José María Velasco Maidana

José María Velasco Maidana (born around 1899, died 1989[1]) was a Bolivian film director, composer, conductor, actor, painter and dancer.[2] He was the estranged son of a Bolivian president.[3] He was married to Texas painter, Dorothy Hood.[4]

José María Velasco Maidana
Born1899
Died1989
Houston, Texas
Occupation(s)director, conductor, composer

Le Courrier describes his portrayal of indigenous Bolivians as shaped by the assimilationist ethos of his time, but also as progressive for the era, highlighting the condition of indigenous peoples, denouncing racism, and raising the question of their role in society.[2]

Maidana is known for "his ballets and symphonic works, a number of which embrace national/native themes", but also for his films. He entered the cinema industry "at the very start of Bolivian fiction film production".

His first film, The Prophecy of the Lake (La profecía del lago), was made in 1925, on the heels of Bolivia's first ever fiction feature, Pedro Sambarino's Corazón Aymara (1925). The Prophecy of the Lake was a contemporary love story between an Aymara man and the daughter of a white landowner. The film was censored, for its "social critique" and "because it featured the love between a native man and a white woman", and was never shown. Velasco Maidana subsequently started his own production company, Urania. His next two films, Wara Wara (1930) and Hacia la Gloria (1931) were released in cinema as feature films, and Wara Wara remains "the only known surviving work from Bolivia's silent-film era". He also made short documentary films, "before returning to music".[1][2][5]

From then on, he worked exclusively on music, and also left Bolivia to work abroad. Among his notable ballets is Amerindia (1940).[6]

Maidana was introduced to Dorothy Hood in Mexico. He married Hood in 1946 and during that time, they traveled, following his conducting jobs which took them between Mexico City, New York and Houston, Texas.[3]

In the 1960s, Maidana had to quit conducting because he was showing signs of Parkinson's disease. He and Hood moved to Houston for better medical care.[3] He died in Houston in 1989.

References
  1. "Wara Wara". The Bioscope. 26 September 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  2. Perrin, Bernard (October 15, 2010). "Une révolution culturelle". Le Courrier (in French). Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  3. Gray, Lisa (23 February 2013). "Carolyn Farb seeks to resurrect Dorothy Hood". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  4. "Dorothy Hood". Dorothy Hood. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  5. Cabitza, Mattia (October 29, 2010). "Bolivia's struggle to preserve its film heritage". BBC Online. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  6. Perrin, Bernard (October 15, 2010). "L'épopée "Wara Wara"". Le Courrier (in French). Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
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