“Lights, Voices, Action”: Community Cine-Forum, Collective Memory and Public Space Struggles in Esmeraldas Community Cine-Forum, Collective Memory and Public Space Struggles in Esmeraldas

Abstract

This article explores the experience of Ojo al ojo que la vista engaña, a community-based film forum developed in public spaces of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, aimed at re-signifying the urban territory through critical cultural practices. Its central objective was to analyze its socio-cultural and political impact as a tool for visibility and critical reflection on the social, historical, and political realities of Esmeraldas. The study followed a qualitative approach, using a methodology based on participant observation, ethnographic recording, and open dialogue with audiences attending the screenings. An exploratory-interpretative design was employed, incorporating instruments such as field diaries, audiovisual records, and informal interviews. Based on three emblematic cases, the Municipal Market, the 20 de Marzo Central Park, and the El Panecillo neighborhood—the article examines the social, political, and symbolic effects of these audiovisual interventions in each context.
The results show that the film forum functions as a political-pedagogical device that makes structural inequalities visible, enhances collective memory, and generates spaces for popular agency through the use of film as a tool for critical reflection. Spontaneous audience reactions were documented, revealing previously unseen social tensions, such as child labor, urban precarity, and insecurity in coastal territories. Additionally, emerging practices of public space appropriation were identified, in which the collective act of watching and dialoguing becomes a form of cultural resistance and community-based meaning-making. This proposal contributes to debates on the right to the city, territorial justice, and transformative cultural management, offering insights into art as a tool for situated political action.