Fear and loathing: Trump film threat shocks Latin America
Until this last lazy Sunday evening, Latin American cinema had been riding high.
"I'm Still Here" won Brazil its first Oscar in March, a drumbeat of hits topped streaming charts and more and more movies were being made in the region.
Netflix recently announced it would invest $1 billion to produce series and movies in Mexico over the next four years.
Then the US president -- or perhaps an aide on his behalf -- picked up a device and began to type.
"WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!" a Truth Social post screamed.
"I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands," he posted.
Like many of the 47th president's missives, it caused immediate shockwaves.
Film-makers from Canada to Hollywood to Australia gasped, wondering if the final curtain was falling.
But in Latin America, there was also confusion -- a sense that something may have been lost in translation.
Award-winning Argentine producer Axel Kuschevatzky -- whose projects include Oscar-winning "The Secret in Their Eyes" -- said the first task was to "understand if the measures are going ahead" and "what their scope would be."
"Tariffs apply only to goods and not services," he told AFP. "In reality, audiovisual production is a service."
Marianna Souza, president of the Brazilian Association of Audiovisual Production, said it was also unclear if streaming platforms and cross-border productions would be included.
'Made in America'
The nightmare scenario is a blanket toll on foreign-made production.
In Colombia, Gustavo Suarez, a cinema professor at Valle University, estimates that 60 to 70 percent of local production is linked to international projects.
Recently they have included "Narcos" and "100 Years of Solitude."
"Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and all these platforms are making more and more movies and series in Colombia because it's cheaper than making them in the United States," he told AFP.
"There will be an impact," he said.
But filmmakers also point out that -- much like the car market and its global supply chains -- it does not always make sense to talk about films or series being from one country.
"Production is dynamic. You could have capital from four countries and film in four different countries," said Kuschevatzky.
Defining 'Made in America' is difficult.
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AFP
an hour ago
- AFP
Old robbery footage misrepresented amid LA anti-deportation protests
"Horrifying. LA shop owner attacked and tased by lawless rioters who destroy his store during LA's anti-American sovereignty riots," says a June 8, 2025 post on X. Image Screenshot from X taken June 10, 2025 The post comes from Brandon Straka, one of more than 1,500 people who was convicted in relation to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and later pardoned by President Donald Trump. Similar posts spread across X amid s of protests that Los Angeles officials said were initially peaceful but punctuated by scattered violence, with demonstrators torching cars and security forces firing tear gas. The tensions in Los Angeles, home to a large Latino population, were triggered by raids and dozens of arrests of what authorities say are migrants and gang members. They continued to escalate over several days, with Trump clashing with California leaders as he went over their heads to deploy the state's National Guard and active-duty US Marines to the city. The upheaval has seen some stores ransacked, according to local media reports and the Los Angeles Police Department, which urged downtown businesses and residents in a June 9 post on X to report any vandalism, damage or looting they observed (archived here and here). But the video shared by Straka and others online is several months old and unrelated to the anti-deportation protests. A surfaced the same video in local news articles and posts dated to October 2024 (archived here, here and here). Those reports, and others covering the incident, described a street takeover during the early morning hours of October 6 in which a mob of people violently pushed their way inside a 7-Eleven in Anaheim and pillaged it, assaulting the clerk who tried to keep them out in the process (archived here). Image Screenshot from taken June 10, 2025 The video was credited to an Instagram user, "@carlos_kickback_3" (archived here). AFP reached out to the account for a comment, but no response was forthcoming. According to reports, the incident took place at a 7-Eleven on Knott Avenue in Anaheim (archived here). Geolocation of the footage confirms the location (archived here). Image Screenshot from X taken June 10, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshot from Google Maps taken June 10, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP The location is several miles away from the complex of federal and municipal buildings near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where the protests have centered -- and also from other protest sites in Paramount and Compton. AFP has debunked other misinformation about the tumult in Los Angeles here.
