Directing

Gonzalo Acevedo Bernal

Biography

Actor, cameraman and film producer (Bogotá, 1900 - Cali, 1967). In 1924 he married the Belgian Carmen Halewyck, with whom he had three daughters: Lucy, Olga and Irma. He was the first of the Acevedo brothers to be linked to his father's artistic activities, playing one of the main characters in La tragedia del silencio. He learned film technique from Hernando Bernal, cameraman for the brothers Francisco and Vicente Di Doménico, and by reading manuals, but above all in practice, as a photographer for the film Bajo el cielo antioqueño. With his brother Álvaro, they complemented personalities and talents to produce silent and sound documentary films for the next twenty years. In 1932 he traveled as a cameraman with the troops that moved overland to fight in the war against Peru. His passion for the craft made him a skilled photographer and editor with magnifying glass and scissors. From 1940 to 1942 he was head of the Film Section of the Ministry of Education, appointed by then Minister Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. From 1950 he produced some documentaries and worked as cameraman for other producers. In 1955 he retired to live near Montería, and in the 1960s he sold the Acevedo brothers' archive to Esso Colombiana.