Screenings, spring and summer 2015

"Domino" will screen in a film festival in Jakarta, Indonesia, in June of this year (2015).  We will also present it in San Francisco on August 22, in the Mission Cultural Center.  That screening will be accompanied by a flamenco dance by prize-winning dancer "la Tania."

Past screenings include the world release in Jerez de la Frontera on June 20, 2014 (sponsored by the city of Jerez de la Frontera - through its Del. de Tourismo y Cultura - with support from Bodega Gonzalez-Byass - Tío Pepe) and the American release on Jan. 28, 2015 (sponsored by the City of San Francisco - through its Arts & Culture Commission;  the Rialto Cinemas Cerrito;  and the City of Richmond - through its Arts & Culture Commission).

It also screened in the Oakland International Film Festival on April 5, 2015.  Here's a LINK to its schedule in the festival.

José Luis Delgado Herrerapiscazo, wife Amparo, and Papeleria Laso

Papeleria Laso is located in Jerez de la Frontera, at the corner of two major avenues, right on the edge of the historic district in the city´s center.  It´s next door to a bank, and right around the corner from many small business and a grammar school.  It is a great location for Papeleria Laso, which is a a paper good/copy shop/ and school and office supply store.

Luis (José Luis Delgado Herrerapiscazo) has been running the shop for 50 years.  His wife, Amparo, helps him out.  They explained to me that they´ve had hard times before but this is definitely the worse.  No one has any money, everyone is just scraping by.  And like Francis, what they sell is not a necessity so people who used to purchase now often go without. 

José Luis Delgado Herrapiscazo and his wife Amparo in their shop.

Luis told me that the businesses that are suffering the most are the small businesses.  He and his wife have no idea how the country and the economy are going to get out of this mess.  They take the government at its word when it says things will get better after another year simply because they don´t know of anything better to do.

I´ll give a short story here to illustrate their situation.  They are motorcycle enthusiasts, each with his/her own motorcycle and they belong to a motorcycle club.  (The wife is very small, and I find it charming to imagine her on a big, muscle motorcycle.)

About five years ago, they had planned to go to the United States and drive their motorcycles across the country, but then the crisis struck, and they weren´t able to go.  Now, they can no longer even afford to leave the city for a vacation, so last year, they stayed open all year and didn´t take any time off.  They expect to do the same this year.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Antonia Balao and her bar/restaurant.

Francis of Francis Peluquero, a beauty shop

Francis owns and operates a small beauty shop in Jerez de la Frontera near the city´s central market.   When I went to interview him, there were several customers but this was at the time of Feria, when “everyone” wants to get their hair done. 

Before the crisis, when a special event was going on, the wait could well be an hour and a half or two hours if you didn´t have an appointment.  On the day I went, however, there was less than a 30 minute wait – the first effect I noticed of the crisis.

Inside Francis Peluquero.  Francis did not want any faces shown.

 Francis has been in business for over 20 years.  He commented to me that things are slower now than they have ever been.  Going to the beauty shop is not a necessity, like food, and that has contributed to the downturn of his business.  People who before would come in twice a week now come in only once a week, and so forth.

It´s been a long time since he was able to go on a trip, or even take a vacation.  He has two young women working for him during busy times, such as during the annual Feria, because his customers don´t like to be kept waiting and if he doesn´t have the two young women, he won´t have any business at all.  When there is no special event going on, he is no longer able to have anyone help him out.

Francis believes it´s going to take a long time for Spain to recover from the crisis.  He does not believe the government´s statement that things will start getting better in another year.  Beyond that, he doesn´t want to speculate about what will happen in the future.

OUR NEXT POST will be about José Luis Delgado Herrapiscazo and his shop.

Malena and Butikalé

Malena opened her shop just two months ago – a courageous move in view of the current crisis.  It´s called Butikalé, and is located in Jerez de la Frontera on a major street two doors down from her father´s bar/restaurant.  She opened it with money that her husband saved, and she runs it with her adult daughter.

