Diálogos entre autorrepresentación y autonomía creativa en dos experiencias audiovisuales latinoamericanas: Video de las Aldeas y La Villa del Cine

This text sets up a dialogue between two Latin American experiences where audiovisual production is a tool for cultural agency, in challenging political and social contexts: Video de las Aldeas (VNA), a project from Brazil and a world reference on indigenous media, created from the articulation between academia, indigenous communities and artists; and La Villa del Cine, a government program that contributed to the strengthening of the Venezuelan film industry, through the investment of resources and infrastructure, for the visibility of emerging audiovisual stories and artists, within the framework of a political ideology of national unity. From the analysis of transfer and appropriation of audiovisual media, the text explores how each project integrates different aspects of the audiovisual work, from its creation to the circulation of audiovisual productions. In the Brazilian case, new representations of indigeneity have been achieved through audiovisuals, while the process has been enhanced thanks to the articulation with various international networks, seeking an intimate look at the daily life and cultural practices of indigenous peoples. In the Venezuelan case, many filmmakers in training benefited and the voices and themes in Venezuelan cinema diversified, although the lightness in cultural management and external circulation, added to an agitated political context, leaves us with important lessons in the region in terms of sustainability and creativity of audiovisual projects.