Eugène Py

Who was Eugène Py?

Eugène Py was a major early French cameraman, cinematographer and film director and is widely considered the founding pioneer of the Cinema of Argentina.

Born in Carcassonne, Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon, France he moved to Buenos Aires in the late 1880s.

He began working for the Belgian Henri Lepage and the Austrian Max Glücksmann at the 'Casa Lepage', a photographic supplies business in Buenos Aires. The three all saw the debut of the Lumière Cinématographe in Argentina, in Buenos Aires on 28 July 1896, at the Teatro Odéon.

Lepage then imported the first French cinematographic equipment into the country. In 1897, using a Gaumont camera, Py subsequently shot what was for some time considered the first Argentine film, of the Flag of Argentina, La Bandera Argentina. Py continued to produce films for exhibition at the Casa Lepage for several years, working as part of the cross-national film production, distribution and exhibition system developed by Glücksmann in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

Py's early films included Visita del Dr Campos Salles a Buenos Aires