Venezuelan cinema in the 1900s

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Venezuelan cinema in the 1900s

Kingsif: ←Created page with ' Venezuela had been introduced to cinema in the 1890s. After an initial boom in screenings and pro...'

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[[Venezuela]] had been introduced to cinema in the [[Venezuelan cinema in the 1890s|1890s]]. After an initial boom in screenings and production, the presence of cinema in the nation was lower during between 1900 and 1910.

== Industry development ==
A film circuit was established in Caracas in 1899, which included the Teatro Caracas, the Circo Metropolitano, a small bar opposite the Circo, the Café La Francia, and the Socorro bodega. After this, cinema appears only sparsely until about 1907.<ref name="azuaga">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>^:31 Farrell writes that in the 1890s Venezuela was a frontrunner in the industry of film within Latin America, a status it lost after the state became involved with production in the 20th century.<ref name="Farrell">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>^:20-21

It is in 1907 that contemporary evidence exists, through newspaper reviews, of more national films being created. These films were still ''[[Actuality film|vistas]]'', depicting everyday activities of the common people, with an aim to "[win] the favor of the public and that of the tyrannical authorities of the time".<ref name="azuaga" />^:31 The filmmakers were also active in making propaganda for the government.<ref name="azuaga" />^:31 Some of the subjects of the reemergence of 1907 include "national holidays, bullfights, events, sports, views of places of the national territory and official events".<ref name="UCAB">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>^:10

For a few days, beginning on 30 November 1900, a [[Bioscope]] was presented by W. H. Whiteman in the Hotel Bolívar of [[Ciudad Bolívar]].<ref name="sueiro"></ref>^:38 These screenings were so popular that the public in the city wrote to the newspaper to ask the show to be transferred to the Teatro Bolívar, where the [[Zarzuela|''zarzuela'']] performances were cancelled to allow this to happen.<ref name="sueiro" />^:38 The first sound films of the country were shown by the Frenchman G. Romegout on 31 August 1901, operating a [[Phonograph|gramophone]] at the same time as the projector.<ref name=":4"></ref>^:67-68

Cinema did not reappear in [[Caracas]] until the end of 1901; in the 1890s, [[Carlos Ruiz Chapellín]] had shown films in various venues, filling them with theatre during 1900.<ref name="sueiro" />^:87 However, the resurgence of the cinema here, being shown at the [[Teatro Municipal of Caracas]], was not as popular. In November 1901, ''El Tiempo'' wrote:
[[File:Teatro_municipal3.gif|thumb|The Teatro Municipal of Caracas at the time]]


From 1902 through 1904, the screenings of films again became minimal.<ref name="sueiro" />^:132 Additionally, most halls used for showing films did not have permanent facilities for the function, being limited to the [[Baralt Theatre]] in [[Maracaibo]] and Teatro Municipal in [[Valencia, Carabobo|Valencia]]; in 1904, the Teatro Municipal in [[Barquisimeto]] was the main location for cinema in this region, with other areas using commercial public buildings like cafés and hotels for screenings.<ref name="sueiro" />^:37

The pioneer [[Manuel Trujillo Durán]] had returned to photography until 1902; in August 1903 he was working with fellow [[Zulia|Zulian]] [[Alfredo Duplat]] in [[San Cristóbal, Táchira]] on films, traveling through the state after showing films in [[Cúcuta]].<ref name="sueiro" />^:55 A report in the newspaper ''Horizontes'' announced that they were showing films that they had directed.<ref name="sueiro" />^:55 Trujillo Durán continued to work in film through the decade, but sparsely: he operated projectors at several locations, including as the duo 'Trujillo & March' at the Baralt Theatre, where he is documented in 1906 and 1908; at the [[University of the Andes (Venezuela)|University of the Andes]] in 1907; and around the country for [[Pathé]] in 1908 and 1909.<ref name="sueiro" />^:55

In 1905, film screenings emerged again in Caracas. Ruiz Chapellín, who had been the main film entrepreneur in the city, was replaced in this position by [[Carlos Badaracco]]; seen as a more gentile person, Badaracco's presence and the ability from 1904 to rent films from U.S. companies rather than buy them outright led to more investors in cinema. Badaracco created the Empresa Nacional and guidelines to film projection in 1905, making it an official job.<ref name="sueiro" />^:122 Badaracco would work as a professional projectionist until the end of the decade.<ref name=":5">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>

