Constellated gatekeepers: Distribution as metaculture and distributors as a ‘real’ audience

Abstract

In their focused engagement with the distribution of Latin American cinema in the United States, Toby Miller and others describe distribution as ‘the forgotten element in transnational cinema’ that receives paltry attention from scholars (2011: 197). For Miller and his co-authors, compared to making films, ‘other parts of the [film] cycle – circulating, promoting and showing movies – lack glamour and artistry’ (2011: 197). As I tell my students when they grouse over examining data on box office and tracking the various platforms and geographies through which a film circulates, distribution at first glance may come across as the anti-sexy of film studies.