This lecture will focus on processes of cultural circulation in film history through the analysis of Brazilian intellectual Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes’ (1916-1977) and his international network. The research wishes to challenge common Eurocentric conceptions such as “center” and “periphery” in cultural history and question common ideas of a unidirectional “influence” of European film culture in Latin America. Salles Gomes was the founder of the Brazilian film archive Cinemateca Brasileira and is often regarded as the “father” of modern film criticism in Brazil. However he was also a man with connections in institutions such as the Cinématèque Française (CF) and the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), crucial for spreading film culture in the second half of the 20th Century. Of special interest here are Salles Gomes’ early ties to these institutions, as well as his contacts with key-figures of the worldwide film scene.