The day I interviewed her, she was just opening the store for the day.  There were customers waiting for her to unlock the door…but the two other times that I tried to find her, when her daughter was running the shop, there were no customers at all.

Malena in her shop.

The customers waiting for Malena – two women with their children – made some purchases.  One bought a blouse, a pair of long pants, and a necklace which together cost under 10 Euros (about $13).  Clearly, the prices are designed to move merchandise. I´m not sure how she is able to offer these low prices, but she purchases from a distributor in Sevilla and apparently, is getting very low prices herself.

The customer wanted to buy other things, but didn´t have the money.  Malena explained, after the customer had left, that the purchaser had a job with the school district, but the school district was not paying its employees – a shocking but unfortunately common occurrence since the onset of the crisis.

The other customer, also a school district employee (and also not getting paid), made a very small purchase of one necklace for 3 Euros ($5).

Malena commented that yes, the first year is always the hardest for a small business and December and January are the worse months.  She has not yet been able to pay herself any salary at all, but she is covering her costs.

She says that things now are particularly hard.  Many people don´t even have enough money for food, and are going hungry or getting food from charitable agencies (I assume these would be the Catholic charities that are so important here).  And most people don´t have the money to buy clothes for themselves or for their children.

Malena thinks that if things continue on like this for a year or two, people will be patient but if they continue on for, say, five years, there will be a war or revolution.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Francis, the beauty shop owner.

Small businesses in Spain and the economic crisis

It is ironic, after the so-called “Second Conquest” of Latin America by Spain during the years leading up to the current economic crisis, that the Spanish government is now courting Latin American businesses and asking them to invest in Spain, to save Spain’s economy. 

This may seem even stranger in light of the fact that the backbone of Spain’s economy is not big, multi-national  businesses, but the small mom and pop shops that abound in every neighborhood of the large cities, in every small town.  Some sources have claimed, in obvious exaggeration but with a grain of truth, that these small businesses make up 95% of Spain’s economy.

A stall in the Mercado de Abastos, in the city´s center.

 (Jerez does have supermarkets, but many people prefer to shop in the Mercado de Abastos, open six days a week.  Each stall is run by a different small business and each has its own specialties.)

And why should you, the reader of this article, who does not live in Spain and may never go there, be interested in the situation and problems faced by these small businesses?  You should be interested partly because Spain’s economic problems have an effect on Europe, and Europe affects the rest of the world.  In addition, these small businesses are not all that different from small businesses the world over, and we can learn much from looking at their plight. 

Instead of doing a scientific study, I decided to interview the owners of four small businesses in the southern Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera, where I was staying, with the idea that this more human look at the situation would be of greater interest.  The four shops I chose are a small clothing/jewelry/cosmetics store owned and operated by Malena, a beauty shop owned by Francis, a paper goods/copy shop/school & office supply store owned by José Luis Delgado Herrerapicazo and his wife, and a bar/restaurant owned by Antonia Balao.

Plaza Plateros, a popular plaza with many bar/restaurants and lots of small shops.

Over the next four weeks, I'll publish each of these stories, one by one, allowing us to see their reactions to the economic crisis and their vision of the future…not a very positive vision.  They are all hurting.

We'll start next week with Butikalé, the clothing/jewelry/cosmetics store owned and operated by Malena.

OUR NEXT POST will be Malena´s story.

The CD release in the flamenco festival

The official release in Spain of Antonio de la Malena´s double CD took place on Feb. 23, 2013, as an official part of the annual Flamenco Festival of Jerez de la Frontera.  The festival presented it in the city´s second to largest theater, Sala la Compañía.

Antonio de la Malena decided to make the event a form of thanking all those who participated in creating his flamenco album (most especially, in the bulerias fin de fiesta in which over eight people, including of course de la Malena, took turns singing).  In addition, he wanted to recognize his brother-in-law, singer Mateo Solea, who helped de la Malena´s career at a critical juncture when de la Malena was a child.

So he gave all these people a public role in his presentation, inviting them to sing a little, or give rhythm (palmas, or nudos, or jaleo).

