Tracing transnationalism otherwise: The case of Columba Domínguez in Devotion (1950)

This article examines Augusto Genina’s film, Devotion , as an experiment in post-war transnational cinema through its featuring of Mexican actress, Columba Domínguez. When contextualized within the Italian film industry of the early 1950s, which was characterized by an increasing degree of internationalism and a waning enthusiasm for neorealism, Domínguez’s casting emerges as strategic choice due to the wide visibility of Mexican Golden Age cinema and the liminal position Domínguez occupied between the unprofessional actor and the star in the Italian context. Close textual analysis illustrates that the film’s strategy for positioning the actress in Italy involved nesting her within a longstanding discourse about the country’s southern regions and specific stereotypes about Sardinia. Moreover, analysis of archival materials shows that the local entertainment press seconded the film’s non-indexical casting choice by construing Domínguez as an authentic representative of Mexican culture and also as the embodiment of a transposable rustic femininity.