Cinema of Colombia
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The Cinema of Colombia (Spanish: Cine de Colombia) or Colombian Cinema (Spanish: Cine colombiano) refers to the historic evolution of cinematography in Colombia. The Colombian cinema has struggled to develop a solid industry through out its history[citation needed]. During the beginning of the 20th century some production companies tried to maintain a level of constant production but due to lack of government support and the strong international industries ended up diminishing the initiatives. In the 1980s the government of Colombia helped to develop the state owned Cinematographic Development Company (Compañía de Fomento Cinematográfico FOCINE) which helped to produce some films but also struggled to maintain financially. FOCINE was liquidated in the beginning of the 1990s. In 1997 the Colombian congress approved Law 397, Article 46 or the General Law of Culture with the purpose of supporting and complementing the development of the movie industry in Colombia by creating a cinematography promotion mixed fund called Corporación PROIMAGENES en Movimiento (PROIMAGES in motion Corporation).[1] In 2003 Congress also approved the Law of Cinema which helped to restart the cinematographic industry in Colombia.
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[edit] History
The history of Colombian cinema started in 1897 when the first Cinématographe arrived in the country, two years after the invention of cinematography by Auguste and Louis Lumière in Paris. Back then the port city of Colón (in Panama but was part of Colombia), Barranquilla, Bucaramanga and later arrived to the capital Bogotá where in August of that same year the cinématographe was presented in the Municipal Theater (later demolished).
[edit] First years
Soon After the introduction of the cinematographe in Colombia, the country engulfed in a civil war known as the thousand days war causing the suspension of all film productions. The first films were usually of themes portraying nature and moments of the Colombian everyday life. The exhibition of these films was dominated by the Di Domenico brothers who owned the Salón Olympia in Bogotá. The Di Domenico Brothers also produced the first film documentary in Colombia called "El drama del quince de Octubre (The Drama of October the fifteenth) which was intended to celebrate the centenary of the Battle of Boyacá and also narrated the assassination of General Rafael Uribe Uribe, provoking polemic in those days.[2]
[edit] Silent films
- See also: Silent film
During the first years film producers almost exclusively portrayed nature and everyday life in their films until 1922, when the first fiction film appeared, called "María" (no copies of this film exist anymore). The film was directed by Máximo Calvo Olmedo an Spanish immigrant who worked as film distributor in Panama and was hired to travel to the city of Cali where he would direct and manage the film photography of this film based on the novel by Jorge Isaacs, María.[3]
Another pioneer of the Colombian cinema was Arturo Acevedo Vallarino a producer and theater director from Antioquia who lived in Bogotá. After the introduction and fascination foreign films caused in Colombia, theaters no longer were as profitable and Acevedo decided to found a film production company called Acevedo e Hijos (Acevedo and sons).[4] Acevedo and sons has been longest lasting production company in Colombia and which existed from 1923 to 1946 and the only one to survive the 1930s crisis caused by the "Great Depression". Acevedo and sons produced the films "La tragedia del silencio" (The Tragedy of Silence) in 1924 and "Bajo el cielo antioqueño" (Under the sky of Antioquia) in 1928. Under the Sky of Antioquia was financed by back then local magnate Gonzalo Mejía. The film was criticized for being elitist but despite this the film had a somewhat positive acceptance among the public. Films in Colombia were mostly based on themes such as Nature, folklore and nationalism with some exceptions in literature. In 1926 the film Garras de oro (Claws of Gold) which was based on a political issue, the separation of Panama from Colombia and which criticized the role of the United States.[5]
[edit] 1930s Crisis
In 1928 the Colombian company Cine Colombia purchased the Di Domenico film studios which decided to commercialize international films only due to their financial reasons. International films were preferred before Colombian films. For this reason from 1928 until 1940 there was only one film produced in Colombia, the "Al son de las guitarras" by Alberto Santa but this was never shown in theaters. Colombians were more interested on films from "Hollywood". The Colombian film industry enthusiasts in those days did not have the finances, technology or adequate preparation to develop the national cinema. While movies in Colombia were filmed in silence films, the international industry was already exploiting the color and sound films putting the Colombian cinema in disadvantage.
In the 1940s a businessman from Bogotá called Oswaldo Duperly founded the Ducrane Films and produces numerous films despite the competition faced against the Argentine and Mexican cinema which after 1931 drafted to a third position in preference among Colombians.[6] During this time the only production company that survived was the Acevedo and sons until the year 1945.