And he wanted to include the dancer María del Mar Moreno, in recognition of all the years he has worked with her, so she danced near the end of the presentation.

Palomino Productions and yours truly were the official producers of this event, so of course I was there.  In the excitement, I forgot to bring my camera.  SORRY!!!

But not to worry.  The local press and TV caught it all, and here is one of the reviews with a video at the bottom taken from the presentation.  If you don´t read Spanish, just skip to the bottom and watch the trailer.

The old man you see sitting next to de la Malena at the beginning, and dancing a little at the end, is his father, who can hardly walk (and so his dance isn´t really a dance).  It was a very emotional moment for him, especially since one thing de la Malena sang about was his mother, who died not too long ago...and his father still misses her tremendously.

So click on the link below, and enjoy.

LINK

If you are interested in learning more about the double CD, or in purchasing it, if you live in Europe go HERE, and if you live in America, go HERE.

OUR NEXT POST will be about--small businesses in the economic crisis.

Antonio de la Malena´s double CD is out: flamenco por derecho

Palomino Productions has had the privilege of producing a double CD of the flamenco cante (singing) of Antonio de la Malena.  I say "privilege" because he is a very fine singer, and the double CD is excellent.  It includes a full two hours of singing, with 16 tracks, 8 per CD.

(Antonio, as you will surely remember, is the star of Domino:  Caught in the Crisis.)

Cover of the double CD:  Antonio with his father.

It will be formally presented to the world in the famous annual flamenco festival in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013...just a few weeks from now.

The presentation, as organized by Antonio, will be really fine.  In the fin de fiesta of the double CD, lots of family and friends joined him and they will all be in the discs' presentation.  From what I understand, there will be 14 people in all.

Of course, Antonio himself will sing.  I asked him what he was planning to sing, and he answered "Whatever I feel like at the time."

In addition, at least some and perhaps all of the others will sing at the very beginning, and in the fin de fiesta, so it´s going to be really lively.

Antonio de la Malena singing.

And Maria del Mar Moreno, the dancer with whom Antonio has collaborated most closely these past few years, will dance one number accompanied, of course, by Antonio.

The guitarists will be Malena Hijo and Santiago Moreno.  Other well-known performers who will participate include Luis de la Tota and el Bob.

If you are planning to attend the festival, you'll certainly not want to miss this performance.  It'll be in Sala la Compañía.  I believe it starts at 8pm but am not absolutely positive, so check the festival program.  Here´s a LINK to Flamencomania´s announcement of the event.

In the meantime, to enjoy a sample of Antonio de la Malena´s singing, go here:  www.AntonioMalenaCD-ENG.com.

OUR NEXT POST will be about why Domino is relevant to people in the US.

And more post-production: Sound sweetening and adding sound

FYI:  If you´re interested in the situation about which Domino is based, you should check out my blog on PalominoPro.blogspot.com, in which I spill the beans about the recent, shocking (shocking to me) garbage strike in Jerez.  You can also go to this LINK to read a summary of the situation.

photo of garbage spilling out from a news story

Now, back to Domino:  Caught in the Crisis:

We have very little left to go on Domino before it´s officially presentable, and I´m able to start submitting it to festivals.

Most of that work is sound work.  On the one hand, in the private screening I held in California a few weeks back, it was clear that I needed to add a few more words of dialogue to make it clear that our hero, Luis, is a very sympathetic character.  That has been done even though we didn´t shoot any more film, and the actor is in one country while I, the director and editor, am in another one.

Ah, the magic of film.

The rest of the sound work is tedious and technical.  It´s a question of making the sound come out of the left speaker if the character is on the left hand side of the screen, and on the right if s/he is on the right, etc. PLUS perfecting the sound levels, making telephone conversations sound like they are coming over a telephone wire, etc., etc., etc.

A very nice sound person, Jeff Kimmich, is working on all this for me.  He expects to be done in a week or so.  I´ve never used him before but am hopeful that he will do a great job.

