Politics, Memory and Fiction(s) in Contemporary Argentine Cinema: The Kirchnerist Years

Abstract

This chapter examines the culture of memory evidenced in filmmaking in Argentina during the Kirchnerist years (2003-2015). Rather than provide a survey of the works produced across both the commercial and independent sectors, it will seek to offer a detailed treatment of a select number of key films that explore the ways in which the political priorities of Presidents Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner created a new culture of memory that encouraged both forms of critical reflection on the past and a decisive historicizing and heightening of the priorities of the present. In examining the legacies that cultures of dictatorship have on the country's material culture and emotional psyche, we hope the chapter will contribute to wider debates about the input of artistic practice to the legitimization of memory enacted through a new culture of mourning within the public sphere.