10 · 06 · 10 Alva Brothers Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard Mariana Linares translated by Cindy Hawes The 23-minute long film was shown for the first time at the Teatro Lírico in Mexico City in 1913. The audience’s reaction ranged from laughter to astonishment as images of everyday life in Mexico City were reflected on the screen. Nearly 100 years later, and thanks to the meticulous restoration and conservation work by the Filmoteca of the UNAM, one of the Alva brothers’ most emblematic films will once again astonish the public – this time in Morelia. This well-deserved tribute to the Alva brothers at the 8th Morelia International Film Festival has two objectives: first, to continue FICM’s yearly tradition of celebrating one of the figures of cinema born in Michoacán, such as Stella Inda, Miguel Contreras Torres, Ezequiel Carrasco, Fernando Méndez García, Lilia Prado and Julio Alemán; and second, to celebrate the centennial of the Mexican Revolution. The Alva brothers, along with Salvador Toscano, Antonio Ocañas and Jesús H. Albitia, were the first Mexican documentary filmmakers who shot Mexican daily life and the beginnings of the revolutionary movement. With a heavy Pathé camera, the Alva brothers filmed for the first time what was happening in Michoacán in 1908. Their first period includes the short films Kermesse en la Alameda de Santa María, Calle del Empedradillo, Plaza de la Constitución, Estatua de Colón en la Reforma, La nevada del 11 de febrero and Inauguración del tráfico internacional por el Istmo de Tehuantepec. Then they took off for Mexico City, leaving behind a bicycle factory they owned in Michoacán to fully devote themselves to cinema. The Alva Hermanos label was seen in film screenings, distributions and productions in the beginning decades of the 20h century. The brothers were not only interested in filming what happened before their eyes, but they also had to promote their films and make theirs and those of other Mexicans reach a larger audience. As film entrepreneurs, the Alva brothers built the Academia Metropolitano theater in 1906 in Mexico City, and afterwards they opened the Cine Casino and the María Guerrero, located in the Peralvillo neighborhood. As successful businessmen, the Alva brothers also found a good commercial niche in the distribution of cinematographic equipment. From the early 1900s, they were the distributors for the companies, P. Avelline y De Lalande, and dealers for the European photographic labels Pathé, Gaumont, Le Film d’Art, Éclair, Lux and Eclipse. They shot bullfights, civic events in Morelia, parties in the capital, political celebrations and tours of Francisco I. Madero and Pino Suárez one year before the Revolution. In 1909, they conducted one of the first news documentaries in Mexican cinema: La entrevista Díaz- Taft (The Díaz-Taft Interview) about Pres. Porfirio Díaz’s trip to El Paso, Texas, to meet with U.S. President William Howard Taft. This work required a pre-production process, a script and editing to portray the two realities of the neighboring countries. They directed and produced other documentaries, such as Las fiestas del centenario de la Independencia (1910), La insurrección de México (1911), Viaje del señor Madero de Ciudad Juárez a la Ciudad de México (1911), Revolución orozquista (1912), and La decena trágica (1913). In 1930, Alva Hermanos closed operations, leaving behind thousands of feet of film that portrayed the reality of a country in constant change and full of surprises -- both in front of and behind the camera. The 8th Morelia International Film Festival celebrates the Alva brothers and their contribution to Mexican cinema that had a solid and vanguard beginning in Michoacán.
