The cinema of Ecuador has a long history, including both short and feature-length films made throughout the 20th century, but until recently Ecuadorian film has generally not had a large impact.
Cinematic production in Ecuador began in the 1920s, with the production of the first Ecuadorian dramatic feature film, El Tesoro de Atahualpa , directed by the Ecuadorian Augusto San Miguel in 1924. [1] [2] Moreover, in the same decade, the Italian Carlos Crespi directed the major documentary Los Invisibles Shuaras del Alto Amazonas . Between 1930 and 1931, the advent of talkies stopped the development of Ecuadorian film, which tried to cope with the new films using "live sound" ("sonorización en vivo"), that is, the interpretation of texts and songs simultaneously with the projection, though without success. Because of this, for around two decades Ecuadorian cinema revolved around documentaries, news programs, and promotional tourist films, with the exception of dramatic feature films in 1950. [3] However, Ecuadorian cinema was promoted by intellectuals in the 1960s, including Ulises Estrella, director of the Cinemateca Nacional. During this period, Mexican-Ecuadorian co-productions proliferated. [4] During the next decade, the documentary genre was strengthened, and in 1977 the Asociación de Autores Cinematográficos del Ecuador was legalized.
Between the 1980s and the present, Ecuadorian cinema returned to the production of feature films. One example of this trend was the 1989 cinematic adaptation of José de la Cuadra's La Tigra, directed by Camilo Luzuriaga. Luzuriaga also directed Entre Marx y una Mujer Desnuda , a cinematic adaptation of 1809-1810: Mientras llega el día is a film by Jorge Enrique Adoum, which related the story of Quito independence. Other major films in the rebirth of Ecuadorian cinema were Ratas, ratones y rateros (1999) and Crónicas (2004) by director Sebastián Cordero. As of 2008, Cordero was filming his third feature film in Spain, an adaptation of the novel Rabia by the Argentine writer Sergio Bizzio. Also, the film Qué tan lejos by Cuenca's Tania Hermida was highly acclaimed, receiving the Silver Zenith Award Montreal World Film Festival for the best directorial debut. [5] Other productions that have made their way through festivals include the documentary El Comité by Mateo Herrera and Cuando me toque a mí by Víctor Arregui. When Cuando me toque a mí was presented at the Biarritz Festival of Film and Culture of Latin America, the lead actor, Manuel Calisto, won the prize for best actor.
During the 1980s, Ecuador would typically produce one film a year, with this rising to around twelve a year by the mid-2010s. [6]
Mexican cinema dates to the late nineteenth century during the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Seeing a demonstration of short films in 1896, Díaz immediately saw the importance of documenting his presidency in order to present an ideal image of it. With the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Mexican and foreign makers of silent films seized the opportunity to document its leaders and events. From 1915 onward, Mexican cinema focused on narrative film.
Cinema of Colombia refers to the film industry based in Colombia. Colombian cinema began in 1897 and has included silent films, animated films and internationally acclaimed films. Government support included an effort in the 1970s to develop the state-owned Cinematographic Development Company which helped produce some films yet struggled to stay financially viable. FOCINE went defunct in 1993. In 1997 the Colombian congress approved Law 397 of Article 46 or the General Law of Culture with the purpose of supporting the development of the Colombian film industry by creating a film promotion mixed fund called Corporación PROIMAGENES en Movimiento. In 2003 Congress also approved the Law of Cinema which helped to restart the cinematographic industry in Colombia.
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban film director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed more than twenty features, documentaries, and short films, which are known for his sharp insight into post-Revolutionary Cuba, and possess a delicate balance between dedication to the revolution and criticism of the social, economic, and political conditions of the country.
Cinema of Argentina refers to the film industry based in Argentina. The Argentine cinema comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of Argentina or by Argentine filmmakers abroad.
The history of the Cinema industry in Puerto Rico predates Hollywood, being conceived after the first industries emerged in some locations of the United States, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, France, Great Britain and Germany. During the US invasion of the island in 1898, American soldiers brought cameras to record what they saw. By 1912, Puerto Ricans would begin to produce their own films. After the early images recorded by the American soldiers in 1898, most of the films produced in the island were documentaries. It wasn't until 1912 that Rafael Colorado D'Assoy recorded the first non-documentary film titled Un drama en Puerto Rico. After that, Colorado and Antonio Capella Martínez created the Film Industrial Society of Puerto Rico in 1916, producing their first film titled Por la hembra y el gallo. Other film companies formed during the time were the Tropical Film Company (1917) and the Porto Rico Photoplays (1919). Puerto Rico was the second Latin American market to produce a sound film, filming Luis Pales Matos's script for Romance Tropical (1934). The film featured Jorge Rodríguez, Raquel and Ernestina Canino, Sixto Chevremont and Cándida de Lorenzo. In the late 1930s Rafael Cobián produced films starring Blanca de Castejón such as Mis dos amores and Los hijos mandan at Hollywood. In 1951, he would produce Mi doble with San Juan as its setting. Mapy and Fernando Cortés would also participate in the Hollywood industry, as well as throughout Latin America.