Assuming he does a brilliant job and it´s done in the time frame he expects, the last thing will be to ask an image correction person to make a change in one 6 second segment, in which (SIGH) a microphone is visible on screen.  I have a person who I think can do the job, and so, well,

...WE ARE MOVING FORWARD.

When all the work is done and I´m ready to submit to festivals, I´m going to stop posting here and instead, ask people to check out the main Palomino Productions blog, where I´ll consolidate all my posts about all my projects.

OUR NEXT POST will be to confirm that the final, technical work on Domino is completed.

Supporting actor Salvador Valle

Salvador Valle plays the neighbor of the hero, Luis, in Domino:  Caught in the Crisis;  the neighbor who gives Luis an odd-job to do and then, knowing Luis is in such a hard spot that he can't well complain,  underpays him.  Both guys -- Salvador Valle and Antonio de la Malena (playing Luis) -- kind of hammed it up in these scenes and there are sections which are really comic relief.  It was fun watching them do it and it's fun watching those scenes now.

In Domino, he first stops his car to offer our hero a small job.

 Valle began his acting career in high school, playing roles in Christmas productions, in pantomimes and in short pieces by Lope de Vega, Calderon, and other famous Spanish playwrights. 

Later, as an adult, he joined the well-known theater company, La Zaranda.  In his nine-year stint with the company, he acted roles, helped with stage sets and was property manager in charge of all of those small items you see on a theater stage that make the action seem realistic. 

Salvador Valle, script in hand, ready to work.

He later worked in the Basque country for a theater company called "bekereke," then returned to southern Spain and joined the company Teatro del Arte de Andalucía, and also worked with the flamenco group Gitanos de Jerez (led by the famous flamenco guitarist and producer, Manuel Morao).  His work with Gitanos de Jerez included acting, and also helping create the sets for Morao´s production of Tierra Cantaora.

He has appeared in more than 10 movies, including La Lola se va a los puertos, Batton rouge, and Miel de Naranjas.  He was lead actor in two episodes of the television series, Viaje a España (A Trip to Spain) which  has been broadcast in over 50 countries.  He has also appeared in various video shorts, and in television commercials.

Acting in la Niebla.

In the recent past, he has worked with the theater company Tras el Trapo of Jerez de la Frontera, playing a role in the theater adaptation of the poem, La Niebla (by the Jerezano, José Mateo Rosales), and also acting in several plays intended for a youth audience.

Currently, he uses his acting talents to be master of ceremonies for various events, and to officiate at weddings.  And in addition, he is a professional dancer of Argentine tango as well as the Pasodoble.

OUR NEXT POST will be about...where is Spain headed?

Supporting actor Esteban Viaña

Esteban Viaña plays Javier, the former boss in the shop where Luis worked.  Luis lost his job because Javier, a somewhat older man, decided it was time to retire and he closed the shop.  This was right before the economic crisis;  Javier explains to Luis he had no idea there was going to be a crisis.  He closed his shop at just the right time out of pure luck.

The scenes with Esteban are an important part of the story of Domino:  Caught in the Crisis.  They not only explain why Luis is out of work, but they show how people who are favored by fate -- close their shop just in time, have the money to run a shop to begin with, etcetera, can be insensitive to those around them who do NOT have such good fortune.

Esteban Viaña as the former boss, Javier.

 
Viaña lives in Jerez de la Frontera, and began his acting career at a young age, when he was in grammar school and there was an activity called "Oration and Recitation."  He loved it, and has been hooked on acting ever since.  He has acted in dramas, religious plays, and many other sorts of productions but his favorites have always been plays directed towards children, for which he usually takes a comic role.

Esteban Viaña, yours truly and Antonio de la Malena...checking out the script.

The highlights of his acting career to date include the husband of the lead character in a play by Federico Garcia Lorca called The Prodigious Shoemaker (La zapatera prodigiousa) which was first produced in various smaller venues but later, brought to the main theater in Jerez de la Frontera (a theater with several thousand seats).

