Abstract

This paper aims to explore the cinematographic representation of Valparaíso (Chile) in the fiction cinema made from 1902 (date of its first known recording) to 2019 with it as a main or secondary location. Our focus rests in the fundamental maritime-port character of the place, taking into consideration the port with all its various elements (places, works, functions) as well as the Port Dictrict with its peculiar bohemian personality. This itinerary allows to detect several dominant characteristics in its global representation (the wealth until the 60s, poverty and decadence from then on, tourism in the current century), a general predominance as a visual setting but not as a workplace, as well as a usually biased and not very regular attention to the bohemian world. The paper concludes a common use of the city as a visiting place, with a very reduced presence of features about its inhabitants as well its less tipical locations.