While the Peruvian film industry has not been nearly as prolific as that of some other Latin American countries, such as Mexico or Argentina, some Peruvian movies produced enjoyed regional success. Historically, the cinema of Peru began in Iquitos in 1932 by Antonio Wong Rengifo because of the rubber boom and the intense arrival of foreigners with technology to the city, and thus continued an extensive, unique filmography, with a different style than the films made in the capital, Lima.
The cinema of Paraguay has historically been small. However, this has begun to change in recent years with films like El Toque del Oboe (1998); María Escobar (2002); O Amigo Dunor (2005), which competed for Best Movie in the Rotterdam International Film Festival; Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, gaining critical acclaim both in Paraguay and abroad; 7 cajas (2012); Latas Vacías (2014); and Luna de Cigarras (2014).
Juan Martín Cueva Armijos is an Ecuadorian documentary film director and the director of the Filmfestival "Cero Latitud" in Quito. His documentary film "Where the poles meet" won the Best Documentary at the IX Festival Internacional de Cine de Valdivia in Chile and at the Brouillon d’un reve de la Scam in Paris in 1999.
Chilean cinema refers to all films produced in Chile or made by Chileans. It had its origins at the start of the 20th century with the first Chilean film screening in 1902 and the first Chilean feature film appearing in 1910. The oldest surviving feature is El Húsar de la Muerte (1925), and the last silent film was Patrullas de Avanzada (1931). The Chilean film industry struggled in the late 1940s and in the 1950s, despite some box-office successes such as El Diamante de Maharajá. The 1960s saw the development of the "New Chilean Cinema", with films like Three Sad Tigers (1968), Jackal of Nahueltoro (1969) and Valparaíso mi amor (1969). After the 1973 military coup, film production was low, with many filmmakers working in exile. It increased after the end of the Pinochet regime in 1989, with occasional critical and/or popular successes such as Johnny cien pesos (1993), Historias de Fútbol (1997) and Gringuito (1998).
Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti is a Cuban film director. He started his career as an author and actor for children's TV shows made for the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television from 1981 to 1987. He is known for directing the movie Viva Cuba, which received the Best Children's Film award at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2005.
The cinema of Venezuela is the production and industry of filmmaking in Venezuela. Venezuelan cinema has been characterised from its outset as propaganda, partially state-controlled and state-funded, commercial cinema. The nation has seen a variety of successful films, which have reaped several international awards. Still, in terms of quality, it is said that though "we can point to specific people who have made great films in Venezuela [and] a couple of great moments in the history of Venezuelan cinema, [...] those have been exceptions". In the 21st century, Venezuelan cinema has seen more independence from the government, but has still been described as recently as 2017 to be at least "influenced" by the state.
Nelson Estupiñán Bass (1912–2002) was born in Sua, a city in the predominantly Afro-Ecuadorian province of Esmeraldas in Ecuador. He was first homeschooled by his mother before traveling to the capital city of Quito where he graduated from Escuela Superior Juan Montalvo with a degree in public accounting in 1932. Bass identified with the Communist Party during this time and in 1934 had the opportunity to publish two of his poems in the socialist diary La Tierra.
Qué tan lejos is a 2006 film directed by Ecuadorian filmmaker Tania Hermida. The film is a road movie co-produced by Ecuador and Spain, and it stars Tania Martinez and Cecilia Vallejo as an Ecuadorian student and a Spanish tourist, respectively, that met each other in a bus and take rides together when the roads are blocked because of a strike. Hermida had the plot idea in 1997 but only started to produce the film in 2003. Filming was entirely done in Ecuador during 2005, while post-production finished in 2006.
Román Chalbaud is a Venezuelan film director and screenwriter, as well as a prominent playwright. Starting work in television after prestigious training, Chalbaud moved into making films before the industry took off in his home country, returning to theatre where he had been a great success for several years until filmmaking became a viable industry again. He has served as the president of Venezuela's leading theatre, television, and film organisations. A documentary about his life and work called Román en el universo de las maravillas, produced by Argentinian filmmakers, was released on 17 March 2018 in Altamira, Caracas at the Rómulo Gallegos Center for Latin American Studies.
Camilo Luzuriaga is an Ecuadorian film producer, actor, writer, photographer, and director.
Ulises Estrella Moya was an Ecuadorian poet. He was the co-founder of Tzantzismo, a movement of the 1960s, Ecuador. He was also a film expert, who headed the film department of the House of Ecuadorian Culture for over 30 years.
The Festival de Cine Entre Largos y Cortos de Oriente, better known as ELCO, is a Venezuelan film festival.
Caupolicán Ylich Ovalles Sequera,, is a Venezuelan film director, producer and screenwriter. He was president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Feature Film Producers, being a member of the Board of Directors of the Premios Platino del Cine Iberoamericano, and Venezuela’s representative before the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers, between the years 2013 - 2018.
Bolívar Films is a Venezuelan film production company, headquartered in Caracas, which works on films, advertisements, post-production, and television.
Juan Valdano Morejón is an Ecuadorian writer. He was born in Cuenca in 1939. He studied at the University of Cuenca, Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Aix-en-Provence. He taught literature and literary theory at the University of Cuenca and at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.