Q&A sessions have become a defining feature of film festivals and theatrical release campaigns, making audience engagement events increasingly important sites for observing how cinematic meaning is negotiated. Drawing on reception theory, psychoanalysis, and theories of cinematic affect, this research examines the affective dynamics and institutional structures of Q&As. Through an analysis of how South American filmmakers engage differently in these triangular encounters between films, filmmakers, and audiences, this dissertation develops the concept of disempowered cinema.

Building on Lux Alptraum's (2022) notion of disempowerment feminism—understood as a deliberate divestment from the pursuit of power within systems whose legitimacy is itself rejected—disempowered cinema is proposed as a decolonial South American strategy. Rather than seeking greater inclusion into transnational circuits of film reception on its existing terms, these filmmakers renegotiate the conditions of participation, exposing the persistent gap between institutional inclusion and genuine equity.

Three case studies focus on Lucrecia Martel, Gabriel Mascaro, and Lucio Castro, arguing that each adopts strategic forms of disidentification that calls into question the global center’s incuriosity into the periphery. Their aesthetically ambitious films reject demonstrative realism and show some irreverence toward narrative conventions without abandoning accessibility. This analysis leads to framing extravagant gestures, and utopian propositions, as a form of resistance against the demands for cultural legibility and elusive notions of authenticity.

By reconceptualizing Q&A sessions as performative sites where filmmakers negotiate power, identity, and reception, this study contributes to film festival studies and reception studies while advancing a decolonial framework for understanding contemporary South American cinema.

Karen Sztajnberg is a Brazilian filmmaker, video artist, and researcher whose practice spans filmmaking and film theory. After beginning her career as a film editor, she transitioned into screenwriting while maintaining an active engagement with academic research. Her films have screened internationally, and her experience navigating the global festival circuit inspired her doctoral research on film reception, decolonial cinema, and audience engagement. Her work intersects spectatorship, cinematic affect, and South American film cultures.