He also had a supporting role in a play by the famous Spanish playwright, Alfonso Pasos and more recently, was featured in a production of On this Island, There Are No Cats (En esta isla no hay gatos) presented by the theater company Tras el Trapo.  Tras el Trapo, you may remember, is a theater company co-owned and operated by Javier Padilla, which provided Domino with a number of actors.

Esteban Viaña as Publius Cornelius.

And just this past month, Viaña joined Domino actor Nicolas Montoya in a special production in the old Roman theater at Baelo Claudia (near Bolonia, on the Atlantic coast).  The play was an original work, written to bring to life the history of the ancient city.  Titled The Nights of Isis (Las noches de Isis), he played the role of Publius Cornelius, one of the two Roman governors of the region at the time that the city was an important Roman port and manufacturing center for the luxury article garum (made out of salted, dried fish).

The old Roman theater at Baelo Claudia (with the seats covered up--don´t know why).

And just to be sure he doesn´t get bored, currently, in addition to acting, Viaña has taken up a couple of musical instruments:  the saxophone and the accordion.

OUR NEXT POST will be about supporting actor Javier Padilla.

The actors

We used a wide variety of actors in Domino, from professionals who are appearing on prime-time TV to a ten year old girl with no experience acting and, to the best of my knowledge, no desire to become an actress.  Each one of them worked hard, each one presented different challenges for me, the director, and each one really did a good job.  Some, in fact, did an excellent job.

It was a great pleasure to work with Antonio de la Malena, our star.  He learned his roles, he took the time to "put himself into the character," and he never complained when I said, "Ok, that take was really good, now let´s do it again, just in case."

Antnio de la Malena, playing Luis, takes a break during the shooting.

I found it truly interesting that he put himself into his role...taking a few moments before each scene and usually before each take, to be in the correct emotional place.  The reason I found it so interesting is that he´d never acted before and certainly had never heard of Method Acting, or Stanislavsky.  On the other hand, flamenco singing (and he is a flamenco singer, a cantaor) requires exactly the same kind of emotional commitment, which is why I chose him to be the lead, in the first place.

Other actors I want to point out are Nicolas Montoya and Javier Padilla.  Both appeared in several scenes, both were very professional and very prepared, and both also helped me in other ways.  Nicolas Montoya (who is in the popular television program Bandoleras) found me an actor when I needed one, and also found the location for the bank scenes.

Nicolas Montoya plays Miguel the banker.

  Javier Padilla played two roles, one a small one but needing someone with good body control.  (He has a beard in that scene, a no beard in the other, so he looks like two different people.)  Javier also found at least three other actors for me.  Every time I called and said "I need someone of a certain age and capable of a certain type of role," he would find me that person...or rather, he´d give me several people for me to choose from.

This brings me back to our lead character.  Antonio de la Malena is, along with Javier Padilla, responsible for helping me with the casting.  He found more actors for me than I can count.  I haven´t been in Jerez long enough to "know everyone," and without him, and Javier Padilla (plus Nicolas Montoya), well, I don´t know if I´d have been able to produce Domino.

Other actors include Salvador Valle, Esteban Viaña, José María Martinez, Rosario Heredia and Luis de la Tota.  I enjoyed working with all of them.

Salvador Valle plays Salvador the neighbor, who offers Luis a few hours´ work.

 The last one I especially want to point out, however, is that 10 year old girl, Marta.  She is a bit shy, and certainly not used to memorizing lines, putting herself in character, or anything of the sort.  She was very willing, however, and like all the rest, she never complained (except once, and that was not a complaint but in the first shoot, she got exhausted and started crying.  We called it a day, and thought of ways to keep her from getting so worn out in future scenes.)

Marta, seen here with Antonio de la Malena, plays the daughter of Luis.

Domino is the first real narrative I´ve ever directed.  It has been a real learning experience.  One of the most pleasurable memories I´ll carry with me from it is these actors....  Thanks to you all.

OUR NEXT POST will be an interview with our lead actor, Antonio de la Malena.

