Faculty Directors Jay Beck and Cecilia Cornejo, who will lead Cinema and Storytelling in Chile & Argentina, share some of the distinct learning experiences and understandings of the filmmaking process that characterize this Winter Break 2025 program.
What inspired you to plan Cinema and Storytelling in Chile & Argentina, Winter Break 2025? What did you hope to accomplish?
Cecilia: “What partly inspired us was that we both had an interest in the region, and I had already done work there. I had been to Cuba, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina curating film series for an arts cinema house in Chicago, so I already had a lot of contacts there. So, this program was a way of bringing these interests into something that would be useful to Carleton as well. Also, the region—Chile and Argentina specifically—was undergoing this resurgence in terms of film, and it was really exciting.”
Jay: “I had been working on Spanish cinema from Spain, and Cecilia had told me that if I was really interested in Spanish language cinema, I needed to look at what’s happening in Chile. This was around 2006–2007 when there was this ground swell of new creativity and a new generation of filmmakers was starting. When you look at cinematic movements, there are new waves that have happened in different countries and different time periods, and even though Argentina had a wave in the late 1990s, I didn’t know anything about the Chilean wave. So, discovering and realizing that there was a very exciting and dynamic cinema that was emerging from Chile led us to start exploring by watching more films and meeting people. Then, we came up with the idea of the off-campus study in 2012 or 2013.
Cecilia: “We offered it for the first time in 2014, and then again in 2016.”
Jay: “It was really the right time and place to do this because that was when the new generation of filmmakers, including Sebastián Lelio from Chile and Santiago Mitre from Argentina, were starting to achieve international success. And we were lucky enough to meet them early on, and then cultivate those connections so that we’re able to put students in touch with established filmmakers as well as a new generation of filmmakers who are emerging now. What we hope to accomplish is to provide students with, not only a global perspective on cinematic history and production, but also the idea of different models of filmmaking and storytelling. Specifically, I think that we are so used to American cinema that we forget there are different ways to tell stories and to connect to questions of history, identity, and place. The working methods with American cinema are almost entirely based around commercial cinema and large-budget productions driven by profits, as opposed to the many filmmakers in Chile and Argentina who are making films sometimes within the system and working with corporate structures, but also outside of that where they are working and finding funding independently and controlling all the means of production, distribution, and exhibition. It’s completely unique.”
Cecilia: “And unique in the sense that these filmmakers, who are financing their own films, creating their own production companies in order to create a sustainable way of producing films, are not marginal. These films get shown at prestigious international film festivals, like Rotterdam, San Sebastián, Cannes. It’s interesting because it’s not independent filmmaking that you never see; these are people who are making films in a very particular way, outside of mainstream cinema, but are being shown at these venues. For us, that’s very exciting, and we want students to understand that there are many, many ways in which films can be made.”
Jay: “And in particular, there’s this idea of the collective, a cinematic collective where you have multiple filmmakers, each with their own talents, working together to bring forward everyone’s distinct vision. It might be that one person is selected to make the film that others support, but then it’s the next person’s turn and so on. So, it allows everyone to make the films that they’re interested in producing.”
What makes this program different from other study abroad programs?
Jay: “We’re interested in looking at this region in the global south that has, I think, developed into an intriguing area of study.”
Cecilia: “I’m not going to claim that this is the most unique program, but what I value about it is the structure—the fall term course, the December break study trip, and then a winter term course after we return. This arrangement really allows for an in-depth study, and that’s rare at Carleton. At Carleton, usually things go really, really fast. So, the possibility of dwelling on one particular topic is already a unique opportunity. Also, these are cinemas that are really absent from the curriculum. Before we developed this program, there wasn’t such a thing. When we think about DEI and the college’s aim to be more inclusive, I think that we’re very proud of the fact that this program includes industries like these that are not often studied. Also, because of the people that we’ve connected with there, students get a chance to see cinema as a way of understanding the world and as a way of changing the world. And how cinema can have an actual effect on reality.”
Jay: “The other thing we need to emphasize is that, although this is a CAMS program, we’re not just looking for CAMS students. We’re actually looking for as diverse a group of students as possible in order to bring a range of perspectives and viewpoints. And it’s a lot of fun! We love doing it, and I’m always amazed at the creativity and originality of the work that students develop in relation to the two-course sequence and the study trip. And although this is about film, we want to emphasize that it’s also about storytelling. In prior iterations, students have developed projects that have been research papers, film scripts, translations, performances.”
Cecilia: “They have curated their own film series. They have located, translated, and subtitled short films that before did not have subtitles.”
Jay: “Photography exhibitions, audio exhibitions, books…So, even though film is the central focus, it doesn’t mean that that’s where we ultimately expect students to express themselves.”
Cecilia: “On that note, I would say that we’re looking for students who are good collaborators, who are resourceful and flexible, and who have a certain level of stamina.”
Jay: “It is an intense two weeks, but it’s also an incredibly rewarding two weeks.”
Cecilia: “Please apply!”
What does a typical day look like on your program?