AFP
an hour ago
- AFP
Video of football fans misleadingly linked to Los Angeles demonstrations
"This is definitely an insurrection and threats against democracy," says a June 7, 2025 post on X with thousands of interactions. The post shares a video showing a packed crowd of people, dressed mainly in black, marching and chanting slogans including: "We are Los Angeles." Some are carrying black flags and scarves emblazoned with golden writing. Text overlaid on the video dates the clip to June 7 and asks: "Should we view this as AN INSURRECTION Firing up?" Image Screenshot from X taken June 10, 2025 Additional posts linking the clip to the demonstrations against Trump's immigration policies also circulated on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Threads. The video spread as Trump ordered the deployment of 700 Marines to Los Angeles to quell what he called "professional agitators and insurrectionists," despite the objections of state and local officials. Thousands of members of the National Guard -- a reserve military force usually controlled by the governor of a state -- have also been mobilized to the city. The protests began June 6 after residents attempted to confront federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who were conducting workplace raids in the city as part of the Trump administration's efforts to deport undocumented migrants. The clip shared in the post, however, is unrelated to the demonstrations. Keyword searches for the words "Empire Boys" -- a phrase seen written on some scarves and flags in the video -- led to Instagram and Facebook pages for an LAFC supporter club by the same name. Image Screenshot from a video posted by the LAFC supporter club "Empire Boys," with elements outlined by AFP The "Empire Boys" Instagram page posted a video of the same scene from a different angle May 18, nearly three weeks before the protests (archived here). Further research uncovered an exact match to the video circulating online that LAFC's official X account posted May 18 as fans gathered ahead of a game against crosstown rivals Los Angeles Galaxy (archived here). The teams played to a 2-2 tie. The game took place at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the demonstrations in Los Angeles here.
LeMonde
3 hours ago
- LeMonde
Colombia hit with wave of bombings and gun attacks, leaving at least 4 dead
Colombia was rocked by a string of 19 coordinated bomb and gun attacks that killed at least four people across the country's southwest on Tuesday, June 10, deepening a security crisis roiling the Andean nation. Police said attackers struck targets in Cali – the country's third largest city – and several nearby towns, hitting police posts, municipal buildings and civilian targets. National Police chief Carlos Fernando Triana said assailants had attacked targets with car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone. "There are two police officers dead, and a number of members of the public are also dead." Police later said at least two civilians were among those killed, and 12 others were injured. In Cali and the towns of Villa Rica, Guachinte and Corinto, AFP journalists witnessed the tangled wreckage of vehicles surrounded by scorched debris. The assaults came days after the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in Bogota, a brazen attack that has put the country on edge. Many Colombians are fearful of a return to the violence of the 1980s and 1990s, when cartel attacks, guerrilla violence and political assassinations were commonplace. 'Well-coordinated offensive' In the town of Corinto, resident Luz Amparo was at home when the blast gutted her bakery. "We thought it was an earthquake," she told AFP. "My husband said 'no, they are shooting.'" Her phone began to ring off the hook, and she went to her check on her store. As she rounded the corner the neighbors began to look in her direction. "Everything was levelled." Police and experts blamed Tuesday's attacks on a dissident faction of the once-powerful FARC guerrilla group. Security expert Elizabeth Dickinson of the International Crisis Group said the attacks were likely the work of a group known as the Central General Staff (EMC). "This is a particularly well-coordinated offensive. It really demonstrates the capacity that the group has built" she told AFP. "And I think very alarmingly it demonstrates their ability to conduct operations in the metropolitan area of Cali." Help us improve Le Monde in English Dear reader, We'd love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you. Dickinson said the group may be trying to stop an ongoing military operation that is reported to have injured or killed the group's veteran leader, known as "Ivan Mordisco." "They are trying to raise the cost of that military initiative for the government." In a statement on Tuesday, the EMC warned the public to stay away from military and police installations, but stopped short of claiming responsibility. The attacks come three days after conservative senator Miguel Uribe, 39, was shot twice in the head at close range by an alleged hitman while campaigning in Bogota. That attack has stunned Colombians, prompted speculation about who was responsible and raised questions about President Gustavo Petro's response. Petro has taken to social media to speculate that the hit was ordered by an international "mafia" and to claim that Uribe's security detail was suspiciously reduced the day he was shot. On Tuesday, a 15-year-old pled "not guilty" to carrying out the attempted assassination. The government believes he was a hired gun.
