Cinearte and Adhemar Gonzaga: interamerican relations and film industry

Abstract

The article approaches the film magazine Cinearte and one of its editors-in-chief, Adhemar Gonzaga. Like many Latin American film critics at the time, Gonzaga circulated in privileged political spaces through the artistic-cultural field, and such access determined the leanings that surfaced in the magazine. In 1930, he founded the film studio Cinédia, also becoming a movie director and producer, much devoted to the attempt to create film stars for Brazilian cinema. The year corresponds to the transition from silent to sound cinema, which highlighted issues associated with national cultural standards and entered an ongoing debate about cultural identities concerning the post-colonial relations between Europe and Latin America, as well as InterAmerican relations (JARVINEN, 2012). According to Xavier (1978), Cinearte was the contradictory expression of triumphant industrialization and cultural colonization, however, it was an agent with an active role, influencing the Brazilian audience to incorporate certain practices and to develop a point of view regarding what would be considered the standards for filmmaking. The article examines the negotiation between the project to defend Brazilian cinema carried out by the magazine and the images of Latinidad created by Hollywood based on two episodes: the 1926 Fox Film beauty contest and the Spanish versions.