Film made its debut in Guatemala in September 1897 when a colleague of the Lumiere brothers brought moving pictures to the capital city.
Guatemala's own film premiere was not until 1905 when a documentary was produced about a festival in Guatemala city.
Detective movies were popular in the 1920's and in the 1930's the Guatemalan government who had seen the communication value benefits of the cinema, was also using it extensively.
The first of the Guatamalan movies with sound was El Sombrerón, produced by the director Eduardo Fleischman in 1950. Most other movies produced from the 50's to the 70's were combined productions with Mexico, for both financial and safety reasons with war in Guatemala.
Ultimately, the country's movie industry never developed due to the wars which continued for most of the century. When peace was declared in 1996, the Guatemala film industry slowly began to find its feet.
The Icaro International film festival was started 2 years later, screening works from Guatemala, Central America and foreign films. The ethos of the festival still continues to be the promotion of regional movie production and the strengthening of Guatemala's position in the international film circuits and scenes.
Notable Guatemala movies of the new century include Llamada por Cobrar (Collect Call, 2002) and El Silencio de Neto (The Silence of Neto, 2004) both by Luis Argueta.
