Carlos Borcosque: Learning the ropes in Hollywood (1927-1938) In September 1927, Carlos Francisco Borcosque, born in Valparaíso, Chile in 1894, arrived in Los Angeles from Santiago, with his wife Lucía Lizana and their baby daughter María Elena. He had secured an appointment as Vice Consul from the Chilean government to study the US film industry dealing with the coming of sound. He was also interested in exploring how to bring a more accurate portrait of Latin America, its people and cultures to the Hollywood screen. He must have thought, too, about finding an opportunity to work in “la Meca del cine”, the Mecca of cinema, in the phrase of the times. The Los Angeles Times noted that “believing that film stories based on historical and fictional South American data would prove popular in the Latin American countries, Carlos Francisco Borcosque, Santiago, Chile, has arrived in Los Angeles and proposes spending a year in close contact with the film industry. At the present time, according to Señor Borcosque, there are a number of films produced dealing with the topics that are uppermost in his mind, but, in a large number of instances, they lack conformity to detail that makes them appear ridiculous to the initiated in South America. The visitor presents credentials from William Miller Collier, Ambassador of the United States to Chile. He has obtained an apartment at 3218 Sunset Boulevard”. 1 A few days later, Film Daily wrote in the same vein: “Carlos Francisco Borcosque of Santiago, Chile, is here to promote the making of pictures based on historical and fictional South American data that will prove popular in Latin American countries”. 2 Borcosque was well prepared professionally to observe up close the workings of Hollywood in the midst of massive technological changes, and to eventually participate in studio projects. He had lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1906 to 1921, where he had been a journalist, writing for various magazines, such as El Hogar, Caras y Caretas and Plus Ultra. An aviation enthusiast and licensed pilot, he had also been involved with the pioneers of Argentine aviation. He had moved back to Santiago in 1922, where thanks to his father’s financial help he had set up Estudios Cinematográficos Borcosque, a production company and lab. He had directed several silent movies: Hombres de esta tierra (1923); Traición (1923); the cartoon Vida y milagros de Don Fausto (1924), adapted from the comic strip of El Mercurio newspaper; Martín Rivas (1925); Diablo fuerte (1925); and the short El huérfano (1926). He had also directed actualities and human-interest stories. Friendly, gregarious and a great conversationalist who spoke fluent English and French, Borcosque seems to have had no problems in quickly becoming an established journalist in Los Angeles, as Variety wrote in July 11, 1928: “Carlos F. Borcosque, who is a member of the Hollywood Association of Foreign Correspondents, has been granted studio privileges by the credentials committee of the WAMPAS [Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers]. 1