Questions of identity and global visibility: French funding in Latin American and Maghrebi cinema

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between French film funding and the regional cinemas of the Southern Cone of Latin America (Cono Sur) and the Maghreb. Since the 1980s, France has steadily increased its support of filmmakers in francophone regions, expanding its funding of organizations and financial aids like Fonds Sud (now Aide aux cinémas du monde) and Fonds Image de la Francophonie in order to promote francophone filmmaking throughout the world. In the cases of the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay) and the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia), the opportunities provided by French funding and the interest in co-producing global cinema coincides with a rise in local productions within these regions. A French co-production status also promotes the global visibility of other national cinemas. Yet the discourse surrounding the types of narratives shown in French co-productions and the ways in which filmmakers are limited by funding stipulations highlights an ongoing issue that filmmakers from the Southern Cone and the Maghreb face when accepting France’s financial support. The combination of France’s global financing of films and the expanding interest in Southern Cone and North African cinema establishes a complex relationship around French funding institutions, francophone regions (as well as their relationships to the term “francophone”), and identity within an increasingly globalized film space. By examining the history and current state of these regions’ cinemas, as well as their relationships to France, this article analyzes the positive and negative effects of France’s history in financially shaping the national (and regional) cinemas of southern Latin America and the Maghreb, the current landscape of Southern Cone and North African filmmaking, and the possibilities for change in transnational filmmaking in the future.