Argentine Documentary Film and the Politics of Presence: Jorge Prelorán’s Valle Fértil

• Author: Christopher Moore
• Published date: 01 May 2018
• Date: 01 May 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X18768464
• Subject Matter: Articles

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 220, Vol. 45 No. 3, May 2018, 193–207

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X18768464

© 2018 Latin American Perspectives

193

Argentine Documentary Film and the Politics of Presence

Jorge Prelorán’s Valle Fértil

by

Christopher Moore

Jorge Prelorán’s experiences directing and distributing his 1972 film Valle Fértil force

us to reconsider what we regard as the significance of documentary. Far too often the

historiography of Argentine and Latin American cinema rests either on director biogra-

phies, wherein auteurs’ party allegiances define their work, or on textual analysis of the

final cut, wherein we isolate finished products from the history of their making. The case

of Valle Fértil suggests that the localized, personal interactions inherent to production

and distribution are an equally relevant legacy of the filmmaking experience. Given that

other documentaries at this time were similarly predicated on sustained contact with

select populations, the work of filmmakers ranging from Fernando Birri to Fernando

Solanas might then likewise be analyzed through such a lens. For this reason, Jorge

Prelorán, so often seen as unique or as a counterexample in the history of Argentine film,

becomes instead exemplary.

La experiencia de Jorge Prelorán al dirigir y distribuir su película de 1972 Valle Fértil

nos obliga a reconsiderar eso que entendemos como el significado del documental. Con

demasiada frecuencia, la historiografía del cine argentino y latinoamericano descansa en

las biografías de los directores, donde las lealtades partidarias de los autores definen su

trabajo, o en el análisis textual del corte final, en el que aislamos el producto terminado de

la historia de su creación. El caso de Valle Fértil sugiere que las interacciones locales y

personales inherentes a la producción y distribución son un legado tan relevante como la

experiencia cinematográfica. Dado que otros documentales del momento se basaban,

similarmente, en un contacto sostenido con poblaciones particulares, el trabajo de cineas-

tas que abarcan desde Fernando Birri a Fernando Solanas también podría ser analizado a

través de dicho lente. Por esta razón, Jorge Prelorán, a menudo visto como un caso único

o un contraejemplo en la historia del cine argentino, se convierte en un caso ejemplar.

Keywords: Jorge Prelorán, Argentine cinema, Film history, Ethnographic film, Political

documentary

National identity begins at home.

—Fernando Birri

On a research trip to Córdoba, it was suggested to me that the localized,

personal interactions inherent to production and distribution are the truest,

Christopher Moore received his Ph.D. in history from Indiana University. He is also a filmmaker

and has directed and edited four feature-length documentaries. He is a research associate at the

Smithsonian Institution’s National Anthropological Film Archives and teaches film and film-

making at the University of Minnesota.

768466LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X18768466Latin American PerspectivesMoore / Argentine Documentary And The Politics Of Presence

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