The Calderón productions and their effect in Latin America: a case of transnational exchange

Abstract

Through this article, we will introduce the phenomenon of the transnational relationships between Mexico and several countries of the regional cinematographical market, taking into account the activities of a family of Mexican producers, distribuitors and exhibitors, José U. Calderón and his sons, during the period of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema (1936-1955). The work of this family showed different procedures in which transnationalism has been practiced in Mexican cinema: through the exchange of Latin-american directors, actors and singers for the production of national films, with the distribution of said films and other cinematographic products in the whole region, and with the exhibition of Mexican films in foreign territories. We will understand this phenomenon as a paradigmatic example of the existance of a wide transnational vinculation in the cinema of that period.