A team from the UV Film School, led by academic Rodrigo Cepeda, will recreate the classic film “Firefighters’ Exercise of 1902”, made in Valparaíso by Spanish film entrepreneurs Pijoan Trías and Juan José Pont.
The activity will take place this Sunday, May 26, from 10:00 a.m., in Plaza Sotomayor, with the collaboration of the Valparaíso Fire Department, as part of the Heritage Day activities.
On the occasion, with three cameras and a drone, the Cine UV team will reverse the original exercise that in 1902 recorded the competition between the Valparaíso companies, which arrived at Plaza Sotomayor parading from their barracks.
The film, whose duration is estimated at about three minutes, of which a little more than half remains today, was premiered in April of that year at the now defunct Odeón Theatre. For many years it was considered the first film made in Chile until the discovery of the films made by Luis Oddó in 1897.
Rodrigo Cepeda, UV Cinema academic behind the project, says that “in January of this year, Professor Luis Álvarez, from the School of Architecture, sent me the video with the restored version of the exercise along with a planimetry of Plaza Sotomayor, where he told me his calculations to determine the exact point where the camera that filmed the exercise would have been.”
“After that we started talking about the possibility of making a 2024 version and a class on the subject. We took the idea to the Valparaíso Firefighters Commander, Vicente Maggiolo, who joined in and supported us at all times, calling on the captain of the Sixth Italian Company, Ezio Passadore, to help us understand what was done in 1902 and begin to plan the 2024 version,” he comments.
“To date, the contribution of the captain of the Third Company, Daniel Briceño, with whom we have developed the definitive plan that we will execute this Sunday, May 26, who will be in charge of the execution of the exercise, has been decisive,” he explains.
Along with Cepeda, teachers and students Marcelo Raffo, Felipe Guerra, Pascual Araya, Sebastián Arias, Mario Candia, Sofia García, Morynne Fredz and Benjamín Saavedra will participate in the filming.
The 2024 version will be exhibited alongside the original in a discussion that will take place on Friday, May 31, at 11:00 a.m., at the Valparaíso Cultural Park.
