August 25, 1896 saw the first moving pictures shown in Santiago de Chile.
The first Chile film lasted 3 minutes and was of Santiago's firefighters which was shown in Valparaiso, in 1902.
The beginning of the history of Chile movies is credited as 1910, with Sienna's El Húsar de la Muerte (the Fighter of Death). The same year fifteen films were completed, a feat not to be repeated until nearly a century later.
For decades an average of 5 Chile movies were produced. The considered godfathers of the industry are those who directed films up until the mid 1920's, although many would agree that the industry didn't really begin properly until the Chilean government injected finance into the industry in 1967. The government had tried incentives back in 1938 when Chile had some of Latin America's most advanced movie studios, but production continued to be low.
The new democracy of the 1990's provided a fresh spur for Chile's movie industry and Chile slowly started to make its mark in the international market. 14 Chile movies were produced in 2006. By 2009, the annual number of Chile movies had surpassed 20 and in 2010 a total of 26 films were presented at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
