Thursday, February 23, 2012

Shooting the scene in the pawn shop

If you were an unemployed middle-aged man with a family, trying to find a job and also scrape together enough money to fulfill your obligations, at a certain point you´d likely find yourself in a pawn shop.  Especially now, in the economic crisis.

Luis (Antonio de la Malena) counting the cash he got from the jewelry he sold.

You´d find yourself in a pawn shop looking for ready cash.  You´d do all you possibly could to avoid selling that piece of jewelry your beloved mother or father left you, and you´d certainly try to avoid selling your wedding ring, but if you had any other piece of jewelry of value that you had purchased in better times, you´d try to see what you could get for it.


Paco, the pawn shop owner, waits on Luis.

With that thought in mind, we shot a scene in which our hero, Luis (played by Antonio de la Malena), goes into a pawn shop and sells a gold ring he has.  I´m posting some of the photos here from that shoot.

It being a fairly simple scene, director Eve A. Ma did double duty as camera person.


Sound tech Antonio Moreno Jiménez (front and center) with best boy el Negro (Jesús Suarez).

Enjoy.

 OUR NEXT POST will be about...hair...changed my mind.  It will be a thank you.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The current economic situation in Spain

Seen from the perspective of one individual in the city of Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain, the economic situation doesn´t look very good.  And from what I read on-line and in the newspapers, the situation in Jerez reflects pretty accurately the situation in all of Spain.

When I left here in mid-November, unemployment was high, the city was behind on paying city workers and paying the concessionaires who supply the water, street lights and garbage.  When I returned, in late January, unemployment was higher, the city workers hadn´t been paid for three months (!!--forget that Christmas bonus), and there have been almost daily demonstrations.

Encampment of city workers in front of city hall.
 When I left, the people of the Movimiento 15-M (los Indignados) were camped out in the city´s mail plaza, Plaza Arenal.  Now that I´ve returned, they are still there (in spite of some really cold weather...near freezing most nights and part of the mornings as well).  In addition, there is now a new, DIFFERENT encampment right in front of city hall.  It´s the encampment of those unpaid city workers.

Some more specifics:  in a city of 200,000, over 35,000 are now unemployed.  When you realize that about half of the population consists of children or the elderly, and that most women over the age of 40 don´t work, that number becomes pretty scary.

An aside:  it´s only fair to report that a significant number of people work--especially if it´s a question of odd-jobs--without benefit of reporting it to the government.  A self-employed person here is required to pay $350 minimum (278 Euros) per month to the government no matter how much or how little they earn, so low-income self-employed people, well, they just don´t TELL the government.

Movimiento 15-M (Indignados) encampment.  "Nothing will move if you don´t push."
 Another factoid:  there´s a series of publicly financed apartment buildings that have had roof problems for the past four years.  Various government organizations have reluctantly promised to attend to this but none has a yet, and the roofs are caving in.  Over 200 people live in this housing complex.

Plus the bus drivers go on strike and march down the streets every week or so.  (I don´t have a photo because every time I pass a demonstration, I´m without a camera.  Sorry....)  But the next day, they go back to work even though unpaid.  I´ve heard many city workers are afraid to leave their jobs because then things will be even worse for them.  They´ll be unemployed as well as unpaid.  So they go to work each day, although I understand there will now be periodic slow-downs to indicate that they are really, really unhappy.

The building which houses offices of the major unions refers to the now 4-months´ overdue pay for city workers.
 And the big, annual flamenco festival is coming up, an event which normally draws thousands of foreign tourists and would-be flamenco stars.  The core of the festival consists of performances and classes.  The people teaching the classes this year have been required to sign a form saying they won´t ask to be paid for 12 months.

But the street lights are still on, the garbage collectors are still collecting the garbage, and the water and electricity continue to function.  My fingers are crossed that people will start getting paid soon, BEFORE they lose their homes, etc..

What do those notices all over the city workers´ tents say?  One of these:  if you tremble at injustice, you are our friend.
 OUR NEXT POST will be about shooting the scene in the pawn shop.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Screening on Jan. 26 in California

It was a real pleasure to have been invited by MAW (Media Art Works) to screen Domino:  caught in the crisis in California last month.  The event took place on Jan. 26 in the Arlington Cafe, shortly before I left California for Spain.


The venue is cozy...relatively small, but inviting.  Since Domino is a work in progress, this was perfect for me.  There were just enough people to produce some lively discussion and interesting comments at the end of the film.  We even had a real, live film critic!!!

Part of the audience.
MAW screened Domino as part of their monthly series called EBMMSC (East Bay Media Makers´ Screening Club).  The EBMMSC screens work made by filmmakers in the East Bay, with the idea that more exposure encourages the production of film-video and the opportunity to screen to a reasonably small live audience provides opportunities for really getting to understand what you work is communicating to the public.

The venue, the Arlington Café, is also pleasant and welcoming, plus you can have food and drinks while watching.

Coming after the successful (and larger) screening of my documentary A  Zest for Life just a few days earlier, it made me feel as if my work is appreciated and my career is taking a new, and happy, turn.

Thank you to all involved:  the audience, MAW and the Arlington Café.

MAW administrator Bianca Beyrouti, and filmmaker Eve A. Ma.
 NOTE that if you are an East Bay filmmaker looking for a venue in which to screen, don´t hesitate to contact MAW.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the economic situation in Spain on my return to Jerez de la Frontera.