Cinema of Bolivia

Last updated
Cinema of Bolivia
Wara Wara 3.jpg
Wara Wara (1930)
No. of screens 79 (2010)
Produced feature films (1924-1998) [1]
Total42
Gross box office (2009) [2]
Total BOB 65,735,296

The Cinema of Bolivia comprises the film and videos made within the nation of Bolivia or by Bolivian filmmakers abroad. Though the country's film infrastructure is too small to be considered a film industry, Bolivia has a rich film history. Bolivia has consistently produced feature-length films since the 1920s, many of which are documentary or take a documentary approach to their subject. Film historian José Sánchez-H has observed that the predominant theme of many Bolivian films is the country's indigenous cultures and political oppression. [3]

Contents

History

The first motion picture was shown in Bolivia on June 21, 1897, probably on a Vitascope. The press paid more attention to "illicit acts" committed in the dark theater than to the pictures themselves, and authorities made it difficult to hold screenings, some of which were held in people's homes. The Biograph was introduced in 1899, and by 1905 popular exhibitions were held in La Paz. A wave of documentary films emerged in the 1910s and 1920s directed by pioneer multitalented filmmakers working in an artisanal mode. Of note is La Gloria de la Raza (1926),directed by Luis Castillo in collaboration with anthropologist Arturo Posnasky. Optical effects and miniature models were used to depict the decline and disappearance of Tiahuanaco culture, and the film helped to spur the formation of Condor Mayku Films.

The first motion picture made in Bolivia was Personajes históricos y de actualidad in 1904. The only surviving film from Bolivia's silent era is Wara Wara , directed by José Velasco Maidana in 1930. [4] The first sound film was Infierno Verde (aka ''La Guerra del Chaco , 1936) directed by Luis Bazoberry. The first color film was Donde nace un imperio (1957) directed by Jorge Ruiz. [3]

Instituto Cinematográfico Boliviano

The Instituto Cinematográfico Boliviano (ICB) was created in March 1953 to promote the government of Victor Paz Estenssoro in the wake of the national revolution of 1952. Waldo Cerruto was the ICB's first director. At the time, the government had a monopoly on film. The ICB created 136 newsreels between 1952 and 1956. In 1956, Jorge Ruiz became the next director of the ICB, and then was succeeded by Jorge Sanjinés in 1965. Two years later, the government shut the ICB down after Sanjinés exhibited his film Ukamau (1966), which authorities feared would incite Aymara people. Everyone involved with the film was fired, and the equipment and projects were transferred to Channel 7 - a station developed by the military government of General René Barrientos. Sanjinés and his crew founded a new group film, which they named after Ukamau. [3]

New Bolivian Cinema

In the 1960s, Latin American cinema saw a common shift towards intellectualism and examining similar political themes, including underdevelopment and economic strife. Following Brazil's Cinema Novo and Argentina's Third cinema, New Bolivian Cinema sought to define a national identity. Ideologically, New Bolivian Cinema sought to make film for people together with people. The movement was a rejection of Hollywood style filmmaking, and is characterized by filming at real locations, working with non-professional actors, and inexpensive equipment. Jorge Sanjinés is considered a leader of the movement, with films like Yawar Malku (1969) and La Nación Clandestina (1989) which examined the historical and current treatment of Aymara peoples. [5] Many filmmakers battled with both censorship by government authorities and mainstream media criticism within Bolivia, which attacked the films for their leftist social critiques and for focusing on indigenous peoples. For example, in 1953 Bolivian authorities tried to block Vuelve, Sebastiana from entering the Servicio Oficial de Difusión Radiotelevisión y Espectáculos film festival because “a movie about Indians couldn’t possibly represent Bolivia in a film festival in a foreign country.” [3] However, the Bolivian Ambassador smuggled a copy of the film and entered it into the festival, where Vuelve, Sebastiana won first prize in the festival's ethnographic category. [3]

Law of Bolivian Film

In 1991 the Bolivian government passed a law establishing the Consejo Nacional Autónomo del Cine (CONACINE). The council's film development fund lends "up to one hundred thousand dollars for the production of films at a 7% interest rate and with only two years to pay it back." Filmmaker Jorge Ruiz felt the law was not applied effectively, and it remains difficult to secure the basic funds for film production in Bolivia. [3]

Digital era

Bolivian cinema transformed with the advent of digital formats. Computer-based editing allowed smaller, cheaper productions to be made. This led to a jump from an average of two feature-length movies a year being produced to over a dozen in 2010. [6] Though production budgets can be much lower than in the past, independent filmmakers still have to make sacrifices to fund their projects. Patrick Cordova, writer, director, and producer of Erase una ves en Bolivia had to sell his car to finish the film. [7] Many of the films made are still about socialist realism, but there are also genre films and auteur cinema. Notable directors include Juan Carlos Valdivia, Eduardo López, and Alejandro Pereyra.