During the 1950s Gabriel García Márquez and Enrique Grau attempted to restart the industry. In 1954 both artists, a writer and a painter respectively created a surrealistic short film "La langosta azul" (The Blue Lobster). Garcia Marquez continued in the industry as a scriptwriter while Grau continued painting.
[edit] Pornomiseria cinema
The Pornomiseria (porno-misery) cinema surged during the 1970s to classify the films with a high content of poverty and human misery to make money and gain international recognition. The intention of the name was coined by film critics in Colombia, not used to criticized the content of the film but to name the style of the crators which with a poor knowledge of the subject and far from the social compromise sent these films to Europe. Films like Gamín (1978) by Ciro Durán, a documentary film about children living on the streets, which included takes without profound investigation behind the social problems and without a truthful scholarly opinion. This type of film making was criticized by the Group of Cali, a group of filmmakers mainly represented by Carlos Mayolo and Luis Ospina which produced the documentary Agarrando Pueblo with an air of satire for the Pornomiseria films.
Criticism to the pornomiseria argued that these type of film making did not treat subjects with profoundness instead made a superficial approach to the issues. The pornomiseria was specially popular in Colombia and Brazil were it was dubbed as "pornochanchada".[7]
[edit] Cinematographic Fomenting Company (FOCINE)
On July 28, 1978 the Compañía de Fomento Cinematográfico (FOCINE) (Cinematographic Fomenting Company) through Decree 1924 of this same year is established to administer the Cinematographic Fomenting Fund which had been created a year after, in 1977. FOCINE was first adjudicated to the Colombian Ministry of Communications which in a period of ten years supported 29 films and a number of short films and documentaries. Corruption in the administration led to the closing of FOCINE 1993.[8] During this period the productions of Carlos Mayolo transcended and introduced new forms of film making into the Colombian cinema with the exploration of unconventional languages. Gustavo Nieto Roa helped to develop comedies with an influence from the Mexican cinema.
During the last decade of the 20th Century, the Colombian government liquidated FOCINE forcing film makers to co-produce films with other countries, mainly from Europe and private capital investors. Despite this some important productions developed such as "La estrategia del caracol" by Sergio Cabrera which won numerous international prizes and awakening a national interest on national films. Another successful film director and producer was Víctor Gaviria who with a social theme created "The Rose Seller" La vendedora de Rosas also gaining national and international good reviews among many other successes such as "Bolívar soy yo" (I Am Bolivar, 2002) by Jorge Alí Triana.[9]
[edit] Law of Cinema
In 2003 the Colombian government passed the Law of Cinema which standardized help for the local cinema production. Numerous productions were sponsored by the government generating a success in the local box office such as "Soñar no cuesta nada" by Rodrigo Triana with one million two hundred thousand spectators, at the moment an attendance without precedents in Colombia[10] or the film "El colombian dream" by Felipe Aljure which achieved a technical innovations and a narrative never used in the Colombian cinema.
Law 814 of 2003, also known as the Law of Cinema was approved after a second debate in the Colombian senate. The senate established the funding of the Colombian cinema through taxes collected from distributors, exhibitors and film producers. The collection was set up to be destined to support film producers, short films documentaries and public project. Funds collected are administered by the PROIMAGENES Cinematographic Production Mix Fund.[1]
During the second term of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez the government presented a tax reform to cut funding to the Law of Cinema, the president was criticized for this[11] but the minister of Culture Elvira Cuervo de Jaramillo lobbied in the Ministry of Finance to impede this law into affecting the financial resources destined to the Colombian cinema. The minister of Finance agreed to protect the benefits for the film industry.[12]
[edit] International projection
The Colombian cinema has had a very low presence in internation events, despite this some documentaries during the 1970s had a relative success such as "Chircales" (1972), by Marta Rodríguez and Jorge Silva which won international prizes and recognition.
During the 1990s gained notoriety after his film "La estrategia del caracol" (the strategy of the snail) and Víctor Gaviria with his films "Rodrigo D: No futuro" (1990) and "La vendedora de rosas" (1998) which was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
In the 2000s actress Catalina Sandino Moreno was nominated for an Academy Award for her acting in the Colombian American production Maria full of Grace. She also was nominated for best female acting at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2004 and won sharing it with actress Charlize Theron.
