Where is Spain headed? part 2 of 2

Even city governments have had the national taxing agency (Hacienda) remove money from their bank account.  In one incident this past summer, a large government agency (the government of the Junta de Andalucía) sent a large payment to the city of Jerez so that the city could pay city workers to whom it owed several months´ back pay.  Before the city could use the money, Hacienda found it and removed it -- and used it to pay off some of the taxes that the city owed the central government.
One response to the continuing crisis has been increasingly large demonstrations, such as one last week in which between 5,000 (say the police) and 60,000 (say the unions who organized it) took to the streets to protest job cuts, wage freezes, tax rises and the like.  In addition to Madrid, there were significant demonstrations in 50 other cities in Spain.  There may also be another general strike on November 14.

"No more unemployment."

Here are links to a couple of those stories:  LINK #1 and LINK #2.

There´s a lot of dis-function in Spain.  Lots of looking at the relatively few big guys and ignoring the needs of the many small guys.  (Kind of like here in the United States....)

So when push comes to shove, why should you be interested in a middle-aged family man in Spain, like our hero in Domino, who has financial problems?

Well, he´s an awful lot like your next-door neighbor, or your cousin, or that kid who graduated from college with lots of student loan debt who can´t get a job no matter how hard s/he tries.

NOTE:  you might also be interested in the documentary film that recently aired over PBS, As Goes Janesville, about the devastating effects of the financial crisis there, and how it is connected to us all.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the background music created for us by young composer-guitarist Malena Hijo.

Where is Spain headed? part 1 of 2

It surprises me to find that many more people seem to be reading my blogs about the actors in Domino than the ones I write about what´s going on in Spain.  It would seem to me important to think about Spain, because in many respects, it´s a linchpin of an economic bloc that includes the United States.  If Spain goes, well, watch out!

In addition, Spain´s protest movement, the Indignados (or Movimiento 15-M) was certainly one of the models for Occupy Wall Street.  After all, the Occupy movement started about a year after the much more peaceful Indignados first appeared on the scene.

(Incidentally, there´s a movement in Canada called the Adbusters that started in 1989, well before the Indignados.  THEY claim to be the model for all of these protest movements.)

A LINK about some of the recent demonstrations in Spain organized by the Indignados.

So on that note, what´s going on in Spain?

Well, for one thing, taxes have gone up, unemployment has gone up, and people continue to be paid late or only partially or not at all (especially government workers and outside contractors for government).  A law has also been passed making it illegal to use social media to organize public demonstrations that result in problems for the authorities -- and don't most public demonstrations end in problems for the authorities, even though the organizers had not intended it?  The law has not yet been enforced very often, but it´s kind of a monster sitting in a cave, waiting for an opportunity to come out and wreak havoc.

On the other hand, one of my friends in Spain report that on some days, such as festival days, it looks as if everything were normal.  The streets are full of people, the cafe-bars have plenty of customers, people seem happy and carefree.

Another blog LINK about recent demonstrations in Spain -- some pretty powerful photos in this one.

On non-festival days, however, the streets are empty, the cafes-bars have few customers, the small shops are closing (and small shops make up a very important part of Spain´s economy), manufacturing has almost disappeared (except for parts of the auto industry), and construction work is hard to come by (another thing  that also used to be a major part of Spain´s economy).

In addition, the national tax collecting agency (Hacienda) has taken to sending investigators to inquire into people´s bank accounts, especially in the past several months.  If you owe money to the taxing agency but also owe money for your mortgage, etc., watch out.  The money you earn that you put into your bank account to pay your mortgage might be found by the taxing agency which will simply pounce on it...and there goes your mortgage payment.

An interesting fact about mortgage payments in Spain:  if  you can´t pay your mortgage, and lose your home, not only are you homeless but you still owe that mortgage to the bank.  Let´s just say that in Spain, you can´t win for losing.

OUR NEXT BLOG will finish up this topic.

Interview with our star Antonio de la Malena, part 1

Now that we´ve finished shooting Domino, I decided to interview our lead actor, Antonio de la Malena, to see what he thought about the whole process and the movie itself.  I´d planned to put it all here but since it´s a bit too long, I´ll break it up into two posts.  Here´s the first half -- unedited, but translated from Spanish.

