Former MA student in the Program in Film and Media Studies will study politics in Latin American cinema and literature.
It is with great excitement that we announce that Cristián Mora, who completed his Master's degree in Film and Media Studies in 2018, has been admitted to the doctoral program in UCLA's Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
During his time at Washington University in St. Louis, he was able to study the films and politics of such Latin American filmmakers as Raúl Ruiz, Pablo Larraín and José Padilha. As a PhD student at UCLA, his plan is to expand upon this research, focusing on "the representation of political issues in the movies of these directors and others," as he indicated in an email to the program.
He hopes to raise a number of salient questions in his doctoral work: "Is there a Latin American film movement focused on social issues today? If so, through what aesthetic techniques and themes is it expressed?"
Mora would also like to explore alternative forms of political writing in Latin America, especially through the concept of diagnostic writing. "Contemporary Latin American writers such as Nona Fernández, Alejandro Zambra, Laura Alcoba, and Carola Saavedra often diagnose the state of the postdictatorship societies to which they belong." What remains to be studied closely, Mora feels, is how these authors "represent this diagnosis in their narratives."
A hearty congratulations to Cristián, and we wish him the best in his PhD research!
