Jaime Escudero & Juan Carlos Trupp

Animator, Artist, Character Designer, Illustrator, Painter

23/06/1914 & --

07/09/2012 & 1982

Santiago, Chile

Biography

Jaime Escudero was born on June 23, 1914 in Santiago. Juan Carlos Trupp’s date of birth is unknown.

Escudero and Trupp are best known for producing one of the earliest animations in Chile, 15 mil dibujos. The film was a box office failure, leaving the film to be their first and only animated project they worked on together.

68 years after its premiere, the Cineteca de la Universidad de Chile recognized the film as one of the earliest animated films in Chile’s history in 2010. Rediscovered by his son Rodrigo Trupp and granddaughter Kylie Trupp on two separate occasions, the film has only been partially recovered, as several parts of it are lost media.

Escudero died September 7, 2012 and Trupp died in 1982 at an unknown date.

Career outline

Escudero met Trupp as architecture students in the 1930s at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in a workshop in Santiago on the streets of Lira and Marcoleta. After discovering that the pair were compatible in their skill sets, they decided to make their first animated film, 15 mil dibujos (1942). Financing the film was not easy, but they were able to acquire a small budget thanks to the majority of its funding made by Trupp’s family and the Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile (CORFO). Some of their friends and colleagues worked on the project for free.

Despite their best efforts, Trupp and Escudero struggled to finish the film, causing them and their families to lose their morale. They needed to turn up a profit as a result of personally funding a majority of the project themselves. In 1941, when Walt Disney visited Chile, the duo were able to contact him and have him visit their studio. He consulted them on efficient animation practices, greatly pushing with the development of the film. Walt offered the two to work with him at Disney Studios, however the proposition fell through due to the circumstances of World War II.

15 mil dibujos was released in Santiago on December 24, 1942, but the film was a box office failure. Compared to the productions that Disney was releasing at the time, Trupp and Escudero could not compete with the level of quality and talent that Walt’s studio had. Unable to recover the cost, they faced several lawsuits, leaving them and their families demoralized from the entire experience and without profit. Their first film turned out to be their last one they made together, as Escudero turned away from animation and returned to his architectural studies. He then worked in architecture and urban housing and planning. He also designed the logos for the Santiago Metro stations in its initial stages, though they were later scrapped. Trupp later directed a documentary film.

References:

Ulloa, Constanza. “Carlos Trupp.” Cineteca Universidad de Chile, edited by Daniela León, n.d.

Ulloa, Constanza. “Jaime Escudero.” Cineteca Universidad de Chile, edited by Camila Tapia, n.d.

Urbina, Ana Catalina. “El arduo camino para recuperar la primera película de animación chilena.” El Mercurio, 2016.

“15 mil dibujos.” Centro Cultural La Moneda, n.d.