n long buried alive by the dominant imperial values governing the past. What are those dominant values? As Clyde Taylor points out, "The primary determinants of the Western aesthetic project are questions of beauty, transcendence, order, perception/reception, the creative principle, principles of criticism, values, authorship (genius), taste, and historical definitions." (Taylor, Third Cinema, Black Cinema in the Post-Aesthetic Era 98). Third Cinema, instead, concerns itself with the various stages of asserting national identity and celebrating individuality.
Third Cinema tends to be either identified with stylistic features and narrative conventions - or barely disguised sociological analysis where actual events or conditions are read off the surface of the text (Chakravarty 6). In most cases, the early histories of these emerging nations saw savage wars for independence. Thus, directors of the initial films concern themselves with depicting that struggle. Third Cinema reflects a cultural ethos whereby decolonization may be apprehended simultaneously as both a peculiarly local and global experience.
The history of film culture intersects with discourses of nationalism in highly volatile ways. This is particularly true of Third Cinema movements, which emerged under the regime of imperialism, or have been held in conditions of economic and cultural dependency. During the postmodern period era commencing in the sixties and seventies, alternative film practices were theorized by Latin American and African filmmakers who sought to explore the ideological context of their own work and its reception within their own countries (Willemen 4).
Yet certain economic realities must be addressed. Because film production requires enormous capital investment attracts vast audiences, Western, Hollywood-style film has long been the 800 pound gorilla with which the East has been forced to contend. The grim reality is that those who...