[edit] Film Festivals
Many film festivals take place in Colombia, but the two most important are the Cartagena Film Festival functioning every year since 1960 presenting Latin American and Spanish movies and the Bogotá Film Festival.
[edit] Shows and distribution
In Colombia there are four major commercial movie theather chains: Cine Colombia, Cinemark, Procinal and Royal Films among many other independent movie theaters like the Cinemateca Distrital de Bogotá and Los Acevedos in the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá.
[edit] Openings in Colombia
| Año | Box office openings from the Colombian film industry | Foreign Box office openings | Total box office openings | Percentage of Colombian box office openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 2 | 274 | 276 | 0.72% |
| 1994 | 1 | 267 | 268 | 0.37% |
| 1995 | 2 | 249 | 251 | 0.805 |
| 1996 | 3 | 270 | 273 | 1.10% |
| 1997 | 1 | 251 | 252 | 0.40% |
| 1998 | 6 | 237 | 243 | 2.47% |
| 1999 | 3 | NA | NA | NA |
| 2000 | 4 | 200 | 204 | 1.96% |
| 2001 | 7 | 196 | 203 | 3.45% |
| 2002 | 8 | 176 | 180 | 2.22% |
| 2003 | 5 | 170 | 175 | 2.86% |
| 2004 | 8 | 159 | 167 | 4.79% |
| 2005 | 8 | 156 | 164 | 4.88% |
| 2006 | 8 | 154 | 162 | 4.94% |
| [13][14][15] |
[edit] See also
- List of Colombian films
- Cartagena Film Festival
- Bogotá Film Festival
[edit] References
- ^ a b (Spanish) Proimagenes en Movimiento: Origen proimagenescolombia.com Accessed 26 August 2007.
- ^ (Spanish) Luis Angel Arango Library: Fin del periodo "primitivo" Luis Angel Arango Library Accessed 26 August 2007.
- ^ (Spanish) Luis Angel Arango Library: Calvo, Máximo; Biografía Luis Angel Arango Library Accessed 26 August 2007.
- ^ (Spanish) Luis Angel Arango Library: Entrevista con Gonzalo Acevedo Luis Angel Arango Library Accessed 26 August 2007.
- ^ Hernando Martínez Pardo, Historia del Cine Colombiano, Editorial América Latina, pages 50 to 55 and 80.
- ^ Cuadernos de cine colombiano Nº 23, pages 2-5 March 1987 Publicación periódica de la Cinemateca Distrital, Maria Elvira Talero y otros autores
- ^ (Portuguese) Universidade Estacio de Sa: A VIGÊNCIA DA PORNOCHANCHADA NA DITADURA MILITAR Universidade Estacio de Sa Accessed 26 August 2007.
- ^ (Spanish) COLARTE: Historia del cine en Colombia Colarte.com Accessed 27 August 2007.
- ^ [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/03/29/5th_ibero_american_film_fest.html (Portuguese) Senses of Cinema: Rescuing the Image: The 5th Ibero-American Film Festival, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia] Senseofcinema.com Accessed 27 August 2007.
- ^ (Spanish) Pro Imagenes Colombia: La taquillera Soñar no cuesta nada se lanza en DVD y gana premio del público en Chicago proimagenes colombia.com Accessed 27 August 2007.
- ^ Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, printed edition of August 20, 2006, pages 2.1 and 2.2
- ^ (Spanish) MINCULTURA: La Ley de Cine en propuesta de Reforma Tributaria mincultura.gov.co Accessed 26 August 2007.
- ^ Exhibición y distribución
- ^ *1993 - 1999, "Impacto del sector fonográfico sobre la economía colombiana: situación actual y perspectivas" Zuleta, Jaramillo, Reina, Fedesarrollo, 2003.
- ^ *2000 - 2006, Dirección de Cinematografía, Cinecolombia
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Fundación Patrimonio Filmico Colombiano
- (Spanish) Fondo Mixto de Promoción Cinematográfica PROIMAGENES en Movimiento
- (Spanish) Cinemateca Distrital de Bogotá
- (Spanish) Movie Theater of Los Acevedo in the Museum of Modern Arts of MAMBO
- (Spanish) Law of Cinema
- (Spanish) Cartagena Film Festival
- (Spanish) Bogotá Film Festival
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