This monograph analyses the transition from silent to sound cinema in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Quito, Ecuador. In addition to being the first study of this kind on the film history of Ecuador, Quito’s location makes an interesting case study that it differs from other cities, even in Ecuador, since it is a landlocked capital city located in the highlands. 

With no digital newspapers available in Ecuador, this thesis is based on printed newspapers and manually photographed news. Thousands of pieces of research material were found in the local dailies of different archives in Quito searched under the premise of cinema. All press clippings were read and analyzed in detail. The material was interpreted by using the historical method and also by drawing on Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis. Among the most important conclusions, it becomes clear that sound cinema dominated the cinematographic scene in Quito much before the first screenings of the first sound films, which took place in September 1930. This occurred because sound cinema was widely discussed in the local dailies and magazines since 1928, much before the screening of this novel technology to Quito. Therefore, by the time the first sound films were shown in the city people had already been well aware of the pros and cons of this technology and indeed locals demanded the arrival of sound cinema in the city.