Accessible formats have also allowed Bolivia to foster a strong indigenous film community. The Cinematography Education and Production Center (CEFREC) is an organization dedicated to promoting film and video production among indigenous nations in Bolivia. Ian Sanjinés, Jorge Sanjinés’ son, founded the Center in 1989. CEFREC offers technical training in sound, film production, post-production, and script writing for the indigenous nations of Ayamara, Guarani, Trinitatio and Quechua. One of the indigenous filmmakers involved with CEFREC explains, “Video serves as a medium to save that which our grandparents can no longer tell.” [8]

Feature length films

Notable directors

Related Research Articles

Aymara people

The Aymara or Aimara people are an indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America; about 2.3 million live in Bolivia, Peru and Chile. Their ancestors lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Inca in the late 15th or early 16th century, and later of the Spanish in the 16th century. With the Spanish American Wars of Independence (1810–25), the Aymaras became subjects of the new nations of Bolivia and Peru. After the War of the Pacific (1879–83), Chile annexed territory with Aymara population.

Andean music

Andean music is a group of styles of music from the Andes region in South America.

The music of Bolivia has a long history. Out of all the Andean countries, Bolivia remains perhaps the most culturally linked to the indigenous peoples.

José María Arguedas Peruvian writer

José María Arguedas Altamirano was a Peruvian novelist, poet, and anthropologist. Arguedas was an author of Spanish descent, fluent in the native Quechua language, gained by living in two Quechua households from the age of 7 to 11 - first in the indigenous servant quarters of his step-mother's home, then, escaping her "perverse and cruel" son, with an indigenous family approved by his father - who wrote novels, short stories, and poems in both Spanish and Quechua.

Quechua people Ethnic group indigenous to South America

Quechua people or Quecha people, may refer to any of the indigenous people of South America who speak the Quechua languages, which originated among the indigenous people of Peru. Although most Quechua speakers are native to the country of origin, there are some significant populations living in Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Argentina.

Languages of Argentina Languages of a geographic region

Spanish is the language that is predominantly understood and spoken as a first, or second language by nearly all of the population of the Republic of Argentina. According to the latest estimations, the population is currently greater than 45 million.

Katarism is a political movement in Bolivia, named after the 18th-century indigenous leader Túpac Katari.

Jorge Sanjinés is a Bolivian film director and screenwriter. He founded the production group Grupo Ukamau. He won the ALBA Prize for Arts in 2009.

<i>Wara Wara</i> 1930 film

Wara Wara is a 1930 Bolivian feature film, directed by José María Velasco Maidana, combining historical drama and romance. The film was described as a "superproduction" by the press at the time.

José María Velasco Maidana was a Bolivian film director, composer, conductor, actor, painter and dancer. He was the estranged son of a Bolivian president. He was married to Texas painter, Dorothy Hood.

The Prophecy of the Lake is an unreleased and lost Bolivian silent feature film, directed by José María Velasco Maidana and completed in 1925.

Corazón Aymara is a 1925 lost Bolivian silent feature film, directed by Pedro Sambarino.

Julio Lencina is a cinematographer and director from Argentina who is known for his work in the cinematic world of the Andes.

Bolivians people identified with the country of Bolivia

Bolivians are people identified with the country of Bolivia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Bolivians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Bolivian.

<i>Blood of the Condor</i>

Blood of the Condor is a 1969 Bolivian drama film co-written and directed by Jorge Sanjinés and starring Marcelino Yanahuaya. The film tells the story of an indigenous Bolivian community receiving medical care from the Peace Corps-like American agency Cuerpo del Progreso which is secretly sterilising local women. The story, which was based on accounts by the indigenous people to the filmmaker, provoked an outrage in the public which led to a government investigation about the Peace Corps' actions in Bolivia, which ended in the expulsion of the agency from the country.

Indigenous peoples in Bolivia Bolivian people of indigenous ancestry

Indigenous peoples in Bolivia, or Native Bolivians, are Bolivian people who are of indigenous ancestry. They constitute anywhere from 40 to 70% of Bolivia's population of 11,306,341, depending on different estimates, and belong to 36 recognized ethnic groups. Aymara and Quechua are the largest groups. The geography of Bolivia includes the Andes, the Gran Chaco, and the Amazon Rainforest.

Ana Rosa Tornero

Ana Rosa Tornero (1907–1984) was a Bolivian writer, journalist, teacher, social reformer and a feminist. She published the first feminist magazine in Bolivia and was one of the founders of the first feminist organization in the country.

Luís Espinal Camps (1932–1980), also known by the nickname "Lucho" and by the Catalan name Lluís Espinal i Camps, was a Spanish Jesuit priest, poet, journalist, filmmaker, and film critic.

Bolivian Civil War

The Bolivian Civil War, also known as the Federal War was a civil war in Bolivia fought from 1898 to 1899. The war saw two factions, a conservative side supported by the political, economic and religious elite of the country with control of the armed forces and who defended a unitary state, and a liberal faction opposed to the policies set by the state and that intended to transform the country into a federation, with support of the peasantry, the indigenous peoples and small Catholic businesses.

References

  1. "Feature films". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  2. "Feature films: Exhibition - Admissions & gross box office (GBO)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Sánchez-H, José (1999). The Art and Politics of Bolivian Cinema. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. ISBN   0-8108-3625-4.
  4. "Wara Wara - Trailer". YouTube. 2010-09-24. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  5. "The "new" and the "old" in Bolivian cinema". JUMP CUT. Retrieved 16 Oct 2014.
  6. "Going Beyond Sanjinés". ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America. Retrieved 15 Oct 2014.
  7. "Interview with Patrick Cordova". Front Lip. Retrieved 25 Oct 2014.
  8. "Bolivian Links: Indigenous Media". BOMB —Artists in Conversation. Retrieved 26 Oct 2014.

Further reading