«Me llaman el desaparecido, que cuando llega ya se ha ido»

Figurations of the «desaparecido» in the recent Central American documentary audiovisual

Abstract

In this article we focus on the new dimensions of the figure of the disappeared in recent documentaries and docufictional films in Central America, particularly filmmakers from Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. The aim of the research is to extend the ontological and aesthetic category of the “desaparecido original” (Gatti, 2008) that has been worked on in the Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay) in order to rethink it in the current social, political and aesthetic conditions of Mesoamerica. The particular situation of the isthmus presents its own problems that also require its own forms of representation, such as, for example, disappearance in transit, voluntary disappearance or potential disappearance. All of these conflicts are the subject of current Central American cinema.