Europe as a partner New spaces for audiovisual cooperation between Latin America and the EU

So far, the EU has exclusively set out to define an intrinsically European audiovisual identity counterpoised against US influence. These policies have ignored that the emerging transnational cultural landscapes highlight the need to create new spaces for cooperation and product exchange that extend beyond current national and regional borders. In this respect, opening a new and effective space for audiovisual cooperation between the EU and Latin America would imply the possibility of an enriching dialogue between two culturally different actors which share both historical links and the conception of cinema as a cultural manifestation that must be protected above and beyond its industrial value. The aim of this article is to analyse the current situation and to propose different ways forward, outlining the measures that should be taken in order to lay the foundations for a future of further audiovisual cooperation between the EU and Latin America. The article argues that such cooperation is sorely needed for the future development of both regions.