Eve Ma (EM);   Now that the filming is done, what did you like most about playing your part?  And what least? 

Antonio de la Malena (de la Malena):  What I liked most is that I´m trying to adjust myself to the task of being an actor and I think that with the help of the director, I am able to do it and will be able to do it again, should the opportunity arise.  It´s very difficult, it´s not easy, but I try to put myself into the mind-set of the protagonist so that in my interpretation, my emotions are real, and appropriate. 

De la Malena in the scene in the pawn shop.

EM:  Since this was the first time you acted in front of a camera, how does it differ from your normal role of performing on stage? 

de la Malena:   Usually, when I´m performing on stage,there aren´t cameras that are filming you first in a close-up and then in a long shot.  There aren´t any cameras close up, in front of your face, and you don´t have to repeat everything so many times.

EM:  Did you feel well prepared to act before you started out?  Do you feel well prepared now, if you´re asked to do it again? 

de la Malena:   The truth is that you´re never really prepared.  It´s a kind of work that makes you feel embarrassed and is nerve-wracking when there are a lot of people around and you need to play the part of someone else, but the more you do it, the less stage-fright you get.  It´s one of those things that you have to get used to, little by little.  

De la Malena in the scene where he talks on the phone to his wife.

EM:   Did you feel any personal affinity with the character you played in Domino?  Why, or why not? 

de la Malena:  Yes, I put myself in the position of my character and there were moments in which it seemed so natural that I thought the character was actually my real self.

EM:  How did you feel, working with the other actors?

de la Malena:  It was a very nice experience, and I saw that everyone was learning from it. 

OUR NEXT POST with be the second half of this interview.

Which is working best, California or Spain?

Well, I got back from Spain about three days ago.   The weather is gorgeous here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  A bit hot yesterday afternoon, but still, gorgeous.  The bay is beautiful.  The birds are singing.  The sun is shining.  All is right in the world, at least on this side of the Atlantic, right?

Marin headlands and the Golden Gate Bridge

Well….

Housing prices are going up again in the Bay Area.  Many people think this is good news.  “Many people” does not include those who’ve lost their homes, or people of modest incomes.  But we’ll let that one pass, and pretend it’s a good thing for everyone.

Some of California’s major cities have gone bankrupt.

What?  Bankrupt?

The lagoon near the Berkeley Marina.

 My own city, El Cerrito, is suing the State of California.  Why?  Because the State of California is demanding a huge chunk of money from it, money that came from the city’s redevelopment agency…and the State of California eliminated all city redevelopment agencies last year, and then said the cities could use the money remaining in the redevelopment accounts for other purposes, and the City of El Cerrito allocated these monies for other projects, and the State of California says that no, they’ve allocated too much and so need to return millions to the State of California, and, and, and…..

I have no view on the legal issues involved, since I don’t really KNOW the legal issues involved.

Why is the State of California requiring money from the cities?  (And this is absolutely not the first instance.)  Because the State of California is in dire financial straits.

So here I get back from Spain, which “everyone” considers to be a basket case, and I find…

…things in California aren’t going so well, either.

But it’s a beautiful day, and the bay looks gorgeous.

View of the bay from the hills.

 

I think I’ll go out for a walk.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the actors in Domino. 

Filming in el Puerto-our two young lovers

Last Friday, we filmed a scene in el Puerto with our two young lovers, namely, Luis's son and the son's finacee.

And just so you'll know where all this is located:  El Puerto is what people in this area call the small city of Puerto de Santa Maria.  It's located a little north of Cadiz, and Cadiz is a port city in the south of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean.

Our two actors (Rosario Heredia & José Castro) with part of the crew.

El Puerto is also a port, mostly for small fishing craft and some pleasure boats.  It's located at the mouth of a river that empties into the Bay of Cadiz--a big, big bay like the San Francisco Bay.

Our young lovers mostly talk about the upcoming wedding.  The fiancee, Ana, has stars in her eyes.  She is imagining a gigantic wedding in a church filled with flowers, a huge wedding cake, a slick band, lots of great food, the works.

We're working hard.  The actors are the ones sitting down.

