We held the film screening and panel discussion on March 24th, Argentina's national day of ‘Memory, Truth, and Justice’ commemorating the victims of the last Argentinian dictatorship and the “Dirty War.” The film that we chose to explore, Luis Puenzo’s La historia oficial (‘The Official Story’), was released in 1985 — a mere two years after the fall of the dictatorship. This film was the first from Latin America to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The drama is set in 1983 during the final months of Argentina’s last military dictatorship (1976-83), offering a unique civilian perspective of those years. Based on political events that unfolded during the dictatorship, the film follows the story of a family as the mother sets out to investigate her adopted daughter’s true origins. The audience watches as the mother pieces together various narratives – collaging them with personal, individual memories of other civilians to uncover the truth rather than ‘the official story’ that had been fed to her by those with ties to the military junta.

After the screening, a panel discussion comprising diplomats and academics analysed the role of memory in shaping narratives and perceptions of past events. Minister Alessandra Viggiano, Cultural Attaché for the Argentine Embassy to the United Kingdom, initiated the conversation by describing the subjective (and intricate) process of creating memory. She emphasised how memory differs from history in its fragmentation, and described its impact on the narratives we adopt in the present, as well as the roles we assume in relation to those narratives. Dr. Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho, a Reader in Brazilian & Latin American Studies within the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, broke down this concept further by investigating the ethics of memory construction, considering how a shared memory around these significant historical events is created and maintained. Dr. Pablo Bradbury, Lecturer at the University of Greenwich International College, urged the audience to view this history without ascribing to binaries, considering the environment of secrecy within which these narratives were created. He also recognised the complexity of the situation, considering the complicated and (potentially, at times) complicit roles that civilians may have played over the course of these events. The panel also acknowledged the critical contribution of women’s leadership and activism in preserving democratic values in Argentina – and Latin America at large – in the face of brutal oppression from dictatorial forces.