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.

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 Nicolás Montoya

We wrote a blog several months earlier about Nicolás Montoya and his acting.  We´ll use this blog to bring us up to date on his career.  Like Javier Padilla, in addition to his role as the banker Miguel in Domino Montoya has been very active in his career as an actor in theater and television, and in addition, is studying scriptwriting at the film school in the University of Sevilla.

Nicolás Montoya with our cameraman in a scene from Domino.

As an actor, he has played the role of Pajarete in Tirso Calero´s popular series Bandolera, a production filmed in Madrid and aired over Antena 3, a private television station that broadcasts nationally to the entire country of Spain.

In addition, he has appeared in several movies, including two that are soon to be released.  One, called Libertador  (The Liberator), is directed by Alberto Arvelo of Venezuela.  It´s about Simon Bolivar, the revolutionary from Venezuela who liberated most of South America from Spanish rule.  The movie stars Edgar Ramírez and Maria Valverde.  It boasts a very international cast:  Ramirez is from Venezuela, Valverde from Spain, and in addition, Danny Houston (USA) Iwan Rheon (Great Britain) and Juana Acosta (Colombia) play leading roles. 

Montoya in a theater production.

In the scene shot in Jerez, there is a pitched battle between Bolivar´s forces and the Spanish army.  Bolivar wins.

Rain at mid-day stopped the filming but not before they apparently had shot enough footage.  I guess the moral here is that nature is more powerful than armies, but armies (and filmmakers) can be flexible enough so that in the long run, it might not matter.

The other movie in which Montoya recently acted is called El barco (The Boat).  In this one, he played the part of a medical doctor, a very appropriate role since in fact, apart from his acting, he actually IS a medical doctor.  This movie is directed by Juan de Artigas.  I´m sorry to say that I don´t know anything more about it.

Montoya as a Roman legionnaire in front of the Roman theater.

In addition to these two movies, Montoya has acted in live theater, playing the role of Don Ventura in a play created by the theater company Hesperides and presented by the Cultural Division of the City of Jerez to celebrate that city´s history.  His other recent theater role was as the Roman Legionnaire Marco.  This was another production created by the theater company Hesperides.  It was presented in the old Roman theater near Bolonia called Baelo Claudia, in which you will remember Esteban Viaña played the part of duumvir.

Montoya--a busy man, indeed.

OUR NEXT POST will be about supporting actor Salvador Valle, and the following one will be about where is Spain headed?

Supporting actor Javier Padilla

Actor and playwright Javier Padilla, co-founder and co-director of the theater company Tras el Trapo in Jerez de la Frontera, plays two roles in Domino:  Caught in the Crisis.  He plays the friend Manolo, who owns a shop where our hero, Luis, goes to look for a job.  He also plays the drunk in one of the final scenes.

To be sure the audience won´t recognize him in his two contrasting roles, in addition to very different costuming, in one scene he has a bushy beard and in the other, he does not.  A real beard.  We shot the drunk scene first, then he shaved off the beard (not just for us, but it still served our purposes well), and afterwards, we shot the other scene with him as Manolo.

Javier Padilla as the friend, Manolo, in his shop.  Oops! caught him with his mouth open!

We have written about Javier in earlier blogs but wanted to use this space to "catch up" with what he´s been doing lately.

Well, he´s been doing quite a lot.

This past summer, Tras el Trapo presented the opening of his semi-surrealistic, satirical work, Pepa or Josefa:  when Fernando VII wore an overcoat (¿Pepa o Josefa?...cuando Fernando VII usaba paletó). It has played in numerous venues ever since.

Playbill from Pepa o Josefa.

The play deals with a chaotic period in Spain´s history, the XIX century when the country experienced war, revolution, invasion, frequent changes of government, and warring world views characterized by a tug-of-war between monarchists and Renaissance liberalism.  This is the period in which Napoleon conquered Spain but was later thrown out, in which the Inquisition was first disavowed then reinstated, in which kings fled the country or ruled as puppets or were restored to autocratic power....