This year, a company owned by the Ireland brothers began showing a hundred films that they had imported at the Municipal in Caracas; though a renowned company, the shows left the Municipal from 25 April 1905, with the reason that the Circo Metropolitano could hold the much larger audiences they were attracting. The Irelands also introduced different film seasons through the year, and held a special screening on 27 April 1905 with then-Vice President [[Juan Vicente Gómez]] in attendance, their last show at the Municipal, though running concurrently with their regular programming at the Circo.<ref name="sueiro" />^:100 Other companies were formed in the decade. In 1908, after the Baralt brothers of Maracaibo relocate to Caracas, the Baralts worked with the Delhom brothers and the two sets of siblings formed a company together. Though it dissolved a year later, the Delhoms continued to make films for another five years,<ref name=":5" /> with Manuel Delhom making at least a dozen in 1908.<ref name="UCAB" />^:11

In 1908, the government of [[Carabobo]] had several films made commemorating the 5 July act of Independence. These were screened at the [[Gaumont Cinema]] in Valencia, shortly before President [[Cipriano Castro]] left the country.<ref name="UCAB" />^:11

== National films ==
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
! width="21%" |Title
! width="20%" |Director
! width="13%" |Genre
! width="27%" |Subject
! width="21%" |Notes
|-
| colspan="5" style="text-align:left; background:#e9e9e9" |'''[[1901 in film|1901]]'''
|-
|''Diálogos de Tirabeque y Pelegrín''<ref name="azuaga" />^:40
|G. Romegout, a Lumière worker<ref name="azuaga" />^:40
|
|The popular cartoon characters Tirabeque and Pelegrín<ref name="azuaga" />^:40
|First certain fiction and first sound film made in Venezuela<ref name="azuaga" />^:40
|-
|''Bailes populares''<ref name="azuaga" />^:37
|Romegout<ref name="azuaga" />^:37<ref name=":4" />^:67
|Folktale<ref name="azuaga" />^:37
|
|Featuring sound<ref name=":4" />^:67
|-
|''Coplas de Gedeón''<ref name=":4" />^:67
|Romegout<ref name=":4" />^:67
|
|
|Featuring sound<ref name=":4" />^:67
|-
| colspan="5" style="text-align:left; background:#e9e9e9" |'''[[1903 in film|1903]]'''
|-
|Unknown (likely multiple)<ref name="sueiro" />^:55
|[[Manuel Trujillo Durán]] and Alfredo Duplat<ref name="sueiro" />^:55
|
|
|Possibly made in [[Colombia]]; shown in Venezuela by Venezuelans (13-27 August)<ref name="sueiro" />^:55
|-
| colspan="5" style="text-align:left; background:#e9e9e9" |'''[[1908 in film|1908]]'''
|-
|''5 de Julio'' or ''5 de Julio: Película Criolla''<ref name="azuaga" />^:33-34
|Manuel Ignacio Baralt, Servio Tulio Baralt and Manuel Delhom<ref name="azuaga" />^:33-34
|Documentary
|The acts surrounding the signing of the [[Venezuelan Declaration of Independence]], including "Tram travel, the arrival of a train in [[Valencia, Carabobo|Valencia]], Esquina de San Francisco, traveling by car in [[El Paraíso, Caracas|El Paraíso]], official acts, [[Yellow House (Venezuela)|Yellow House]], the [[National Pantheon of Venezuela|National Pantheon]] and [[Palacio Federal Legislativo|Palacio Federal]]"<ref name="azuaga" />^:34
|Made in honor of the president of [[Carabobo]] state, Dr. Samuel E. Niño<ref name="azuaga" />^:34
|-
|''Las Trincheras-Valencia''<ref name="azuaga" />^:34
|S. T. Baralt and M. Delhom<ref name="azuaga" />^:34
|Documentary
|Showing the visit of President [[Cipriano Castro]] to [[Las Trincheras]]<ref name="azuaga" />^:34
|
|-
| colspan="5" style="text-align:left; background:#e9e9e9" |'''[[1909 in film|1909]]'''
|-
|''Carnival in Caracas''<ref name="UCAB" />^:11
|MA Gonhom and Augusto González Vidal<ref name="UCAB" />^:11
|Documentary
|Showing the carnival in Caracas<ref name="UCAB" />^:11
|Said to be filmed on primitive cameras, but enjoyed by the audience who wanted to see the subject<ref name="UCAB" />^:11
|}

