Dr Antonio Da Silva, Language Coordinator in Portuguese from the Department of Modern Languages, is co-editing with Mariana A C da Cunha from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, a collection provisionally titled ‘Human Rights, Social Movements and Activism in Contemporary Latin American Cinema’.

Can film play an active role in denouncing human rights abuse and exposing the struggle for visibility of different social movements? Each in their own way, Latin American societies have experienced different cycles in implementing and enforcing human rights policies, and more often than not these rights have been strongly violated. Social and activist movements have seen the increasing use of film, video and digital media as a means of campaigning for social justice and protection of vulnerable citizens. Questioning to what extent cinema can impact social transformation can open up new avenues to understanding the subjects of human rights films, be they the oppressed or the violators. This edited volume seeks original contributions that bring to light the themes of human rights, social movements and activism in the Latin American cinema of the new millennium.

Contributions may include the ways in which human rights have been violated by the State, and also how the State has responded to the rise of social movements and activism; the effectiveness of social movements and activism; how transnational issues have had an impact on human rights in the region, such as migration, globalisation, economic shifts; or how cinema’s technology and aesthetics have had an impact on the depiction of these issues (for example the use of mobile phones, especially in the case of documentaries).

Further information, deadlines and details for submissions are available on SECL’s webpages.