Eugène Py

{{Infobox person

| name = Eugène Py

| image = Eugenio Py retrato.png

| caption = Eugène Py {{circa|1890–1910}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1859|05|19}}

| birth_place = Carcassonne, France

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1924|08|26|1859|05|19}}

| death_place = San Martín, Argentina

| other_names = Eugenio Py

| occupation = Filmmaker

| years_active =

| known_for = Being a pioneer in Argentine cinema

| notable_works = La bandera Argentina (1897)

}}

Eugène Py (19 May 1859 – 26 August 1924), Hispanized as Eugenio Py, was a French-born Argentine cameraman, cinematographer and film director. Py is widely considered the founding pioneer of the cinema of Argentina.{{Cite web |title=Who's Who of Victorian Cinema |url=https://www.victorian-cinema.net/py |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=victorian-cinema.net}}

Life and career

Born in Carcassonne, Py moved to Buenos Aires in the late 1880s.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Py's early films included Visita del Dr Campos Salles a Buenos Aires (1900) (the first Argentine documentary), and La Revista de la Escuadra Argentina and Visita del general Mitre al Museo Históric (1901).{{Cite web |title=Things you should know about....Argentine Cinema {{!}} Latinolife |url=https://www.latinolife.co.uk/articles/things-you-should-know-aboutargentine-cinema |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=latinolife.co.uk}} Py introduced the concept of recording history in the making in Argentina, by filming the arrival of the Brazilian president at the time accompanied by the Argentine president,{{Cite book |last=Stock |first=Ann Marie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8nugGDBnvwC&dq=Eug%C3%A8ne+Py&pg=PR29 |title=Framing Latin American Cinema: Contemporary Critical Perspectives |date=1997 |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-2973-2 |language=en}} and filming Alberto Santos-Dumont during a small recording that went on to capture what is probably the first "gag" in the country's history (a third man kept standing between Py and Dumont, interrupting the film, until he received a spit in the face, upon which recording finished).{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Py was one of the Lumière brothers' "operators".{{Cite book |last=Rist |first=Peter H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PrOMAwAAQBAJ&dq=Eug%C3%A8ne+Py&pg=PA287 |title=Historical Dictionary of South American Cinema |date=2014-05-08 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-8036-8 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Rossell |first=Deac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSSFEAAAQBAJ&dq=Eug%C3%A8ne+Py&pg=RA1-PA121 |title=Chronology of the Birth of Cinema, 1833–1896 |date=2022-10-18 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-86196-964-7 |language=en}}

He died in 1924 in San Martín, Buenos Aires.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

References

External links

{{IMDb name|0701393}}

Category:1859 births

Category:1924 deaths

Category:Argentine cinematographers

Category:Argentine film directors

Category:French cinematographers

Category:French film directors

Category:French emigrants to Argentina

Category:French cinema pioneers

Category:People from Carcassonne