Perhaps best known for its documentary films, Uruguay is a relatively small country, with a population of just 3.5 million people. Sandwiched between its two far larger neighbours, Argentina and Brazil, both of which exert a considerable amount of economic and cultural influence, Uruguay is today a secular, relatively stable country with a liberal, well-educated population and a thriving film industry, albeit on a fairly small scale.
Not that Uruguay has been without political instability – the era of the Tupamaros guerrillas in the early 1960s, and the torture, mass arrests and wide scale intimidation that followed in the 1970s and 1980s, still scar the memories of citizens who lived during those times.
Up until the 1990s, Uruguayan film-makers largely confined themselves to the making of documentaries, with occasional forays into the production of full length dramas. This has largely been down to economic factors. Indeed, for many years, the allure of films from Hollywood, always plentiful and attractive to local distributors, made it hard for native would-be moviemakers to compete.
Interestingly, the first feature film to be made and shown in Uruguay was made in 1898. The successful Bicycle Race in the Arroyo Seco Velodrome was made by businessman Felix Oliver, who also established the first Uruguayan film studio. Oliver later joined forces with French-born Henri Corbicier to make The Peace of 1904, documenting the strife and subsequent resolution of a pivotal era in Uruguayan political history.
After that, there were The Little Hero of Arroyo de Oro, 1929, is considered to be the first commercially successful Uruguayan filmno further important productions until 1923, which saw Juan Antonio Borges’ successful, full-length feature, Almas de la Costa (Souls of the Coast). The only other notable offering at the time was Carlos Alonso’s social commentary The Little Hero of Arroyo de Oro in 1929 – generally considered to be the first commercially successful Uruguayan film.
The thirties saw the introduction of sound – and the 1936 the film Two Destinies from the Ciclolux studios. A documentary was also made of the 1930 football World Cup, which Uruguay hosted that year. Sadly, film production suffered as a result of political repression, the Depression as well as strong competition from Argentina and other, larger Spanish-speaking countries like Mexico and Spain.
Despite this, there were a number of artistic collaborations between Uruguayan filmmakers and directors from other countries, principally Argentina, including The Thief of Dreams, made in the 1940s. For the most part, though, the Uruguayan film industry confined itself to the making of small-scale documentaries.
The genre really came into its own in the 1960s when, against a background of increasing socio-political volatility, Mario Handler began to make Cinéma Vérité-style films designed to generate debate and raise awareness about the plight of those exploited and disadvantaged by the change in economic and political conditions. The Uruguayan film industry could arguably be said to have been plunged directly into Third Cinema. Handler’s 1965 Carlos: Portrait of a Montevideo Panhandler, co-directed with Ugo Ulive, Elections (1967), I Like Students (1968), and Liber Arce: Liberation (1970) are prime examples of this period. Sadly, as Handler’s reputation grew, he became more of a target for harassment by the authorities. As a result, he was forced to abandon The Problem with Meat and flee to Venezuela in 1972. The same year, the well-known French language docu-drama State of Siege made its appearance, drawing attention to the political situation in Uruguay.
After After Handler’s exile, the Uruguayan film industry chose to concern itself with less controversial topicsHandler’s exile, the Uruguayan film industry chose to concern itself with less controversial topics. One success story that emerged during this period was Eduardo Darino’s Guri´ (1980), a story about a gaucho (cowboy), which was later adapted for US television.
In 1994, as the economy began to recover, funding for local films became more available. Thanks to the formation of public funding bodies like INA (Instituto Nacional del Audiovisual), a government initiative, and FONA (Fondo Nacional del Audiovisual), an initiative of the city of Montevideo, works such as the acclaimed Almost True Story of Pepita the Gunslinger by Beatriz Flores Silva were able to be produced.
Uruguay had meanwhile joined MERCOSUR, a common market of South American states in 1991 and Ibermedia, a film-financing pool with headquarters in Spain. This made it feasible for the first time for Uruguayan films to be marketed internationally, enabling local filmmakers to gain wider recognition for their work.
There were also a number of critically acclaimed and financially successful low-budget productions, some using video technology, that were made in the 1990s. In addition to Almost True Story of Pepita the Gunslinger, there was Pablo Dotta’s The Dirigible (1994), and A Way to Dance (1997).
Given impetus from increasing access to international funding, the Uruguayan film industry continued to expand. The list of directors who have received international acclaim since then has grown to include Pablo Stoll (25 Watts, 2002) and Juan Pablo Rebello (Whisky, 2003). The dark comedy Whisky received an award at the Cannes Film Festival and, together with 25 Watts, is ranked in the top 100 Iberoamerican movies. Mention should also be made of Marcelo Bertalmio, who received the Audience Award at the Valladolid International Film Festival for his existential movie, Noise (2005).
Today, Uruguay produces five films per year on average and also hosts several annual festivals. Uruguay has also become favoured as a film location by virtue of its natural scenic assets.
