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 Programme of the film La Guerra Gaucha (The Gaucho War). Ambassador Theater. Matinee. November, 1942. |
 Cinema
arrived in Argentina soon after being launched in Paris and, in a short
time, the first national productions started to be shot. Among other attractions,
there were world-class pioneers in scientific and animation movies. But
the true industry started only in 1933, with the establishment
of sound film. The
good times, when the Argentine movies were watched all over Hispanic-America,
lasted until the early 1950s. Afterwards, the gradual closure of the big
studios, the growth of television, the stagnation of popular cinema and
the isolation of auteur cinema imposed other rules. On the basis of these
new rules, present-day Argentina cinema has been reduced as to quantity
and market, but it retains a special quality, which has been acknowledged
worldwide. |
| The
first filmic exhibition, with a picture of the Lumiére's, took
place on July, 18, 1896. In 1894 the kinetoscope had already
made its arrival and, by early 1896, a kinetoscope concessionaire
had tried public projections with a device of his own invention.
In 1897, the import of French cameras started, and a Frenchman living
in Argentina, Eugene Py, became the first filmmaker and cameraman
with La bandera argentina (The Argentine Flag), a short movie.
|
 Inner pages of the programme of the film La Muchachada de a bordo (Boys on Board) |
 Programme of the film Tango. Abril 27th,1933. |
In
1898, Dr. Alejandro Posadas initiated surgical cinema by
shooting his own surgeries. In 1900, the first theaters specially intended
for movie projections and the first filmed news reports appeared.After
that, it is worth mentioning the essays of sound film in 1907; the first
fiction movie with professional actors, La revolución de mayo
(May Revolution), in 1910; the first feature-length film, Amalia, in 1914;
the first big success, Nobleza Gaucha (Gaucho Nobleness; with a
cost of 25,000 pesos and box-office collections for half a million in
six months, aside from bootleg copies) in 1915; the first animation feature-length
movie in the world, El apóstol (The Apostle), in 1917; and
the first woman director in Latin America, also in 1917.Including
melodramas, thrillers, comedies and movies with countryside subjects,
during the silent film period over 200 movies were shot, the most outstanding
ones being those with a tango climate by Agustín Ferreyra.
However, a true industry was never organized and the films were never
properly preserved. The
true industrial arose with sound films in 1933. Virtually at the same
time, Argentina Sono Film was born, with Tango (where Libertad
Lamarque, Tita Merello and Luis Sandrini made their debut); and Lumiton,
with Los tres berretines (The Three Whims). |
 Libertad Lamarque, Tita Merello and Luis Sandrini. |
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| Print material kindly granted
by the Pablo C. Ducros Hicken Cinema Museum |
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