Third Cinema and the Failure of the Image

Third cinema is framed as a highly politicized art form, but would it be possible for third cinema to fall victim to the same public indifference as the news footage that was intended to cause humanitarian intervention in Sarajevo? As stated in class the showing of certain films was so controversial that it had to be done in secret at risk of arrest. One would think that under these circumstances the films would have to cause some sort of action on the behalf of those that viewed them. Since the viewers are so actively involved in the act of viewing the films there would have to be some sort of action attached to them, but is this action necessarily even a result of the films themselves? Since the showings of highly political and controversial third cinema films were often secret events it would seem that those who attended the showings were most likely already involved in some sort of revolutionary activity. I find it unlikely that these films actually inspired political or revolutionary action considering the fact that it would most likely be difficult for someone who knew nothing about the subversive activity going on in their country already to view one of these films. Therefore the film itself becomes a sort of moot point: an activity that revolutionaries do amongst themselves to help consider new issues or guide potential paths of action, but does not actually cause any actions in and of itself nor bring any new followers to the revolution. This does not become an issue of unreasonable faith in the public like the failures in Sarajevo, but merely an issue of accessibility. If the films were more accessible the issue of faith in the public and the enlightenment idea that knowledge begets action would then come in to play. It's quite possible that at this point third films would fair no better than news footage of Sarajevo, but perhaps they hold some different, stronger power. Even amongst a group of revolutionaries the films may fall short and not jumpstart the actions that they intend to. Since I am not actually aware of the specific effects and viewer-ship of specific third films I cannot say whether or not the way I have framed them is, in fact, the truth, merely that it is a distinct possibility. So the question remains: are third films fundamentally different from the news footage of Sarajevo that failed to cause any action? Do they hold some greater power that has specifically caused events to occur? Does the image necessarily fail? And if so is the cause a fundamental basis or merely an issue of public access?