José María Velasco Maidana

He was born in Sucre, Bolivia, in 1899, and studied music composition and direction in Buenos Aires. A pioneer of Bolivian cinema, he founded the production company Urania and directed many documentary short films, as well as the full-length features La profecía del lago (1925) and Hacia la gloria (1931), following which he left his country to dedicate solely to his music. He died in New York in 1989.