Book description
Walter Salles's film The Motorcycle Diaries follows the journey
made by the young medical student Che Guevara across Argentina,
through Chile, to Peru. At the climax, Guevara exhorts his audience to
see beyond their borders and embrace a truly continental identity.
This vision lives on today, in the work of a new generation of South
American filmmakers. Following the buena onda, the 'good wave' that
included the Brazilian favela film City of God, the 2000s saw a
renaissance in the continent's cinema, with such diverse Argentine
movies as Nine Queens and The Holy Girl, and dazzling new work from
Uruguay, Chile and Peru. The new directors have won prizes at major
film festivals, been nominated for Oscars, and captured the
imagination of audiences worldwide. Many tackle the question of
identity amid the ever-changing political and social landscapes of
their troubled countries, while developing a network of collaboration
and inspiration across the continent. This book featured interviews
with the most significant voices of this Latin new wave - people who
are 'bonded by blood, politics, strife, courage, ingenuity, and a
shared desire and splendid resolve to make movies'.
Demetrios Matheou is a London-based journalist and writer. He worked
as a newspaper reporter, then an architectural journalist, before
starting to watch movies for a living. He is the film critic for the
Sunday Herald in Scotland, and also writes for the Independent on
Sunday, Guardian, Observer and Sight & Sound. Demetrios contributed
the eponymous entry of Faber's Ten Bad Dates with De Niro.
