A Diasporic Gaze: Latinx and Latinx Canadian Imaginaries on Screen

From October 1 -3, 2025, I participated in the international colloquium A Diasporic Gaze: Latinx and Latinx Canadian Imaginaries on Screen, organized and hosted by Professor Zaira Zarza at the Univeristé de Montréal.

The opening event at Peele Cinema celebrated the work of Chilean-Canadian Marilú Mallet. The screening showcased recently digitized films Mallet produced in the 1970s, including Amuhuelai-mi (1972), a black-and-white short that portrays the migration of Mapuche people from rural communities to Santiago’s urban centre. As Amalia Córdova, a keynote speaker and expert on Indigenous film from Abya Ayala, shared, “this is one of the few non-extractivist images of Mapuche people from the time of the National Popular Government of Allende.” We also watched Lentement (1975), El evangelio de Solentiname (1978), and Journal inachavé (1982) by Mallet, providing a wonderful opportunity to immerse ourselves in her remarkable filmography.

Other highlights of the event included screenings of A dos voces (2022) by director Lina Rodriguez and Coyote (2022) by Katherine Jeckovik, two compelling feature films that explore migration issues and diasporic communities, directed by two of the most significant female Latin American directors based in Canada. It was also a pleasure to meet and learn about Amalia Córdova’s research on Indigenous film and the recent publication of her book Frames of Resistance: The Cinemas of Abya Ayala (Oxford Press, 2025), a must-read for anyone researching film history in the twentieth century.

I presented some of the research-creation projects developed at the critical media art studio, and along with Analays Alvarez Hernandez , Zaira Zarza and Lois Klassen, we discussed the book Diffracting the North: Contemporary Latinx Canadian Experiences and Practices in Film, New Media, and Visual Arts, that will be published by Concordia University Press early next year.