Por un cine cachinero: Reappropriation as a Survival Strategy in Contemporary Experimental Cinema from Guayaquil

The video essay Por un cine cachinero, based on the manifesto of the same title published in the book Guayaquil en ruinas (“Guayaquil in Ruins,” Guayaquil Analgico, 2023), brings together films made in Guayaquil on analog film or made by reappropriating archives. The aim is to recontextualize these works within the local framework of “cachinera,” the name of popular second-hand markets. What would a film theory inspired by the cachinera look like? This video essay considers reappropriation in experimental cinema in Guayaquil as a practice that resignifies international found footage tendencies or fashions as well as local DIY traditions of reemployment and recycling. In a crisis of rising living costs, cachinera becomes a survival strategy for experimental filmmakers.