Ante la aparición de Tierra del chicle, Carlos Velo, México, 1952

A producer, Barbachano Ponce; an ideologue and cultural
animator, Fernando Gamboa; an exiled republican
cineaste, Carlos Velo, are part of a generation which
transformed the way of thinking about documentaries
while at the same time applying it to the making of certain works which comprise the body of film work of the
New Aztec Cinema (NCA). By means of a small film
which has recently been recovered, La Tierra del Chicle,
we can follow the auteur’s stamp, its importance in the
configuration of the aforementioned NCA and examine
realism as a reference for the documentaries in which
Velo left his mark. The decade of the 50s, the cinematographic culture of this era, including the conditions of production, and an attitude which exhibits his belief in the works he wanted to make, provides us with numerous clues to construct a space for dialogue in the contemporary debate around the documentary.