This article provides an approach to the work of contemporary Latin American diasporic filmmakers working in English Canada and Quebec. Latinx-Canadian filmmakers are first- and second-generation Latin American migrants who produce films while living as permanent or temporary residents in Canada. The unique perspective of their work comes from the liminal space between the different cultures they inhabit and helps define a new and understudied chapter in the history of Canadian national cinema(s). Through the analysis of two semi-autoreferential cinematic journeys as case studies, the Spanish-language films Mis dos voces (My Two Voices) and Roads in February, it argues that Latinx-Canadian filmmakers develop and engage with a diasporic gaze in their work. This gaze corresponds to a particular way of understanding, seeing, and being in the world with an awareness of the struggles linked to migrants’ lived experiences. In exploring violence, grief, and migration, these films contribute an alternative linguistic and ideo-aesthetic approach to reshaping the contested notion of a singular Canadian national cinema.
Zaira Zarza (Thu,) studied this question.