Luis' son Juan, however, knows that his family can't afford anything of the kind.  The two families will share the cost of the wedding, but since Luis, Juan's dad, has been out of work for many months, there is not much money lying around.  Each time Ana comes up with a new fancy thing she thinks they'll have, Juan brings here back to reality...for example, the wedding cake will be made by his aunt (who works in a bakery but hasn't yet learned how to do anything really fancy).

Then, the kicker:  it seems that Ana's father views the ability of Juan's family to pay their share as a test of how well his daughter can expect to be supported.  Poor Luis,  How is he going to be able to afford all this?

Our star of the day, Rosario, playing the finacee and yours truly with an aching back.

The scene, by the way, took five hours to shoot.  At the end, we had a good meal, and then went and shot another scene (this one, in Jerez).

OUR NEXT POST will be more about the economic situation in Spain.  I might not get to it until after Berlin (meaning expect it around May 9 or 10).  I´ll also talk a bit about the economic situation in Berlin.

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).

Occupy Wall Street and Movimiento 15-M (Indignados)

On two continents, movements have sprung up expressing people's frustration with the economic crisis, their belief that it has been caused by banks and other financial institutions, and their desire to have the political (and perhaps, social) system undergo fundamental change.  The first of these started in Spain, in May of this year, and is called the Movimiento 15-M (or los Indignados).  The other started near the end of this summer and began as Occupy Wall Street.

Both in their most visible form include people camping out for long periods of time, usually in tents, in or near city centers.  Both offer (or try to offer) daily discussion sessions where the public is invited to discuss our current economic problems, the origins of these problems, and solutions to these problems.

The general assembly point in Occupy Berkeley (CA).

Back side of the general assembly point in Movimiento 15-M, Jerez de la Frontera (Spain).

In all these respects, the two movements are very similar and in fact, I imagine the Occupy Wall Street (and more recently, Occupy Oakland, Occupy San Francisco, Occupy Washington, etc.) movement began partly by taking the Spanish Movimiento 15-M as a model.

But there are also some rather striking differences between the two movements.

One is the reaction of local and national government, and the use or non-use of police to deal with the protestors.

In Spain, with the notable exception of two incidents (one in Madrid and one in Barcelona) there has been, to my knowledge, no serious attempts on the part of government to curtail the protests.  The government doesn´t seem to be afraid of the protestors.

Part of a declaration of principals, Occupy Berkeley.

Call to demonstrate, Movimiento 15-M, Jerez de la Frontera.

As an example, when I was last in Spain (mid-October through late November) the protestors were camped out in the central square of the city where I was staying (Jerez de la Frontera) with no government opposition or police intervention.  There were also several big protest marches, one organized by the Movimiento 15-M people and the others by unemployed or, even more often, unpaid workers (mostly unpaid government workers).  The Movimiento 15-M people participated in the protest marches organized by others.

I also didn´t read about or hear of any government or police action against Movimiento 15-M encampments in other Spanish cities.

In the United States, on the other hand, there have been numerous instances of police tearing down Occupy Wall Street/Occupy San Francisco/Occupy .... encampments.  Often violence is involved, people get hurt, and people get arrested.

Tents with placards, Occupy Berkeley.  Placard is on the right.

Placards and tents, Movimiento 15-M, Jerez de la Frontera.

Another major difference is in the attitude of the protestors.  In Spain, they don't seem to be nearly as confrontational as in the United States.  They set up their camps, they keep their camps clean, and they offer their daily informational and discussion sections at a set hour each day.  They have set up rules for these sessions and for decision-making which emphasize the right of everyone to have a say, and the duty of everyone to listen to each other and respect the right of people to disagree.

In the United States, on the other hand, the protestors are full of demands, often want to force their opinions on others (and I include in this the shutting down of the Port of Oakland), and are sometimes very provocative, including smashing and trashing other people's things.

Tents of Occupy Berkeley.

Tents and signs of Movimiento 15-M, Jerez de la Frontera.