<!--== Influence and themes ==
The films available for Venezuelans to view when the technology arrived were "predominantly foreign", with this described as "a factor of tremendous significance" in terms of the development of national film.<ref name=":2"></ref>^:103<ref name=":3"></ref>^:20-21 Hart looks at the French influence on the development of cinema in Venezuela; though the [[Auguste and Louis Lumière|Lumières]]' representatives did not arrive in Venezuela until after the country had been exposed to many U.S. films through Méndez' Vitascope business,<ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>^:42-44 Hart sees the Maracaibo-produced first films as being of the [[Actuality film|''actualité'']] genre.<ref name=":0"></ref>^:13 Azuaga García describes ''Un célebre especialista...'' as "everyday", and ''Muchachos bañándose...'' as "like a view or postcard", both styles he believes are influenced by Lumière films.<ref name="azuaga" />^:29 Paul A. Schroeder Rodríguez agrees, denominating the Latin American body of films in this time as ''vistas'',<ref name=":3" />^:22 a term literally meaning "views" and indeed used by some of the filmmakers themselves, which he defines as ''actualités''. Schroeder does, though, describe another key element to the ''vistas'': their creators were prone to "experimentation", he claims because of their inexperience in the art.<ref name=":3" />^:22

Farrell instead asserts that the Venezuelan film industry has been "struggl[ing] against cultural imperialism [...] since the arrival of film", and has always tried to create its own identity.<ref name="Farrell" />^:19-20 Along the lines of this innovative spirit, Elisa Martínez de Badra posits the argument that Ruiz and W. O. Wolcopt's partnership producing [[Slapstick film|slapstick films]] and the "staging" of ''Un célebre especialista...'' and ''Muchachos bañándose...'' were early examples of narrative and narrative-approaching films and influenced the development of films in the region to have fictional narratives early on.<ref name=":4"/>^:67 Though Tom Gunning identifies early Latin American cinema as [[spectacle]], a marker of the U.S. school of filmmaking,<ref name=":2" />^:103 Mártinez de Badra specifically separates the first Venezuelan films from those produced by [[Thomas Edison|Edison]].<ref name=":4" />^:67

A distinctly Latin American identity is further argued for by Ana M. López; she also refers to the films as ''vistas'', but notes the different context of the production. She argues that the everyday images of French ''actualité'' films would have been more thrilling and shocking for a Venezuelan audience, as they were foreign both geographically and culturally, so the Latin American productions modeled on them were culturally imbued with their own locations, traditions, and developments.<ref name=":2" />^:103-104 Venezuela does have some differences from its neighbors, though. One is that while López lists many of them replicating ''[[L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat]]'' with films featuring their own new public transportation, Venezuela cannot be counted among them.<ref name=":2" />^:104 Another is its inclusion in a different catalogue of thematically-linked early Latin American films in López' article; though there were a few "scientific" films, showing medical practices and including ''Un célebre especialista...'', created to establish a more positive reputation for the medium of cinema, López writes that this practice was not as common as scholarship may see it to have been.<ref name=":2" />^:108-109

Regarding the question of influence and identity, Paranaguá chooses a different ground. He refers to a "tripolar circulation" of cinema inspiration, with Latin America at one point of a triangle that connects to both the United States and Europe.<ref name=":3" />^:20

== Timeline of film screenings ==
[[File:Baralt_Theatre_1896.png|thumb|The Teatro Baralt in 1896, where the first films were shown]]
Some of the dates and film titles are dubious or questioned, or were in 1997. Information for the pre-1897 screenings are adapted from ''Memorias de Venezuela'' vol. 10, from information published in the book ''Panorama histórico del cine en Venezuela'' (Fundación Cinemateca Nacional, 1997); the records are from newspaper archives.<ref name=":1" />^:44

The films screened between 11 July and 29 December 1896 were done so by Trujillo Durán, who travelled around Venezuela and then onto [[Colombia]] with the Vitascope projector; as he was traveling he may have acquired new films from the company to show at different locations.<ref name=":1" />^:44-45

The premiere of the first Venezuelan films, and the two other films shown, on 28 January 1897 are sourced from the introduction to Peter Rist's ''Historical dictionary of South American Cinema''.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 2, expected 1)</ref> Rodolfo Izaguirre has also suggested that more films were shown at the same time, but does not propose titles.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>^:752 The films shown on 26 November 1897 are sourced to Azuaga García's analysis of national film. He also notes that there are records of Rouffet films mentioned in Caracas newspapers around this time, but there is "no assurance that these were presented to the public".<ref name="azuaga" />^:30

