Several works cover the development of cinema in Latin America from its inception: see Guy Hennebelle and Alfonso Gumucio Dagrón (eds.), Les Cinémas de I’Amérique Latine (Paris, 1981); John King, Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America (London, 1990); Jorge A. Schnitman, Film Industries in Latin America: Dependency and Development (Norwood, N.J., 1984); Peter B. Schumann, Historia del cine latinoamericano (Buenos Aires, 1986); José Agustín Mahieu, Panorama del cine Iberoamericano (Madrid, 1990); Paulo Paranagua, Cinema na América Latina: Longe de Deus e perto de Hollywood (Porto Alegre, 1984); and John King, Ana López, and Manuel Alvarado (eds.), Mediating Two Worlds: Cinematic Encounters in the Americas (London, 1993). See also Ana López, ‘Towards a “Third” and “Imperfect” Cinema: A theoretical and historical study of film-making in Latin America’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1986).

Two books focus on early cinema: XI Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, Cine latinoamericano: años 30–40–50 (Mexico, D.F., 1990) and Silvia Oroz, Melodrama: O cinema de lágrimas da América Latina (Rio de Janeiro, 1992). In the main, however, general works have focused in particular on the ‘new’ cinema movements of the last thirty years. See, in particular, Julianne Burton (ed.), Cinema and Social Change in Latin America: Conversations with Filmmakers (Austin, Tex., 1986). See also Burton (ed.), The Social Documentary in Latin America (Pittsburgh, Pa., 1990) and The New Latin American Cinema: An Annotated Bibliography, 1960–1980 (New York, 1983). Other books/catalogues concentrating on the modern period include: Pat Aufderheide (ed.), Latin American Visions: Catalogue, (Philadelphia, Pa., 1989).