FILM REVIEWS
Film Selection
Films and videos suitable for review in LAP are those that contribute to ongoing discussions and debates about transformations of Latin American socio-economic, political and cultural realities. Films may be any genre – documentary, drama or comedy feature, experimental, etc. – and a review may discuss a single or several related films, for example on a common theme such as immigration or the environment or sharing an approach such as biography or use of archival material.
The objective of the journal is to encourage class analysis of socio-cultural realities and political strategies to transform Latin American sociopolitical structures (See LAP Mission Statement here.) We believe film and video contribute to ongoing discussions and debates about such transformations. Top priority will be given to films that address significant issues that have received inadequate discussion or visual representation in the media or that are in sharp dispute. We encourage reviews of the work of established as well as upcoming Latin American filmmakers and/or independent filmmakers whose work is focused on Latin America. We prioritize films with social and artistic merit that have not received U.S. commercial theatrical distribution and are less likely to be known to U.S. audiences. Whenever possible we will attempt to match film reviews to LAP thematic issue topics.
All film reviews should be original work, which has not been published in English and is not under consideration for publication in the same or similar form in another publication. As a rule, we limit reviews to work released in the last three years. However, we might also publish dossiers on particular filmmakers, film movements, and film collectives, from time to time, in which case earlier films may be reviewed.
Review Content and Format
Reviews should address both film form and content but should be written to be comprehensible to a wide audience. Reviews should run approximately 1,000 words for a single film or 2000 words for reviews of two or three films using paginated double-spaced 12-point text with 1 inch margins, including notes and references. Please follow the LAP style guidelines available here in English and here in Spanish.
Manuscripts may be submitted in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. If you do not write in English with near native fluency, please submit in your first language. LAP will translate manuscripts accepted in another language.
We encourage illustrating reviews with a maximum of four stills submitted as separate attachments. See the Artwork Submission Guidelines (click here) for technical standards. Reviewers are responsible for securing the rights to film stills from directors or production companies. LAP film review editors will work with authors to select appropriate images for the reviews.
Submitting Film Review Proposals and Manuscripts
Before submitting a full review, please send a short proposal to the LAP film review editors: Kristi M. Wilson (kwilson@soka.edu) and Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli (tcrowdertaraborrelli@soka.edu) with a copy to the LAP office: lap@ucr.edu. Please feel free to contact them with questions pertaining to a proposed review.
Submit completed manuscripts directly to the LAP office as a Word document by e-mail to: lap@ucr.edu with the subject line – “Author’s name – film review [film title]”.
Submission of a manuscript implies commitment to publish in the journal, if accepted by LAP.
Film-Related Book Reviews
We will also consider review essays of books on film or video. Follow the guidelines for book reviews (click here.)