Pepa and Josefa are two contrasting female characters, one an aristocrat loyal to the Spanish king and the other, her pragmatic servant.   The entire play is carried by only these two characters, played respectively by María Duarte and Ana Oliva.  Javier Padilla, in addition to being the author, also directed it.

Then, even more recently, he along with other members of the theater company have been presenting something they call the Jaramago´s Blues Band to audiences in several towns and cities in Andalucia, in southern Spain.  This is a light, comic work that makes use of Padilla´s talents as both an actor and musician.

Jaramago Blues Band.

The mini-tour was funded by the European Union as part of its program to revitalize local commerce and local business districts by bringing in activities that would lure local citizens out to enjoy themselves ... and spend money.  There were several additional performing companies that were part of these tours, and entrance to all was free.

All this sounds wonderful, but I need to add a short note here, and that is, that I have learned from many people in the performing arts that it is really important that tours and performances such as these be properly publicized and properly scheduled.  No publicity means no audience.   I mention this because especially in the case of tours organized by government entities, inadequate publicity is often a problem.  Then it look like the public doesn't support the arts (so we can cut THAT out of the budget, right?) when really, it's a question of the organizers not having done their jobs. 

On stage, on tour.

But getting back to Javier Padilla:  he long and the short of it is that, as an actor as well as playwright and musician, he has been a very busy man.

And the best part of it is...that he´s even getting paid (as opposed to some tours in which the actors are  promised a fee by a government organ but then the money isn´t forthcoming).

Relaxing before the show (l to r):  Ismael Colón, María Duarte and Javier Padilla.

OUR NEXT POST will be about supporting actor Nicolás Montoya.

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.

Interview with our star, part 2

This is part two of our interview with Antonio de la Malena, star of Domino:

Eve A. Ma (EM):  What scene did you like best, from the point of view of your interpretation? 

Antonio de la Malena (Malena):  There´s one scene with which I particularly identify.  It´s the scene in which I´m tearing up the lottery ticket, and the image of my face at that moment is like a mirror of my own life. 

EM:  What did you like best about the direction?  What least? 

Malena:  What I liked best is the director´s discipline.  I really liked that.  What I liked least is that I feel she needs more assistance, more assistance to be able to properly realize all of her creative projects.   It made me unhappy seeing she lacked that.  

Malena with actor Esteban Viaña and crew.

EM:  In thinking about the film itself, what part did you like best?  Do you think it fairly reflects the current situation in Spain?  

Malena:  In general, I liked everything about the film.  There aren´t things that I like best, and others that I like less well--because it was all done with the heart, and the soul, and with real sympathy for what is happening right now in Spain. 

EM:  What scene did you like best, from the point of view of your interpretation? 

Malena:  There´s one scene with which I particularly identify.  It´s the scene in which I´m tearing up the lottery ticket, and the image of my face at that moment is like a mirror of my own life. 

Malena with actors Jose Luis Martinez and Santiago Moreno.

EM:  What did you like best about the direction?  What least? 

Malena:  What I liked best is the director´s discipline.  I really liked that.  What I liked least is that I feel she needs more assistance, more assistance to be able to properly realize all of her creative projects.   It made me unhappy seeing she lacked that.  

EM:  In thinking about the film itself, what part did you like best?  Do you think it fairly reflects the current situation in Spain?  

Malena:  In general, I liked everything about the film.  There aren´t things that I like best, and others that I like less well--because it was all done with the heart, and the soul, and with real sympathy for what is happening right now in Spain. 

De la Malena with crew, director, actor Nicolas Montoya and others.

EM:  I understand that you had to shave off your beard several times because the director decided to add more scenes and to re-shoot others.  Now that you are free to grow your beard, have you done so?

Malena:  Well, yes, but it didn´t bother me to keep cutting my hair and shaving off my beard because the scenes were good ones and besides, I figured I was going to be earning more money.  

OUR NEXT POST will be about one of the supporting actors, Esteban Viaña.