Latino American Cinema: An Encyclopedia of Movies, Stars, Concepts, and Trends

Latino American cinema encompasses traditions of resistance, suppression, and accommodation, voiced through mainstream commercial movies and crossover-market films as well as independent productions, documentaries, and experimental projects. Latina and Latino media production aptly represents American multiculturalism, revealing insights into the past, present, and future of those in front of and behind the camera. Latino American cinema is a provocative, complex, and definitively American topic of study. This book examines key mainstream commercial films while also spotlighting often-underappreciated documentaries, avant-garde and experimental projects, independent productions, features and shorts, and more. Latino American Cinema: An Encyclopedia of Movies, Stars, Concepts, and Trends serves as an essential primary reference for students of the topic as well as an accessible resource for general readers. The alphabetized entries in the volume cover the key topics of this provocative and complex genre—films, filmmakers, star performers, concepts, and historical and burgeoning trends—alongside frequently overlooked and crucially ignored items of interest in Latino cinema. This comprehensive treatment bridges gaps between traditional approaches to U.S.-Latino and Latin American cinemas, placing subjects of Chicana and Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban and diasporic Cuban, and Mexican origin in perspective with related Central and South American and Caribbean elements. Many of the entries offer compact definitions, critical discussions, overviews, and analyses of star artists, media productions, and historical moments, while several foundational entries explicate concepts, making this single volume encyclopedia a critical guide as well. Features * Nearly 300 entries on movies, actors and actresses, concepts, and trends * A resource guide and bibliography provides listings of online references and databases, research centers, and media distributors * Sidebar discussions that elaborate on key points within the entry, spotlight historical and social contexts, and offer examples Highlights * Addresses the needs of a wide array of readers, including those of previous, current, and future generations * Balances factual information with analyses and interpretive commentary that encourage critical engagement with the texts and issues under discussion * Includes discussions of key mainstream feature films alongside treatment of lesser-known media arts and artists