The Disaster in Oaxaca
About The Disaster in Oaxaca
After the earthquake of 14 January 1931, Sergei Eisenstein and cameraman Eduard Tisse filmed the damage in Oaxaca and at Guelatova. On 17 January, back in Mexico City, Eisenstein told reporters that a church had collapsed at Guelatova during a fiesta and killed 71 people. He had been photographing there that morning with two cameramen.
Cast & crew
More about The Disaster in Oaxaca
Eisenstein was in Mexico to shoot ¡Que viva México! Grigori Aleksandrov shares the writing credit. Tisse photographed the short in black and white on 35mm. film-documentaire.fr and IMDb list it at 12 minutes. Wikidata dates the release 22 January 1931.
Themes
Background
The January 1931 Oaxaca earthquake hit while Eisenstein, Tisse, and Aleksandrov were in Mexico shooting the feature that became the unfinished ¡Que viva México!.
Making
Wikipedia's earthquake article says Eisenstein flew to Oaxaca soon after the shock. The Times account has him back in Mexico City on 17 January after filming at Guelatova that morning.
Look
Eduard Tisse shot the ruined towns in black and white on 35mm, including the church town of Guelatova.
Preservation
A copy circulates on Wikimedia Commons under the Russian title Землетрясение в Оахаке.
Notes
- The quake struck at 18:50 MST on 14 January 1931, magnitude 8.0 Ms, with a top Mercalli intensity of X. The death toll was later put at 114.
- The town of Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz was reported destroyed.
- Other titles are La destrucción de Oaxaca, El desastre en Oaxaca, and Землетрясение в Оахаке.
- The Associated Press report of Eisenstein's account ran in the New York Times on 18 January 1931.
- ¡Que viva México!, the feature he had come to make, was left unfinished.
Scenes
- Eisenstein's crew films Guelatova, where he later said 71 people died in a church.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Землетрясение в Оахаке)
