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2012 EIU Professor debuts Piedra Roja at Film Festival Journal Gazette-Times Courier

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This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in EIU in the News by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Filmmaker Gary Fritz sits at his desk Jan. 19 with a screen image of the hand-drawn and mimeographed Piedra Roja festival handbills at his home In Charleston. EIU professor debuts 'Piedra Roja' at international film fest

BY SARAH MILLER JG- TC Slaff Wnter CHARLESTON - Held up by a wrinkled passport, Gary Fritz, professor in the biologi­ cal sciences department at Eastern Illinois University, was late to his own inaugura­ tion. He was traveling to Santia­ go, Chile, for the IN-EDIT International Film and Music Documentary Festival earlier this month to introduce the inaugural film, "Piedra Roja" - his first feature film. Fortunately, by a stroke of luck that few people manage, Fritz was able to secure a new passport the next day, but still missed the chance to intro­ duce his film. Instead, Jorge Gomez, the main organizer of the that inspired the docu­ mentary, did the honors for Submitted Photo Fritz. It was 1970 when Gary Fritz, then age 17, became a co-organizer "It was the best thing that Ken Trevarthan/Staff Photographer for Piedra Roja. could have happened in terms An Invitation to a reception for Fritz's documentary and programs from the IN-EDIT Festival are of ambiance," Fritz said. "The shown at his home in Charleston. guy that made it all happen "Chile was already struggling with was up on stage. He was the most appropriate person to and media about the documen­ of social and political etat. being on the verge of civil war. The represent the film." tary that examines the ramifi­ upheaval, including the incep­ The festival, also named left and the right used the festival Fritz arrived at IN-EDIT to cations of Chile's first free tion of Salvador Allende's Piedra Roja, turned out to be to attack each other." see the second showing and rock festival, a South Ameri­ socialist government and the talk with audience members can , during a time subsequent military coup d' See FILM, 2

