Mexico
During its early development, Mexico attempted to model its film industry on the studio system of Hollywood.
At its best it produced stellar films like Luis Bunuel’s award winning, Los Olvidados.
But at its worst, it churned out hundreds of low-budget, low-quality, quickies.
Which were known as churros, after the popular pastry, which tastes great but has no nutritional value.
Mexico’s golden age began in the 1940s with the establishment of the Banco Cinematografico, which was a credit-granting agency for producers backed by the central government.
During the 1950s the boom continued for Mexican cinema with theaters filled with popular genres such as the ranch comedy and the dancehall melodrama.
Emilio “El Indio” Fernández
Salón México belongs to a uniquely Mexican genre of crime melodramas set in nightclubs known as cabaretera
But in the mid 1960s the Mexican economy fell on hard times, the Golden Age of cinema was over, and production fell by nearly half and the industry was overrun by churros.
In the late 1960s and 1970s the liberal government of President Luis Echeverria Alvarez, with a desire to upgrade the quality of Mexican cinema, invested in the film industry and encouraged young filmmakers, many among the first to graduate from the Mexican Film School, to make films of social and political criticism.
However, by the dawn of the 1980s, the conservative government of President Jose Lopez Portillo
came to power and believing the government should not be involved in the film business, reversed course.
By the dawn of the 1990s, the annual output of Mexican Cinema was only 8 or 9 films, which came from one of two firms:
In the 1990s, Mexican cinema was heavily influenced by Magical Realism, a literature movement that begins with the assumption that magic can change the fabric of the real world, if it is transmitted through the emotions of people in love.
At the beginning of the 2000s, two films brought Mexican cinema local and international attention.
The second film at the start of the 21st century to bring Mexican cinema local and international attention.
Cuarón, Iñárritu and Del Toro, besides winning the Best Director Oscar in 2013, 2014, 2015,
2017 and 2018, all support the cinema in their homeland by producing films by younger directors and pressuring the government to provide more funding.
Brazil was a Portuguese colony for 300 years, achieving independence on Sept 7, 1822. For more than half of the next 100 years Brazil was ruled by the military.
From 1930-1945 Brazil was governed by the fascist dictator Getuluio Vargas who aligned himself with Mussolini. After the allied victory in WWII, Vargas was thrown out and democracy was ushered in.
But in 1950 Vargas was elected president under a new constitution and ruled the country until he was forced out in 1954.
After Vargas was removed from office in 1954 there was a decade of economic crises and a succession of weak governments unable or unwilling to address them.
It was in this context that cinema novo considered the most important and influential film movement of Brazil, was born.
Cinema Novo sought new approaches to addressing issues of underdevelopment, poverty, and exploitation that had gone unacknowledged in Brazilian films.
"Sad, ugly, screaming, desperate films where reason does not prevail."
Nelson Pereira dos Santos entered the industry as an assistant director on chanchadas (cultural trash) before starting his filmmaking career with a documentary.
His films from the 1950s and 1960s depict the brutal reality of life in the favelados (slums) found in cities such as Rio de Janeiro, and the hardships of retirantes (migrants) fleeing famine in the drought-stricken northeast region of Brazil.
Shot in semi-documentary style, with nonprofessional actors, the film set the standard for independent filmmaking in Brazil.
One of the first films shot in the favelas, and to feature Afro-Brazilian characters in a story that depicted the brutality of life.
Dir Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
As Cinema Novo faded from favor in the 1960s, another uniquely Brazilian trend took root, Tropicalism, which was a comic and sometimes grotesque celebration of indigenous culture.
In the 1970s, while under military rule, Brazilian directors turned out international hits by combining social realism with myth, fantasy, and fairytales as they infused their work with the Latin American literature approach of Magical Realism.
In the 1980s, filmmakers, conscious of the need to sell their films outside of Brazil, began adapting to the international market-place.
But moving into the 1990s the film industry began to fall on hard times.
High inflation, huge national debt and financial scandal in the government, led to a period of austerity in which the government cut funding, which severely damaged film production.
Still, Brazilian Cinema hit a high note in 1998 with the release of Central Station.
Dora is a retired schoolteacher, embittered by misfortune, who writes letters for illiterate people at the Central Station in Rio de Janeiro. She takes the money for writing the letters, but laughs at the people’s miseries, and throws their letters away.
The film’s production values boasts Hollywood touches such as a lush musical score while retaining the color and flavor of Northern Brazil.
In 1999, the Brazilian media conglomerate Globo created Globofilmes, which single-handedly saved the Brazilian film industry. With Globofilmes, financing became easier & production rose to 40 films in 2001. And 2003 became a "legendary year" when 7 films sold over a million tickets each.