In the present work, a reflection of comparative nature will be made, oriented on establishing some of the tools used in the construction of the Selknam image in the film Tierra del Fuego, directed by Miguel Littin (2000). This comparison rests on the assumption that the representation of this aboriginal people from the extreme South of America is based on a series of attributes coming from an aboriginal visually constructed by the North American film industry. This cinematographic indigenous became part of the conventions that identify the Western, a Hollywood genre par excellence. The text begins with a characterization of this cinematographic genre, putting special emphasis in the indigenous representation and his transformation across the years. Later the Selknam image in the movie Tierra del Fuego is describe, grouping its attributes around a sequence of key icons present in Littin's production and in the North American movies. Finally, in this article there are discussed some of the mechanisms used for the representation of the indigenous in the cinema.