Available From UC Press

After the 1973 coup that put an end to the socialist government of Salvador Allende, most Chilean filmmakers went into exile. Dispersed all over the world, they made more than two hundred fiction films, documentaries, animations, videos, and works for television. José Miguel Palacios builds upon extensive archival research to trace a transnational history of this radical cinema, beginning with its emergence out of global solidarity networks in the 1970s. Chronicling the dangerous efforts to smuggle film reels out of Chile, the discourses of political cinema these films inspired as they traveled between film festivals, and the prints’ unfinished process of return to Chilean archives and museums over the past two decades, Transnational Cinema Solidarity offers a politicized understanding of world and transnational cinema that emphasizes geopolitical relations and cinematic alliances based on solidarity.

José Miguel Palacios is Assistant Professor of Critical Studies in the Department of Cinematic Arts at California State University, Long Beach.

"I have been waiting for this publication for what feels like decades. But today, as we face ever-growing migration for numerous forms of exile, José Miguel Palacios's book is more important than ever for the story it tells of survivance as a collective undertaking across cultures. Moving beyond the discourse of solidarity to open the lens into the vectors and vibrancies of friendship and what he terms 'cinematic kinship,' Palacios tells of the broad and deep transits for Chilean film and filmmakers in exile, with women filmmakers at the center of the book. The prose is lovely, the author's voice is compelling, and the research detail, the archival treasures, and the argumentation will be a great gift to readers."—Susan Lord, Professor of Film & Media and Director of the Vulnerable Media Lab, Queen's University

"A rich and timely exploration of the intertwined relationship of exile, solidarity, and the archive in Chilean cinema. Meticulously researched, and going far beyond the usual canon, this book is both a treat and indispensable reading for any scholar of political and transnational cinema, as well as anyone interested in the issues of construction of cinematic heritage through exhibition and preservation practices."—Masha Salazkina, author of Romancing Yesenia: How a Mexican Melodrama Shaped Global Popular Culture

"In this significant contribution, Palacios presents a rare and compelling case for the vital role of film archives, underscoring the urgent need for collaboration between film scholars and archivists. Adopting a transnational perspective across cultures and geographies rooted in solidarity, Palacios's research actively contributes to the preservation of film heritage and directly shapes the discourse on archival return and the rewriting of film history."—Giovanna Fossati, Professor of Media Heritage, Technology, and Culture, Utrecht University, and author of From Grain to Pixel: The Archival Life of Film in Transition

"As an investigation of the production and the international exhibition history of Chilean exile films, Transnational Cinema Solidarity reveals connections across cultures, among institutions such as festivals, museums, and archives, and between individual artists. In doing so, it addresses two projects: a new mapping of global film history of the last fifty years and potential transnational digital futures."—Kathleen Newman, Associate Professor of Spanish, University of Iowa