Several streaming platforms have been developed in Latin America that put content from creators of the region on the network

There is no doubt that Netflix is the giant of streaming worldwide, few companies can compete with a company of such magnitude. Among its advantages is access to thousands of content of all kinds from the comfort of home, whether created by the platform or from external creators. However, for Latin American and world cinema, it has meant unfair competition, because in cases like Colombia's Netflix prices are among the cheapest in the world according to the site Dinero.com. The limited access that it had to the screens in the region, now also competes with the competition in the network. Fortunately, they have not remained with their arms crossed, because the creators, cinematographic institutions and audiovisual media companies have created platforms to compete in some way with Netflix, Amazon, HBO, among others.

Leer en español: ¿Aburrido de Netflix? Te presentamos algunas plataformas de streaming latinoamericanas

These platforms serve in some cases exclusively the nationals of a country and others at a regional or global level. Some have a cost, very low, while others are free. The goal is that more Latin Americans see cinema created in the region, which often did not reach theaters or was a short time. The catalogs are extensive and contain multi-award-winning works at festivals, including short films, documentaries and, in some cases, series.

Here some highlighted platforms with contents from Latin America:

CINE.AR Play (Argentina)

Cine.AR Play is a platform that is part of a system of a homonymous channel, created in 2015 by the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (Incaa) and the company Arsat during the government of Cristina Fernández, with purely Argentine contents. The streaming platform was born with the name of Odeón, before becoming Cine.AR Play, according to information from the site Info Technology.

The contents are free, except for premieres. To enjoy Cine.AR Play you only have to register with an email account, in the platform you can have up to 4 different profiles in the same account to be able to share. You do not need to live in Argentina to be able to see the contents, although if you are not in Argentine territory you will only have access to the international catalog, which is different in each country. It has registered more than 700,000 users, 600 movies and more than 500 hours of series, this according to information from the same platform.

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Film in Latino (Mexico)

Here you will find a good part of the Mexican production of feature films, short films, documentaries and more. It was born from the collaboration between the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE) and the Spanish company Filmin that has its Iberian version. The intention is that the quality production of the country, of Latin America and the world, reach more people, and give an opportunity of those films that were shortly in theaters or that had little diffusion, in addition to fighting piracy, as reported by the newspaper Expansión.

It also dedicates space to festivals, the Ariel awards and other important topics. The subscription is free, only some catalog works have a cost, at a price that does not exceed $ 3 per film. A subscription with a cost of $ 3 per month is also available to access a broader catalog without restrictions. The great inconvenience is that for now it can only be seen in Mexican territory, according to information from the platform.

Retina Latina (Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay)

This platform was created with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Conference of Cinematographic Authorities of Ibero-America through DOCTV and six cinematographic institutions of the region: CONACINE (Bolivia), IMCINE (Mexico), CNCINE (Ecuador), ICAU (Uruguay) ), Directorate of Cinematography (Colombia) and Audiovisual Direction, Phonography and New Media (Peru). It is a large-scale project open to all Latin American citizens. According to the platform, it seeks to address three main aspects: "the lack of a consolidated regional market, the concentration of successful national works in the local market that are not exhibited in neighboring markets, and the insufficiency of regional coordination mechanisms for film distribution."

To access the content, simply register with an email account to create your profile.

OndaMedia (Chile)

The National Council of Culture and the Arts of Chile has created the OndaMedia platform, to put online the outstanding production of the country. Access to the platform has no cost but is limited to eight monthly views, which are renewed automatically the following month. Within its catalog, there are documentaries, films and highly successful series, including films by the award-winning director Pablo Larraín, according to the newspaper La Tercera. Like Filmin Latino in Mexico, it is only accessible in Chilean territory.

#Chile launches the free OTT platform, OndaMedia https://t.co/duuBUPJgv0 pic.twitter.com/BSu7P0Ssn6

– todotvnews (@todotvnews) June 16, 2017

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LatinAmerican Post | Luis Angel Hernández Liborio

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