(Un)Veiling Bodies

Documentary plays an essential role in struggles over memories of Latin America's turbulent dictatorial pasts. Informed by the 'affective turn' in film studies, this book offers a fresh approach to the field of Chilean non-fiction production by arguing that these heterogeneous works shift from a 'cinema of the affected' to a 'cinema of affect'.

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Documentary plays an essential role in struggles over memories of Latin America's turbulent dictatorial pasts. Ever since the military coup of 11 September 1973, Chilean film and video makers have passionately and incessantly documented, created and re-enacted memories from this traumatic event and its aftermath, inside the country and in exile. Focusing on these non-fiction responses to the coup since the restoration of civilian rule in 1990, Ramirez Soto argues that these works trace a trajectory of a revelation of bodies, oscillating between - at times overlapping - the bodies of the direct victims and the film's body itself. This is a journey deeply intertwined with the country's own democratic transition. Informed by the 'affective turn' in film studies, (Un)veiling bodies offers a novel approach to this rich but largely unexplored field of Chilean non-fiction production by arguing that these heterogeneous works shift from a 'cinema of the affected' to a 'cinema of affect'. By doing so, Ramirez Soto suggests, post-1990 documentaries contribute, metaphorically speaking, to Chilean society's own restoration of the senses.