Antonio de la Malena´s double disc of flamenco cante

The star of Domino is, by original profession, a flamenco cantaor/singer.  He has been singing professionally since he was nine years old, in public and private events in Jerez de la Frontera and making his television debut in Niños Cantaores (part of Rito y Geografía del Cante).  Yes, he was only 9 years old.

And although he has several CDs to his name (flamenco semi-fusion), plus is on lots of flamenco CDs which include several singers, he has never had a true flamenco CD of his own.

Well, we decided to change that.  We decided to change that because he is a very, very fine singer.  In addition, many people only know of his talents as a singer who provides the cante for dancers, and aren´t aware of the fact that he´s a great soloist as well.

The CD cover:  Antonio de la Malena with his father, el Morao.

When we started recording several months ago, the idea was to produce a CD with 10 cantes (flamenco songs).  The word on the street is that anything less than 10 tracks is not taken seriously.  But when Antonio sings, he keeps on singing.  The result is that some tracks were more than 10 minutes long, and the bottom line is that there was no way to put 10 tracks onto one CD.  You simply couldn´t fit them all in.

As a result, we recorded some more and are coming out with a double CD--two CDs in one package.  There are a total of 16 cantes in this package, 8 on each CD.  The title of the album is Para ti mi cante, que es mi libertad.  (I give my song to you, my song which is my freedom.)

The album is currently being manufactured, and when that process plus some legal details have been taken care of, we´ll have the album in our hands.  We´re talking about one week or so.  We´re hoping to release it at an event in southern France on June 30.  We don´t know if we can make this deadline or not, but we´re trying.

One way or another, if you live in Europe, once it is actually available, you will be able to purchase it on-line at the web site http://AntoniodelaMalenaCD.com.

Antonio de la Malena--photo:  Martin Guerrero y Casa Patas

  We´ll release it in the U.S. later, when we have solved a couple of other legal problems plus acquired enough money to pay for production in the U.S..

For flamenco buffs, the album starts with a trilla plus estribillo, the estribillo being something that Antonio wrote (both the music and the lyrics).  Other tracks include 3 seguiriyas, a soleá, a soleá por bulerías, a bulerías a golpe, a regular bulerías, a fin de fiesta, an alegrías, etc., etc..  Very compete.

Guitarists are Manuel Parilla, Domingo Rubichi, Malena Hijo and Santiago Moreno.

Antonio´s brother Manuel de Malena joins Antonio in the tarantos, with each of them singing a section.  And in the fin de fiesta plus the estribillos, other singers join in, such as David Carpio, el Nono del Periquin, etc.

I promise you, if you like flamenco, you´ll love this.  If you don´t know anything about flamenco, you still might well like it.  Antonio has a great voice, great pitch, and puts lots of emotion into his singing.

The official producer of the album is Palomino Productions.  Co-producers are Jerez Puro and el Rincón Andaluz.  We also have a partially completed, very simple web site for the album at http://AntoniodelaMalenaCDs,blogspot.com.

OUR NEXT POST will be about adding Domino´s last scenes, and the background music--end of a long road.

Thanks to Flamenco Peña Chacón

We owe a big thank you to flamenco Peña Chacón.  We filmed there five times, three of those times for several hours.  The peña has been very nice to us, and we are very appreciative.  A lot of the great reception the peña gave us is due to Ali de la Tota, a palmero (flamenco percussionist) who is in charge of day-to-day operations.

Thanks, Ali.

Ali de la Tota.  He also plays a part in the film.

 In addition, we wouldn´t have been able to use the peña without the agreement of its president, Julian Azcutia.  Thanks to him, as well.

A flamenco peña is a flamenco club.  Peña Chacón is named after the flamenco cantaor (now deceased), Don Antonio Chacón.  There are about a dozen flamenco peñas in Jerez de la Frontera, including six or so in or near the city center.  Peña Chacón is one of those in the center, in the historic district.

The flamenco  peñas, as you might guess, are composed of people interested in preserving flamenco, and enjoying flamenco.  Normally, each peña selects a month, or a period of 4 weeks, in which to present flamenco performances.  These are free and open to the public.

Peña Chacón has a great collection on its walls of photos of flamencos.

