This summer, Y Tu Mamá También (Mexico 2002) scored the biggest box–office hit in the UK for any Spanish–language film ever. This confirmed an already very visible trend: a Latin American cinema torn from its roots in the new Latin American Cinema.

For more than two decades, the new cinema movement, officially launched in Viña del Mar, Chile, in 1967, staunchly fought off the Hollywood model of production and audience reception. Alternatives were devised to distribution and exhibition, which challenged and altered the dominant patterns of cinematic culture. Their influence is still felt today, not only in film production, but also in the established academies, amongst the critics and in the state–funded agencies for the development of national cinemas.