Attempts on film and nation: genre, style and staging of “Colombianness”

Abstract

The relationship between film and nation in the Colombian context is investigated by examining the contributions of cinematography and its evolution as a device that mediates the models in the construction of nationality. Theoretically and methodologically, films and social discourse are assumed as multiple images of fragments of history and culture, whose senses can be traced to crossroads between the experiences of the national, expressive narrative forms and various configurations. We studied three film productions in which mediation generic and/or stylistic key to the redefinition of certain facts or issues of the Colombian national history: Cóndores no entierran todos los días (1984), Bolívar soy yo (2002), and Retratos en un mar de mentiras (2010). We conclude that their various ways to represent events, characters and historical and contemporary phenomena and the narrative willingness that shapes them, offer keys for understanding the dynamics of the national representation and disputes over it.