Japanese cinema as cultural diplomacy in Spanish-speaking Latin AmericaVeloza-Franco, Daniel (Avtor) Japan in Latin Americaepistemic communitiesanimefilm diplomacycultural diplomacycross-cultural dialogueWhile epistemic communities have traditionally been examined in security and policy advice, in this paper I argue that film critics, curators, academics and cultural organiz­ers likewise form epistemic communities in film diplomacy, whose interpretative frame­works shape international understandings of state-sponsored screenings of Japanese films abroad. These communities do not seek to shape policy outcomes, but instead they pro­vide interpretative frameworks and infuse cultural products with meaning. Although such epistemic communities on film diplomacy exist globally, I focus on the concrete case of Japan’s film diplomacy in the Spanish-speaking Latin American context and on five films: Rashōmon, Akira, Spirited Away, Sonatine and Shoplifters. Despite persistent and valid criticism of Japan’s official cultural promotion for its heavy reliance on exoticist and essentialist discourses, I show that regional epistemic communities move beyond these constraints. I demonstrate how and why official Japanese narratives that promote unified and exoticized portrayals of Japan coexist with more nuanced and critical local Latin American interpretations. These local epistemic communities reveal the tensions inherent in institutional cultural promotion and sometimes challenge simplistic official readings by highlighting social and political issues and interweaving the films with global concerns such as poverty, consumerism, authoritarianism and existential anxieties. In doing so, Latin American epistemic communities offer audiences richer opportunities for cross‑cultural dialogue based on shared concerns that are not uniquely Japanese. This interpretative plurality, driven by their work, both complicates Japan’s cultural promo­tion and enhances its credibility, fostering deeper and more critical intercultural dialogue instead of superficial exoticized consumption.20262026-10-29 15:30:20Članek v reviji190559sl