Intercultural Transfers in Cinema Dynamics: A Global and Digital Approach to Early Writings on Cinema through the Uruguayan Periodicals Archive

Based on a large-scale and cross-border approach, the inquiry analyses film writing in Uruguayan periodicals from the first half of the twentieth century. Firstly, we use computational techniques to detect cinema content references in journals accessible within the Uruguayan digital archives. As a result, we observe the longue durée presence of film content in the periodical and non-daily press, offering a brief review of relevant magazines and figures regarding the media-press field structure. Next, the research follows the entangled transatlantic relations of film criticism by tracing the potential connections, physical and intertextual, of cinema critics in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Paris through a specific focus on José María Podestá’s film ideas during the interwar period. The analysis allows us to cast light on the intellectual history and the international relations that the writers weaved by exploring their role in social practices around film culture.