From a National, Realist and Critical Cinema Towards a Third Cinema: It was in the air.

Abstract

This paper explores the formation of Third Cinema within the framework of Marxist theory, tracing its ideological and aesthetic lineage from post-war Italian Neorealism through the emergence of New Latin American Cinema. Beginning with key samples such as Ladri di Biciclette (1948), El mégano (1954), and Tire dié (1958), the study examines the contributions of foundational figures including Fernando Birri, Julio García Espinosa, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and Ruy Guerra. Particular attention is given to La hora de los hornos (1968) and the seminal manifesto Towards a Third Cinema (1969), contextualized through earlier critical texts such as Cinema and Underdevelopment (1962) and The Aesthetics of Hunger (1965). Anchored in the socio-political conditions of 1960s Argentina, the study argues that Solanas and Getino synthesized pre-existing cinematic theories and practices into a coherent structure with their formulation of Third Cinema, while highlighting their unique ideas.