Some of these differences have to do with a different cultural outlook.  Some have to do with fear, and with a process by which one side pushes and the other side pushes back--and the very idea of "we are one side and you are another."  Space prevents me from going into more detail, nor do I want to favor one side in the U.S. over the other, but the differences between the two movements in these regards are really striking.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about an upcoming screening of Domino in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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)

The actors,-supporting actor -Esteban Viaña

[We asked Esteban Viaña, who plays Javier, the former boss of our hero Luis, to provide us with a brief account of his acting career.  Here is what he wrote us (translated from Spanish):]

One can say that my varied experience as an actor began in grammar school, when I participated in an activity called "Speech and Verse."  From that time on, encouraged by my teacher, I started down the road of acting, something that still excites and inspires me, and which I intend to continue until I die or am no longer physically capable of continuing.

Antonio de la Malena (Luis) and Esteban Viaña (Javier) listening to the director.

I have acted for a number of different theater groups.  I've also acted in musicals, usually in the role of a comic tenor.  I have acted in religious productions [something Spain is noted for], both in plazas and in front of churches.  I have performed on many different stages, one of my favorite of which is the spectacular, old roman theater in Bolonia, Spain, in the ruins of the Roman city of Baelo Claudia.

My acting career has allowed me to visit many cities in Spain, a great pleasure for me.  Although I tend to be type-cast as a comic actor, I have also had dramatic roles of various types, but the truth is I feel most comfortable playing the comic roles.  One role for which I have particular affection and which I have played numerous times is the comic role of Payaso [a character in Spanish theater for children], partly because I enjoy children so much.

Esteban Viaña (blue sweater) in a street scene.

I would like to add that my experience as an actor has been very satisfying for me.  I especially enjoy the immediacy of live theater, and the ability to transmit to the public the different emotions that I feel as a person, at the moment that I feel them. 

NOTE:  Part of a scene with Esteban Viaña is in the trailer on the web site DominotheMovie.com.  And another note--we have improved the sound of this trailer, but for technical reasons, our web master is having trouble mounting this on the web site.  Our apologies.

Shooting in southern Spain-part 2

Shooting a film/video in Spain has its peculiarities but it's certainly not an impossible location.  And there is LOTS of local color. 

One requirement of film making is finding a good location in which to shoot.  This can be a challenge no matter where you are, especially for the independent filmmaker with a limited budget.  That's one of the reasons why the big boys, at least in the old days, would build sets.  You don't have to worry about light coming in in the wrong place or, even worse, not having enough light (and so having to rent expensive equipment, find enough electricity to power all that equipment, and so forth).

In addition, if you're working on a set, you don't have to worry about the guys down the street starting their construction project on the day you were to shoot your most important scene.  You don't have to worry about pedestrians walking through the set or, more often, a car driving by at the wrong moment.

For part of this scene, we simply stopped traffic.

Now, a lot of people would say if you're shooting a street scene, a car driving by is natural and why not include it?  Well, you may want to have a car drive by but if it isn't carefully planned, it's a nightmare when it comes to editing and you just might have to reshoot an entire scene because of the wrong car passing at the wrong time.  Trust me on this one.

In Spain, finding a good location isn't really any harder or easier than in any other places I've been.  But one peculiarity of Spain is that it's much more normal to "borrow" a location, meaning that someone will suggest a place where his/her friend works, or which his/her friend owns, and you can shoot there for free, within limitations but taking into account your own necessities.

In the case of Domino, we haven't had to pay for any location at all, not even the "bank."  I like that.

The offices upstairs are where we filmed the bank scenes.

In the United States, this kind of helping hand is normal for a documentary, but much less common in the case of a dramatic narrative.  I guess people assume if you can pay for actors and a crew, you can pay for a location.  They don't realize you've already gone broke paying for the actors and crew.

And on the subject of costs and favors, in Spain I've even had the nearby lamp shop lend me light bulbs and lamp shades.  Plus within limits, some actors and crew are willing to let you pay them later, "when you start making a profit" (ha, ha, ha).  This is also the case in the U.S., especially if the people happen to be your friends;  or the friends of your lead actor, for example. 

El Baratillo is the lamp shop that lent us light bulbs and lamp shades.

With the current economic situation in Spain, however, where over 8,000 families in Jerez have been evicted from their homes for inability to pay their mortgage;  where the unemployment rate for people 30 and under is supposed to be more than 50%, and so forth--I really don't like to ask this of people.

But I have been willing to let people work for me for less that we'd anticipated.  I've got my limits, too.