Jay: “Because we do it as a two-week December break trip, we spend one week in Buenos Aires and one week in Santiago as our bases. Those two weeks are relatively packed, especially during the weekdays when we tend to have one meeting in the morning and one in the afternoon with either filmmakers, writers, actors, producers, or scholars to fill in the knowledge base that we’ve accumulated during the Fall term. It’s an opportunity for the students to interact with them, ask questions about their work, but also to benefit from a variety of different perspectives on the issues surrounding cinema and storytelling. We do leave time for students to work on their own projects and generally explore on the weekends and in the evenings, though we do try to have collective evening events in each city during the week that we’re there.”
Cecilia: “But in a nutshell, the days are packed, and it’s intense. We don’t want to mislead students into thinking that this is where you get to relax; this is very packed, and we have actually been working on making it less packed.”
Jay: “We also make sure to explore historical sites of interest, museums, galleries, art openings, and performances whenever possible to round-out the experience. We do expect students to be present for all those events, but we make time for students to have appropriate amounts of downtime to explore both cities.”
Cecilia: “When we meet with people—generally speaking, though not always—we meet with the director of one of the films that students watched in-class, or a scholar that wrote about that film, or an actor that participated in the film, or all of the above. So, it’s a really great opportunity for students to look at a film from a number of different perspectives.”
What does the housing situation look like, and what are the benefits of this living arrangement to students?
Jay: “The honest answer is that we don’t know right now, but in the past, we’ve stayed in student residences where students have individual rooms, usually doubles, with a dining hall and internal facilities that we use to meet with filmmakers when we didn’t have an external space. We’ve also stayed in ‘hostels,’ but they’re much nicer than what you might think of as a travel hostel.”
Cecilia: “Because we spend one week in Buenos Aires and the other in Santiago, the program doesn’t lend itself to home stays. It’s more efficient for us to be all together and move from one place to another. Also, when we’ve stayed in student residencies, what has been neat is that students have connected with students from other places.”
Jay: “Yes, it’s not like in the U.S. where every institution has its own dormitory. These residencies are independent from the universities.”
What are you most looking forward to?
Cecilia: “I know it seems trivial, but trading winter for summer. As someone who doesn’t appreciate the length of winters here, it is pretty nice. But there are many other things.”
Jay: “I’m looking forward to reconnecting with filmmakers that we’ve met in the past and developing new connections with filmmakers who are just starting now. It’s absolutely delightful. Just to tell a short story: when Cecilia was programming this film festival in Chicago, she had the opportunity to bring a young filmmaker named Santiago Mitre. He had just completed his first feature; I think he was one of four directors on the feature, and they each had a section of it. But she connected with him, and he came to Chicago, which was kind of his first exposure outside of Argentina. He subsequently went on to make another film on his own that we were able to watch and connect with him on our first trip [in 2014]. This was 7 or 8 years after Chicago. And seeing him go from a young filmmaker to completing his first independent feature was spectacular. Between then and now, he’s completed five films, the most recent of which was nominated for an Academy Award. The idea that he’s gone from a young filmmaker to a globally known, internationally respected director is part of the reason why we’re doing the program. We want to be able to have long-term connections with these filmmakers and to have students meet with artists who are at the height, in the middle, or at the start of their careers.”
Cecilia: “And also that students can see where these filmmakers started and think, ‘Why not me?’ For me, offering students the opportunity to see people who are very much like them and are making amazing work is very important.”
Jay: “The first time we did this program, we met with filmmakers Anibal Jofré and Diego Ayala, who had just graduated and finished their first feature Volantín cortao. We were able to meet with them as young filmmakers and we look forward to going back and seeing them now.”
Cecilia: “They kind of went their separate ways, but now they’re coming back together with their next feature, Los Afectos.”
Jay: “It’s a chance for students to see what their careers could look like after graduation.”
Cecilia: “And how these relationships often start in school! You can be an undergrad, even a first-year, and if you have it in you to take your work seriously, you can start planning these things out. And what we’re offering with this program is alternatives to what students think filmmaking is, how it works, and how it’s made.”
What advice would you give to students to encourage them to study abroad during their Carleton career? What benefits do you see to the experience in general?
Cecilia: “I think traveling and seeing the world is one of the best things that people can do. If they hope to, not just understand, but care about the world, they can see how we really are connected. I was just talking with some students and saying that if I was a Carleton student, I would probably spend at least half a year doing a study abroad program. It’s the kind of experience where you’re taking a very calculated risk. It’s stretching, it’s challenging, but you’re doing it in a setting where the people who are organizing the experience really care about your wellbeing. I was an exchange student when I was in high school, and that really opened up my mind. That’s something I would wish for any young person.”
Jay: “And I was the opposite. My parents were involved in Rotary exchanges, and they were selecting folks from the local community to go on these one-year exchange programs. They were firm believers in the importance of understanding other cultures, other peoples, other ways of living, but because I was their son, I was not eligible. And it’s been one of my big regrets, so I’m delighted that we can offer that opportunity to students. It’s remarkable that Carleton has so many different opportunities for study abroad, and especially ones that can connect back to the curriculum and specific departments.”
Cecilia Cornejo is a Lecturer in Cinema and Media Studies. She has been at Carleton since 2013. Jay Beck is an Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies. He has been at Carleton since 2010.
