Moving Picture Postcard from Colombia
Feb. 16, 2011—
CALI, Colombia—-Across the boulevard from the briskly flowing Cali River there is a place where time stands still.
A storefront shop sits between the Nomeolvides (Forget Me Not) Floristeria where yellow roses bloom during the day and the Escoces’ strip club where black petals fall at night.
Between the passionate curtains Hugo Suarez Fiat keeps his collection of 20 vintage movie theater projectors in the small storefront on Cali Avenue.
The steel dream machines are from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and have been salvaged from old movie theaters in Colombia.
There’s twin projectors from Teatro Damasco in the small town of Restrepo, two hours northwest of Cali. Suarez Fiat found a beautiful green 1952 projector from from Yugoslavia. Most of the machines were made in the United States.
Suarez Fiat, 61, is restoring the projectors and soon hopes to open a cinemagraphy museum called:
Caliwood.
Thumbs up!
“The Sirius” (treadmark) made in Spain with American parts (circa 1954).
Saved from Teatro Teusaquillo in Bogota;’,
I’m supposed to be on vacation but I can’t stop finding stories even under the sunny 84 degree skies of Colombia’s third largest city.
I don’t have a car. I discovered Suarez Fiat’s workshop by walking around the El Penon’ neighborhood in search of Mountain Dew. He was excited to talk.
Within every collector there’s a waiting connection.
“I love museums,” he said during a Wednesday afternoon conversation in his shop. “I love movies. I would like this to remain with the idea of people going to the movies.
“Cali has almost two and a half million people. Do you know what most Calenos do on Saturday and Sundays? They go the malls.”
People here kiss each other on the cheek, hold hands and even throw a table full of red rose petals on a restaurant dining room table for a surprise Valentine’s Day—-when Colombians celebrate Valentine’s Day on Sept. 17, which they call “Friendship & Love Day.” They believe in movies.
Restaurant Platillos Voladores (“Flying Saucer”) Feb. 15 in Cali
Suarez Fiat is a native of Cali. He has practiced law in Cali for 30 years. His mother Yolanda Fiat De Suarez owns the Floristeria.
Suarez Fiat knows of only one other person who collects old movie projectors.
He has met Steven Krams of Miami, Fla. who has 400 projectors. Last fall Krams opened the Coral Gables Art Cinema in downtown Coral Gables, Fla. which shows films with a vintage 35 m.m. projector.
Before reeling into the specifics of his collection Suarez Fiat gave me a primer on the Colombian film industry.
The first film made in Colombia was in 1922. Spanish director Maximo Calvo came to Cali in 1921 and began work on “La Maria” which depicted the classic Colombian romantic novel “Maria” written in 1867 by Jorge Isaacs. The grandiose estate where Isaacs spent his youth is about an hour northeast of Cali. I brought the book along for my trip. Itis a stunning marriage of love and South American nature.
Maximo Calvo
Suarez Fiat walked over to a huge projector.
He had a sunset glitter in his eye.
“This one is of historical value,” he said looking at the Super Simplex projector made in Cleveland, Ohio. “It used to belong to the first theater in Cali: Teatro Jorge Isaacs, named after the writer of ‘La Maria’! This projector came to Cali in 1932. This was the first time people could hear the sound.” The projector’s Peerless lamp was manufactured in Aurora, Illinois.
My first newspaper job was at the Aurora Beacon-News.
It is a small world.
Colombia’s second big hit was the silent film “Garras de oro” (“Claws of Gold”) made in 1926. “That was funny,” Suarez Fiat said with a chuckle. “Because it was against the U.S. It was when Teddy Roosevelt took Panama away from Colombia. The 1903 U.S. aggression led to the construction of the Panama Canal. “Garras de oro” was only rediscovered in 1982 at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
As a teenager in the late 1960s Suarez Fiat met Andres’ Caicado, who became an esteemed film critic in Colombia. Caicado, Carlos Mayolo of Bogota’ and movie director Luis Ospina stated a movie industry that flourished in Cali up through the late 1970s. (Today Ospina runs an annual movie festival in Cali., Caicado committed suicide at age 25.)
Cali’s balmy weather and lush palm trees were reminiscent of Los Angeles, thus came the name Caliwood
o
“About three, four years ago the boom came back with the movie ‘The King’ ‘[”El Rey, 2004] about the beginning of drug trafficking in Cali,” Suarez Fiat explained. “It was done by (Jose’) Antonio Dorado and filmed in Cali. That movie has been all over Latin American and on Cinemax.”
Suarez Fiat finds his projectors in odd places across Colombia.
He discovered the Teatro Jorge Isaacs twin projectors about 10 years ago on an antique cart in downtown Cali. He said he paid $250. “People walk by and think these are big cameras,” he said. “They are movie projectors!
Suarez Fiat does not have a truck to cart the 600-pound machines to his storefront across from the Cali River. He takes the machines apart and reassembles them in his magical space. All the machines work. He can find parts in Miami and in Colombia.
Remarkably, the projectors are in good shape.
“If you are in a little town in Colombia and you present a movie every Friday and Saturday and everybody paid one dollar, what are you going to do with the movie projectors?,” he asked. “You are going to love them. You protect them.”
Suarez Fiat has been married for 21 years. His wife Gloria is “okay” with his movie projector obsession, in her husband’s word. He paused and said, “She understands. Sometimes she asks, ‘Why is it my turn with this guy? But she helps with my vision.”.
What is Suarez Fiat’s favorite movie?
“Al Pacino’s ‘Scent of a Woman;’,” he answered. “I used to love the American films from the 1960s like “Ben Hur,” Lawrence of Arabia,” or “The Ten Commandments.” That era was pretty exciting for Colombia. Everybody was amazed. But now when I see them I find them even funny.”
What about cinematographer/comic Jerry Lewis?
“Very much!” Suarez Fiat answered. “He was very funny. It’s difficult for comedy and jokes to translate in Colombia. The jokes are not the same. But he did so much more with his face. He was fantastic.
“Is he still alive?”
Yes he is and he would love to see Caliwood.
Hello Dave: It would be a great pleasure to hear from you again. Now, in 2018, “CALIWOOD, the Cinematography Museum” is going to celebrate its six year after I was able to open the facilities for the public. When I met you in 2011 I had somethying like 20 projectors, now the Museums collection exceeds more than 800 objects in between cameras, film making cameras, domestic projectors, professional projectors, more than 250 posters and all sorts of paraphernalia related to the movies. The Museum permanent collection is absolutely incredible. Seven years and a half after I met you the Museum is becoming a major attraction in Cali and we get tourist from all over the world. People from Cali is just discovering the Museum. Doing the Museum means a lot of work, I have to work from monday through sunday… Everyday means a lot of excitement and people do a lot of promises for the Museum, that sometimes they accomplihs. Please answer back. It will be a great privilege to send you photos of the Museum I have created ¡ I did not fail, when I gave you my word about creating the Museum ! If you come back to Cali you will not believe the progress of the Museum
Yours sincerely,
Hugo from CALIWOOD