National Cinema Day in Chile

Chilean cinema was born shortly after the birth of cinema when the documentary Una cueca en Cavancha, directed by Luis Oddo Osorio, premiered at the Iquique Philharmonic on May 20, 1897, one of the first Chilean films to be made and shown in this country. Prior to that, entrepreneur Francisco de Paula showed the kinescope in Santiago on February 17, 1895, and the first public screening of Lumière Brothers films took place in the Chilean capital. The first public screening of the Lumière brothers' films took place on August 25, 1896, at the Unión Central Theater in the Chilean capital.

National Cinema Day, established in 1993 by the Ministry of Education, is intended to highlight the validity and importance of this medium of artistic and cultural expression.