The last thing I want to mention about working in Spain is the problem of noise.  You have that problem everywhere, and it is a sticky one, but in Spain with all the stone and with the narrow streets, you get an awful lot of echo that you don't in a place like the United States.

In general, working in Spain has its peculiarities but it's certainly not an impossible location.  And there is LOTS of local color.

Shooting in southern Spain-part 1

Working as an independent filmmaker and shooting a film or video in Spain is not exactly like shooting in the United States.  In the United States, punctuality is considered almost sacred (unless you are a very big star, and even if you are, you STILL have to show up pretty close to shooting time).   And both cast and crew have to STAY on the set until the production day is over.

Plus there is a lot more attention paid to sticking to the script.

Following the clock is not always a priority in Spain.

In Spain, well, time concepts are different.  First of all, in southern Spain (Andalucia), asking someone to show up before 10am is not looked on with favor.  And if you plan to shoot all day, you'd better have lunch brought in or you may lose your actors and crew to "just one more beer."

We generally start our shooting day at 9am.  This sometimes means LOTS of cell phone calls at 9:10am to find out where your missing people are.  But after a while, they do start to get the picture.

Even more disturbing to a director, if an actor or crew member finds that something really important has come up, s/he just might leave before shooting is over, perhaps telling the director the night before or perhaps simply leaving.

An actor and two crew members.

  I have had to tell certain people that in my next production, I will not use X since on one occasion, X walked off the set without a word to me and in addition, X is routinely 15 minutes late for the start of the shooting day.  I don't even want to continue using X for the Domino production, but we're nearly through, other crew members are closely related to X, and X's role isn't all that important so I've been able to eliminate X's role in certain scenes.

Now, improvisation:  in Spain, or at least in Jerez (where that very improvisational art form, flamenco, has so much influence), improvisation is highly respected.  It's considered an element of good art.  Sticking with the script, well, "won't it be fresher and more natural if I just put it in my own words?"

The answer to that one as far as I'm concerned is that improvisation makes the job of the editor much more difficult.  In addition, if you improvise, you run the risk of losing essential ideas that are in the script.  And finally, I wrote the doggone script and I'm proud of it.

At work.  Our fearless director is to the right.

Plus sometimes people call for improvisation because they didn't get around to memorizing their lines.  I remember one occasion when a person who is a professional actor had spent so little time with his lines that we had to do 24 takes of one fairly small scene.  No fun.

But after all is said and done, I DO like some improvisation.  Yes, it CAN make things fresher and I am not the only one who has good ideas.  So I try to listen to suggestions, and to allow improvisation and even build in some places where flexibility will rule.

And I am in the happy position of being surrounded by lots of very, very talented people.  Makes the shooting fun, in spite of occasional frustrations.
 
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about a few more peculiarities of shooting in Spain.

Why Jerez de la Frontera?

Here we are in southern Spain, in the city of Jerez de la Frontera, shooting a short independent film called "Domino:  caught in the crisis," and having fun doing it.

Octagonal tower in the Alcazar, the moorish fortress in Jerez.

Ok, so there's plenty of crisis in southern Spain...I'm referring here to the economic crisis.  But there's also plenty of crisis in California, where I live when I'm not in Spain.  So why am I shooting here?

A casualty of the economic crisis.

Well, the idea came to me here.  The setting that came into my head when I visualized it was the setting I see here.  And elements of the crisis here are more exaggerated here than in California.  Exaggeration (when based on reality) is good for dramatic impact.  So Spain it is.

One of the elements that makes this story perfect for Jerez is the importance in Spanish culture of large weddings.  (One subplot of the story line has to do with the upcoming wedding of our hero's second son.)  Some of the settings that seemed perfect are the traditional local bars here.  (A bar is southern Spain is more like a café in California--NOT a place for heavy drinking and NOT reserved for men sitting at the counter, staring into their glasses of whiskey.)

Some crew members having a well-deserved lunch break in a local bar.

Another excellent reason for shooting here is I have good friends here who are great actors.  And dominoes (remember the "domino effect") is something that a lot of people play here in the bars.

Bottom line:  here we are in Jerez, shooting a short independent film called "Domino:  caught in the crisis."  And having fun doing. it.

NEXT BLOG:  Part 1 of  an interview with our lead actor.