Luis Manuel Méndez

It was while he was in New York that early demonstrations from competing cinema companies took place; Méndez was inspired to get into the business, which he saw to be profitable, and made a deal for distribution rights with the Vitascope across both Venezuela and neighboring Colombia.

[3]:43 For many years[note 1] records instead indicated that the Vitascope was introduced by contemporary Manuel Trujillo Durán, whom Méndez employed at the time.

[3]:42-43[8] What was thought to be the first film screening in Venezuela was held on 11 July 1896,[3]:43 a fact discovered in documentation found at Harvard in 1991.

[3]:44 After the screenings in Maracaibo, Trujillo was put under contract by Méndez to take the projector around Venezuela and Colombia, distributing and marketing films.

[8] He originally returned to Maracaibo in November 1896 after touring Venezuela and with a collection of new films that he wished to show, but was sent to Colombia instead.