Peña Chacón´s main period is May-June, and although it focuses on the cante (flamenco singing), it also presents some dance performances.   This year, however, due to the economic crisis, it was unable to present any performances.  The peña has only about 50 members, and there simply wasn´t enough money to pay for performers.

In the past, in addition to the May-June series, the peña used to present young artists it thought had promise.  These performances were scheduled for February, but again, the peña has been unable to hold these events for the past several years.

This is the stage, with a photo of Don Antonio Chacón on the wall.

It does, however, still present zambomba (flamenco Christmas celebrations, with people singing Christmas songs to a bulerias rhythm, and occasionally, dancing as well).  Hopefully, when the crisis ends, it will again be able to present its other performances.

I asked Ali de la Tota what characterizes the peña, and he said the respect that the members give to the cante (flamenco singing). They listen well.

Here we are, shooting a scene.

Three footnotes:  the peña is named after cantaor (flamenco singer) Don Antonio Chacon.  It has been in its present location (near calle Francos and the Fundación of flamenco) for about 20 years.  Formerly, it was in a building in calle Carmen.  And Ali has been working there for the past 15 years.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the banker as speculator and villain..

Some thanks are due here: Mateo Solea & Bar Gitaneria

We had a important scene that we needed to film, where Luis meet with his former boss, Javier.  We were fortunate enough to have the owner of the Bar Gitanería offer to lend as his bar. He also ended up playing the roll of the bartender.

This wonderful person was and is Mateo Solea.

Mateo Solea behind the bar

We asked Mateo Soler to tell us a little bit about his bar, and his life. He explained that he opened Bar Gitanería three years ago. I can tell you from personal observation that it is popular. It's located close to the Iglesia Santiago in the Barrio Santiago in |Jerez.

Inside the bar, as in many bars in Jerez, there are lots and lots of photos on the walls. Most are of flamencos, but there are also some matadors.

Note all the great photos on the wall

This brings up the topic of flamenco. Mateo Solea is also a cantaor, a flamenco singer. He sings in flamenco peñas (flamenco clubs), in local events, and on stage with some of the most important flamenco companies in Jerez.

He is also the brother.in-law of our star, Antonio de la Malena.

Here we are, filming.

We want to express a sincere thanks to Mateo Solea. It was very nice of him to lend us his bar and he did a great job acting as the bartender.

A NEXT POST will be about the current economic situation in Spain (this time, for real).

Some thanks are due here-part 3-the pawn/jewelry shop

This is to express out thanks to Joyeria Juncal, where we filmed the scene in which Luis pawns a ring. 

Joyeria Juncal, located in the Madre de Dios area of Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, is both a jewelry shop and a pawn shop.  That is to say, they sell fine jewelry and watches, but they also purchase gold.  The owner of the shop, Francisco Juncal, kindly allowed us to film there free of charge, and his father (the elder Francisco Juncal, who is the shop's founder) played the part of... the shop owner.

Being that he knew exactly what he was doing, he had all the correct materials for evaluating the gold in the ring, and giving a price for it.

Francisco (Paco) Juncal, father...with our hero.

 Before shooting this scene, I didn't know anything about how gold is evaluated.  I now know that to assess it for the base of 18 carats, you use a pretty bottle with some bluish-greenish colored liquid.  You also scrape the gold on something that I presume is especially hard sand paper.  At least, that's what it seemed to be.

After scraping it, you apply the liquid.  If the tiny pieces of metal that you scrapped off stay there and don't float away, you have what is a minimum of 18 carats of gold.  (Unless I got it backwards, and you WANT them to float away in order to be sure it's gold.  I think I'm not quite ready to work in a pawn shop.)

Yours truly and Antonio Moreno Jimenez, our sound tech.  Yes, WE WERE THERE.

 Francisco Juncal the elder, who played the pawn shop owner, also wore a nice, bright orange sweater which worked well with our hero, Luis', dark jacket.  Our hero, Luis, has a tendency to wear dark jackets.  That's because Antonio de la Malena, the actor, evidently has a wardrobe full of dark jackets.  Brightly colored neck scarves but dark, dark jackets.

