis delves deeply into the world of Latin American film and brings forth a discourse of structure that has previously been absent from the fields of filmmaking and Latin American studies. This volume provides perspective on diverse and methodological approaches, pulling from a wide scope of cinematic traditions. Using his own critical readings and research, Foster presents his findings in terms that are accessible to non-Spanish speakers and Latin American film enthusiasts.

A much-needed contribution to the field of Latin American documentary film, Foster’s research and perspective will be a valuable source for those interested in film studies, gender studies, and culture.

“Foster’s illuminating and sensitive analysis of Latin American documentary films is clearly based on extensive reading and a solid critical base. It stages the workings of a sharp, critical mind, thoroughly familiar with the critical debates on Latin American film and culture.” —Santiago Juan-Navarro, co-editor of Nuevas aproximaciones al cine hispánico: Migraciones temporales, textuales y étnicas en el bicentenario de las independencias iberoamericanas (1810–2010)

“Foster’s journey through the landscapes and subjects of Latin-American documentary film is extremely engaging and thought-provoking.” —Bulletin of Spanish Studies