A poster of the documentary “The Story of Synergy” Photo: CIPC

The documentary “Latin Youth in Rural China” Photo: CGTN

Audiovisual media has emerged as a new channel for fostering mutual understanding between China and Latin America and strengthening public support for closer relations. The Fifth China–Brazil Film Exhibition, recently held in Rio de Janeiro as part of the 2026 China–Brazil Cultural Year, brought seven Chinese films to Brazil for the first time. Through film forums, educational screenings, and public screenings in local communities, the event brought China–Latin America cultural exchange into the everyday lives of local audiences.

In interviews with CSST, two experts discussed how audiovisual media is changing perceptions on both sides: Nicolás Schonfeld, executive director of Red Televisión América Latina (Red TAL), a Latin American network of public educational and cultural television broadcasters, and Guo Cunhai, director of the Department of Social and Cultural Studies and the Center for Argentine Studies at the Institute of Latin American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (ILAS-CASS). They see it as a means of building emotional ties between their peoples and deepening mutual learning among civilizations. It also creates room for a cultural relationship grounded in equality, diversity, and empathy, giving China–Latin America relations greater depth and substance.

“We hope to forge a more authentic connection between the peoples of China and Latin America through varied forms of audiovisual cooperation,” Schonfeld said. “We should tell our own stories of China–Latin America cooperation and South–South cooperation.”

New narrative for people-to-people exchange

Guo traced the longstanding weaknesses in China–Latin America cultural exchange—one-sided perceptions, limited communication channels, and weak mechanisms for interaction—to three historical factors. First, geographical distance and infrequent contact left little scope for everyday interaction between ordinary people. Second, each side’s understanding of the other was largely mediated by Western media, resulting in stereotypical and even distorted perceptions of the other’s culture and society. Third, cultural exchange was predominantly government-led, with insufficient two-way engagement, limited popular appeal, and too little variety in its forms.

The rapid growth of documentaries, films, short videos, and similar formats in recent years has opened new avenues for China–Latin America cultural exchange. Visually engaging and emotionally compelling, this content reaches audiences through online platforms, overcoming communication barriers and allowing ordinary people to engage with and understand each other’s societies as they really are.

For Schonfeld, audiovisual media is a powerful tool for cross-cultural communication, yet it has long been used to reinforce a worldview shaped by Western dominance over global narratives. His own childhood impressions of China came from European and American films.

Founded in 2003, the Latin American public television network Red TAL seeks to challenge that dominance. The network spans 20 Latin American countries, brings together 148 public media organizations, and reaches an audience of over 540 million. It seeks to dismantle and overturn the North American-dominated system of narratives, promote cultural exchange within the region, dispel prejudices, and gradually strengthen Latin America’s ability to tell its own stories.

“Audiovisual exchange is not a one-way transmission but the starting point for mutual understanding,” Schonfeld emphasized. “Latin Americans value the warmth with which China treats them as equals and pursues common development with them. Through Red TAL, Chinese audiovisual content is distributed across 20 countries, while our joint co-production platforms with Chinese partners continue to highlight the tangible benefits and promising vision of a China–Latin America community with a shared future.”

Toward a community of emotional resonance

Documentaries and other audiovisual works exploring China’s exchanges with Latin American countries have proliferated in recent years, drawing enthusiastic responses in both regions. Guo served as chief planner and chief consultant for the documentary “Latin Youth in Rural China,” produced by the Spanish-language channel of China Global Television Network (CGTN) under China Media Group, and took part in its filming. He explained that the documentary deepened young Latin Americans’ understanding of rural China and gave audiences across the region a vivid picture of rural revitalization in progress. Chinese viewers, in turn, gained a more direct appreciation of Latin America’s rich diversity and vitality.

Schonfeld believes that documentaries are uniquely effective at bringing people closer because audiovisual storytelling draws on emotion, leaving lasting impressions when it resonates with viewers. “This is the possibility, the charm, and the wonder of audiovisual language: it can stir viewers’ emotions and, through those emotions, affirm ideas,” he said.

Schonfeld recalled a particularly fruitful collaboration between Red TAL and the Center for International Communication Development under China International Communications Group (CICG). In just three months, the three-episode documentary “The Story of Synergy” (Latin America edition) was broadcast over 100 times in 11 Latin American countries, including Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, with several media organizations requesting reruns. He was deeply gratified by the documentary’s reception and its lasting positive impact on Latin American society, describing the collaboration as both highly productive and a dialogue among civilizations full of hope and vitality.

“By starting with emotion, we can bring the hearts of the Chinese and Latin American peoples closer,” Schonfeld said. “We already have a rational perspective, but we urgently need to restore the emotional element that has long been undermined by the North American audiovisual industry. As I mentioned, Latin America’s perception of the world has been deeply influenced by the West, especially Europe and North America. Yet these traditional cognitive paradigms are collapsing one after another, and Latin American society is opening up to new perspectives. Chinese faces imbued with human warmth, the majestic mountains and rivers, and the vivid stories in documentaries are deeply captivating Latin American audiences. I firmly believe that these emotional elements, whether in fictional narratives or non-fiction documentaries, have become a force for bridging cultural divides, dispelling prejudice and misinformation, building new meanings and goals, and forging heart-to-heart connections.”

Strengthening cultural exchange

China is Latin America’s second-largest trading partner, yet understanding on both sides remains limited, and economic exchanges far outpace cultural ones. Schonfeld deeply regrets this gap and believes that such limited knowledge of a major economic partner can no longer be allowed to persist. “We must work to overcome fragmented knowledge across regions and build bridges of connection and understanding,” he said. “Two decades ago, Latin America bore witness to this cognitive gap. As an Argentine, I realized that I knew far more about the differences between the eastern and western United States, and far more about the American Civil War of the mid-19th century, than about the French Intervention in Mexico during the same period or Mexico’s own history, let alone the history of Brazil, our neighboring country. This imbalanced understanding urgently needs to be corrected.”

Recalling his student days at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, Schonfeld noted that the internet was only just emerging and that no one could have foreseen how extensive regional communication and cultural exchange would become. In his view, China and Latin America’s shared commitment to a community with a shared future for humanity, together with their joint efforts, is helping to build a more inclusive, diverse, equal, and orderly multipolar world. Red TAL is committed to helping China reach Latin American audiences through multiple channels, a goal that is both ambitious and achievable.

Schonfeld sees much of the world, particularly Latin America, as more open to different perspectives today, with people beginning to question Western values and becoming more receptive to new cultural ideas. Compared with the time of Red TAL’s founding, he believes conditions are now more favorable for deepening mutual learning among civilizations, fostering friendship and trust between peoples, and challenging the myths perpetuated by Western narratives.

“I am convinced that in five to ten years, the ties between the Chinese and Latin American peoples will be closer, and understanding between communities will be significantly enhanced,” Schonfeld said, looking forward to that day. “By then, I look forward to in-depth discussions of topics grounded in China’s national conditions and realities, such as the beautiful lives of China’s various ethnic groups and population mobility trends. I find it fascinating; I have so much to learn.”