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Submitted Photo Audience members who attended Chile's first free rock in 1970 stand after the inaugural showing of the film 'Piedra Roja' at the IN-EDIT International Film and Music Documentary Festival. FILM From page 1 a huge mythological event, Fritz said. Fritz was 17 years old at the time and became one of the many co-organizers for the festival after meeting Gomez when his family moved from from Bolivia to Santiago the in 1970. Along with his brother, the two produced flyers on a mimeograph machine and dis­ tributed them at local parks in Santiago that were frequent hangouts for "." Piedra Roja was held on October 11, 1970, and was orig­ inally to be a one-day festival featuring a half day of music. "It was way up in the hills in the middle of nowhere. That added to the mystic of the fes­ tival," he said. People began arriving a few days early. They set up tents, built fires, and played and lis­ Submitted Photo tened to music. Newspaper articles published during and shortly after the Piedra Roja in 1970 por­ "People idealized it and trayed organizers and attendees as leftist, counter-culture, -types. romanticized it, but most peo­ ple remember how wonderful it was," Fritz said. According to Fritz, some counts estimated nearly 10,000 people attended Piedra Roja, but an exact tally was hard to come by as people were always coming and going. Police estimated the atten­ dance at 5,000 during its peak and closed the festival down the day after the musicians took to the stage, Fritz said. Local media portrayed the festival as a scandal - full of sex, drugs and music. Its organizers and attendees were stereotyped as leftist, counter­ culture, hippie-types, Fritz said. "Hippies were generally looked down upon in Chile. Parents and institutions felt threatened," he said. Congress held a special ses­ sion to prohibit smoking, and the military started pulling men off the street and cutting their hair, Fritz said. Submitted Photo Although Fritz did not expe­ Nearly 500 film enthusiasts wait for the doors to open for the inaugural showing of 'Piedra Roja' at rience any backlash himself, the IN-EDIT International Film and Music Documentary Festival. Gomez was kicked out of school and his parents' house, "It was a part of my life and I was intrigued Fritz said. "Chile was already strug­ by the status it had achieved. It was the right time gling with being on the verge to do it, but then it just sort of evolved. " of civil war. The left and the right used the festival to attack each other," Fritz said. Chilean friends and found sev­ "It was a part of my life and Perhaps none will be as Three years later, a coup d' eral of the musicians and I was intrigued by the status it emotional as "Piedra Rojas'" etat overthrew the socialist organizers of Piedra Roja. had achieved," Fritz said. "It inaugural showing in Santia­ government, but Fritz had left Fritz then said to himself, was the right time to do it, but go. Chile by that time. "You know what? I'm going to then it just sort of evolved." While stuck in the U.S. Piedra Roja became a mem­ make a film." "Piedra Roja" was chosen awaiting his passport, Fritz ory for Fritz until about three­ Fritz traveled to Chile, tot­ over Martin Scorsese's film on sent several text message to and-a-half years ago when his ing two video cameras, two the Beatles as the inaugural Gomez with notes for the inau­ father brought him a box con­ microphones and a set of film at the IN-Edit Interna­ guration. While Gomez threw taining original audio record­ lights. He conducted 75 hours tional Film Festival in Decem­ most of them out because the ings of Piedra Roja - the only of interviews in 40 days. ber and won honorable men­ speech was getting too long, recordings known to be in "It was the most intense, tion in the national film docu­ he did keep one of Fritz's existence. Around the same pleasurable month of my life, mentary category. requests. time, Paul Lowry, another fes­ and my life's been pretty Although he missed the At the end of the introduc­ tival co-organizer, posted some rich," Fritz said. "I've never inauguration and an interview tion, Gomez asked members of of the only known photographs had that many days with emo­ with CNN due to the delay the audience to stand if they of the festival on Flickr. tional and personal highs." with this passport, Fritz was had attended Piedra Roja in Soon after, Fritz read an He met and re-established able to see the second showing 1970. As they did, the audience article about a seminar titled connections with people who of his film in the same theater erupted with applause. "The Pink Lizard at Chile's were at Piedra Roja 40 years where he and many of the "It must have been a very Woodstock" that was being ago and found it interesting to Piedra Roja organizers had emotional, very magical given by Patrick Barr-Melej, recall and share their stories. once listened to some of the moment," Fritz said. an associate professor at Ohio "I was really shocked at how musicians who headlined the University. much positive energy I got festival, he said. Pink Lizard was Fritz's from everybody. There were In addition to the IN-EDIT Contact Miller at smiller@jg­ brother's alias during the fes­ endless surprises," he said. film festival, "Piedra Roja" is tc.com or 238-6847. tival. Barr-Melej had never Once returning home, Fritz scheduled for the Festival of met anyone who actually knew didn't intend to make a fea­ the Arts in Valparaiso, Chile, Pink Lizard and came to inter­ ture film, as he had no experi­ this month. The film is not yet view Fritz for his book, "Psy­ ence in filmmaking except for available to the general public, The trailer for "Piedra chedelic Chile," about the a few short films he created as Fritz plans to first run it Roja," featuring English subti­ Chilean counterculture in the for the EIU faculty union. through the film festival cir­ tles, can be seen at early 1970s. Instead, the production of cuit. http://www.youtube.com/ Whether coincidence or not, "Piedra Roja" began in Fritz's Submissions to the Buenos watch?v=FgJyNa7VWe4. Fritz found it interesting that home office as a DVD to Aires International Indepen­ he had suddenly stubbled upon archive the festival for the dent Film Festival next J anu­ EDITOR'S NOTE: Readers an apparent resurgence in the national archives in Chile. ary, as well as Sundance and should be forewarned that interest of Piedra Roja. He Fritz used the footage from his other U.S. venues, incorporat­ there is profanity in the film's opened a Facebook account, trip and other pieces he col­ ing English subtitles, are in trailer, including in the subti­ started by looking for some lected along the way. the works, Fritz said. tles.