After leaving Chile at the age of 17, Gary Fritz returned to produce a movie that would eventually beat out Martin Scorsese’s “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” a documentary, to be shown at the IN-EDIT International Film Festival in Chile. 

Fritz is a biological sciences professor at Eastern.  The IN-EDIT International Film Festival is the largest international documentary film festival in the world.

Fritz’s “Piedra Roja” is a documentary about the history of the Red Rock Festival that took place in the hills of Santiago, Chile on Oct. 11, 1970 and the social and political implications that occurred in the aftermath.

Fritz co-produced the documentary with his wife Ann Fritz.

During the Dec. 18th film’s showing, Fritz said the crowd in attendance seemed emotionally involved because of historical relevance to Chile.

‘Little White Dove’

Fritz said the majority of Chilean people know about the festival, but he did not know why until later.

“One of the reasons is because the year following the festival, a man produced a book called (‘Palomita Blanca’) and the first chapter of his book starts at the festival,” Fritz said.

The book, a romantic story set to the backdrop of political and entertainment history, was published in 1971 and written by Enrique Lafourcade and remains Chile’s bestselling book of all time.

“And because of its fame it’s now read in all of the schools-at least the public ones-it’s like their (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer),” Fritz said.

Fritz said the making of the film was a confluence of events that occurred just at the right time.

“Three-and-a-half years ago, I rediscovered a tape recording that had been buried in my father’s and mother’s house for decades that was a tape recording that my brother and I did while at the festival,” Fritz said. “It’s the only tape recording of the festival that I know exists in the world.”

From Wisconsin to Chile

In the annex of the Life Sciences Building, surrounded by books, a wall of windows with the floor blanketed by a tanned rug, Fritz often reminisces about the time he spent in Chile when he was 17.

Fritz, who was born in Wisconsin, was in Chile because his parents were Methodist missionaries and lived in the country while his father was the director of an all-girls school.

The hour-and-a-half recording consisted of various artist interviews and music taken during the festival.

“Many of the artists and bands were just starting out, but now they’re the equivalent to Chile’s Eric Clapton or England’s Beatles,” he said.

Fritz- then 17-was one of the original organizers of the festival, originally named Half-Moon until Chilean newspapers renamed it Piedra Roja, but he said he did not know the historical impact of the event until Henry Owen, an Eastern professor, told him about the discussions taking place on the Internet.

“They thought it was some mythical, legendary, free-rock festival from the past, but ‘who played, if anyone played,'” Fritz said. “But it was all really hazy and the reason is because it was a hippie festival.”

Fritz also said the rise in his age group’s presence on the Internet and Facebook helped him locate his old friends and gather old photographs via Flickr, a photo sharing website.

Coincidentally, Fritz said, he was later surprised to be contacted by a historian who traveled around the world discussing various topics; one of which was the historical important of the Red Rock Festival.

“Not only was (the festival) a part of my life when I was there, but this festival had come to have-apparently-some kind of status and purveyed in the Chilean psyche 40 years later,” Fritz said.

Jorge, repercussions and ‘sex-obsessed hippies’

“Many people I talk to tell me to this day say that the festival was the best time of their lives,” Fritz said.

But, the festival repercussions were not positive for those involved, Fritz said.

One of the most affected participants was the festival’s creator, then 19 year old, Jorge Gomez, Fritz said.

Gomez was the oldest member of the group when he got the idea to organize a Woodstock-like event, Fritz said.

“Everyone had gone to see Woodstock the movie and we all thought that’s cool,” he said. “(Gomez) said ‘you know why don’t have our own Woodstock, but we’ll make it free.'”

From there, the group got lighting and made fliers, Fritz said.

While the festival-goers enjoyed the three-day festival, Fritz said the Chilean newspapers and press were not too pleased.

“Boy, they tore it to shreds. (They called us) degenerate, drug taking, sex-obsessed hippies,” he said. “Because (Gomez) was the main guy they went after him and his life continues to be affected to this very day.”

Fritz said Gomez’s parents kicked him out and the Chilean government banned him from receiving any form of education-public or private-within its borders.

“He went up into the hills and started a hippie commune,” he said. “Then, during the (1973 coup d’état) he was arrested and almost died.”

Fritz said he was mostly wanted to create the documentary to educate people about the festival.

“I spent a month down (in Chile) in the summer interviewing about 50 people: musicians, organizers (and) some attendees,” Fritz said. “It was like meeting your family from the past, 40 years later-super intense. It was almost like destiny.”

Fritz said he is not sure when he will make another film.

“It has to be something that really interests me,” he said.

Fritz also said when he found out he had beat out Scorsese’s film about the life of George Harrison, he almost passed out.

“I hope George forgives me,” Fritz said.

Nike Ogunbodede can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].