And our hero, Luis (Antonio de la Malena).

 OUR NEXT POST will really, really be about hair (I think).

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.

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.

Some thanks are due here-part 2

I've been remiss in thanking all those who have helped in the making of Domino.  This time, I'm going to thank the theater company, Compañía Teatral Tras el Trapo, located in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain).

Compañía Theatral Tras el Trapo, more familiarly known simply as Tras el Trapo, is a theater cooperative which supplied us with one of our actors, one of our crew members, and helped us find other actors and crew members when we asked.  Tras el Trapo also lent us their space for a scene, lent us some costuming materials, and generally treated us very nicely, indeed.

Javier (Javi) Padilla in front of the theater company's van.  He's usually not so serious looking.

The company´s producer was individual the who helped us most:  Javier Padilla.  He is an actor and appears in two scenes in Domino.  In one, he is a friend of our hero Luis, but turns Luis down when Luis asks for work because he simply can't afford to hire him.  In another scene, Javier plays the drunk who accosts Luis at night, asking for a light for his cigarette.

Javier also was the one who lent us use of Tras el Trapo´s rehearsal/studio space, lent us some costumes, and provided us with names and contact info of several actors and crew members.

Maria Duarte (center) inside the theater's rehearsal space.  Javier Padilla is on the left.

The other Tras el Trapo member who helped us was Maria Duarte, an actress who worked on our crew as script/continuity.  In our scenes in which people were in a bar drinking beer, she spent a lot of time checking the level of the (usually non-alcoholic) beer in the glasses so it wouldn't suddenly change in the middle of a scene.  She watched over hair styles, checked to see jackets didn´t become unbuttoned simply because it was blazing hot, and other such detailed and kind of thankless tasks.

She also coached the actors with their lines (and a few needed rather a lot of coaching).

Both of these people, and Tras el Trapo itself, really helped in the production of our show.  We are truly appreciative.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about private greed and the economic crisis.

The actors, part 4B-supporting actor Luis de la Tota

I was planning to interview Luis de la Tota, who plays Josema, the close friend of our hero, Luis, in Domino.  However, the last time I was in Jerez, he was on his way to spend several months in the United States and I didn't have a chance to do the interview.

I'll try to catch up with him in Jerez when I return at the end of January.

Luis (front) and Ali de la Tota.

In the meantime, this is a really cool video of him and his brother Ali.  (Ali de la Tota is also in Domino, but plays a relatively small role.)  I spent hours and hours over several days finding this link.  I'd seen it once months ago, and then lost track of it.  It takes a few minutes to load, but it's really worth watching.

LINK

As you can see, he's very relaxed in front of a camera (important for an actor).  This also gives a great demonstration of his character and for those that are interested, shows off an important part of flamenco.  The flamenco part, well, it's not related to Domino, but it's fun to watch, anyway.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about thanks to Tras el Trapo theater company.

Principal photography REALLY completed-in Jerez de la Frontera

We'll start using this blog not only for articles and news items, but also for updates about our progress on Domino.

SO--we finished principal photography for what I believe is the LAST TIME at the end of November, just before I left Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) to return to the San Francisco Bay Area (California).  When I say the LAST TIME, I mean that I do NOT expect to add any more scenes.  As a filmmaker, I´m happy with the structure as it is now.

Of course, I haven´t yet viewed the current version of the film.  I´ve brought a viewing copy with me to California and will look at it soon.  Right now, I´m letting it age, like good wine.

It is currently about 40 minutes long, as opposed to the 20 minutes that it was before my last trip to Jerez.  In one new scene, we managed to incorporate part of the current demonstrations of the Movimiento 15-M (Indignados).  That movement is similar to, and started earlier than, the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S..  As a filmmaker who's creating a dramatic narrative about the current economic crisis, including shots of those demonstrations gives Domino more immediacy and relevance.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about Occupy Wall Street (etc.) and the Movimiento 15-M (Indignados)