Inter-American Affairs

ATACAMA DESERT (1943)
Series Title: State Department South America Series
Country/Location: Chile
Production Company / Filmmaker: Julien Bryan
Cinematographer: Julien Bryan, William James
Additional Production Crew / Credits: Graphics by Philip Stapp; Script by Tom Cobb; Music by Louis Horst; Narrated by Julien Bryan
Running Time: 17 min.
Sponsor Agency / Organization: U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
Years Filmed: 1943
Decade of Production: 1940s
Film Gauge: 35mm
Stock: B&W Nitrate
Footage Count: 601'
Sound: Narrated

Film Summary: Life and industry in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile showing traditional and modern methods of mining copper, nitrate, and iron; desert nomads; and the towns of Chiuchiu, Andacoya, Antofagasta, and Tocopilla. There is a study of the Chuquicamata mining community. Scenes of an Andacoya Christmas fiesta with an Indian juggler and poet on stilts, and of men playing golf on the sand dunes. (Jane M. Loy, Latin American Research Review, vol.12 no.3, 1977)

Notes: Made for the Federal Government (FDR good neighbor policy). Julien Bryan contracted by FDR administration. Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Nelson Rockefeller, in charge of contracting filmmakers to make movies in South America. There are 23 films in the CI-AA series.