The first screenings were relatively affordable, with the typical cost being between 1 and 20 [[Venezuelan bolívar|bolívares]] depending on the seat. The equivalent in [[United States dollar]] at the time was 5.18 Bs. to US$1, giving the expenses in USD at the time as between 19c and $3.86.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Key
|^'''''?'''''
|Denotes information that is dubious
|}
{| class="wikitable"
!Date
!Film(s)
!Location
!Notes
|-
|24 September 1894
|''[[Buffalo Dance (film)|Buffalo Dance]]''^'''''?'''''
|unknown
|
|-
|After April 1895
|''The Indian short stick dance^'''?'''''
|unknown
|
|-
|April–May 1896^'''''?'''''
|''Serpentine^'''?'''''
|unknown
|Second version
|-
| rowspan="6" |11 July 1896
|''[[The Monroe Doctrine (1896 film)|Alegoría sobre la doctrina de Monroe]]''
| rowspan="12" |Maracaibo
|Set in Venezuela, but produced by the Edison Company ([[United States]])<ref name=":1" />^:44
|-
|''La Serpentina''
|In color
|-
|''Baile de Indios/Fiesta de Indios''
|
|-
|''[[Les Forgerons|Un taller de herrería]]''
|
|-
|''Gran Parque central (Nueva York)''
|
|-
|''Torneo Carnavalesco''
|
|-
| rowspan="6" |12 July 1896
|''Plaza del Herald (Nueva York)''
|
|-
|''Danza de las bailarinas''
|
|-
|''La incansable Serpentina^'''?'''''
|Not in source; in film listing to right
|-
|''Alegoría sobre la libertad de Cuba''
|
|-
|''Sorprendente juego de paraguas''
|In color
|-
|''Fuentes y montañas de Nueva York''
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |5 September 1896
|''Baile de escoceses''
| rowspan="6" |Caracas
|
|-
|''Escena en una cervecería''
|
|-
|''[[Annabelle Butterfly Dance|Mariposa blanca]]''
|
|-
|''La mariposa cubana/Mariposas de leche''
|
|-
|''Incendio en Nueva York y salvación de la victimas''
|
|-
|8 September 1896
|''[[Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph|Lucha entre los grandes boxeadores Corbett y Courtney]]''
|
|-
|8 October 1896
|''El baile de las palomitas''
| rowspan="2" |[[Valencia, Carabobo|Valencia]]
|
|-
|9 October 1896
|''Sorpresa de unos jugadores por la policía''
|
|-
|7 December 1896
|''La cuerda de monos/Danza de monos''
| rowspan="12" |Maracaibo
|
|-
| rowspan="7" |29 December 1896
|''Ejercicio de carrera por la caballería americana''
|
|-
|''La cremación de Juana de Arco''
|In color
|-
|''Ecos del carnaval''
|In color
|-
|''Baño natural/Baño matinal''
|
|-
|''El camaleón''
|Serpentine second take
|-
|''Sun dance''
|Second version
|-
|''El incendio de una casa cochera''
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |28 January 1897
|''Los Campos Elíseos''
|
|-
|''[[Un célebre especialista sacando muelas en el gran Hotel Europa]]''
|First Venezuelan-made film shown in the country
|-
|''[[Muchachos bañándose en la laguna de Maracaibo]]''
|
|-
|''[[L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat|La llegada de un tren]]''
|
|-
|26 June to 14 July 1897
|Unknown
| rowspan="5" |Caracas
|Screenings at Circo Metropolitano<ref name="sueiro" />^:61-64
|-
|August 1897
|Unknown
|Screening by Veyre at Salón de la Fortuna<ref name="azuaga" />^:29
|-
| rowspan="2" |26 November 1897
|''[[Una paliza en el estado Sarría]]''
|
|-
|''[[Carlos Ruiz peleando con un cochero]]''
|
|-
|14 March 1899
|''Pasión y muerte de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo''
|Screening at the Archbishop's Palace<ref name="azuaga" />^:31
|}
-->
== References ==




[[Category:1900s in film]]
[[Category:1900s in Venezuela]]
[[Category:Cinema of Venezuela]]

December 06, 2019 at 01:29PM