Friday, November 19, 2010

Hola de Ciudad de Mexico!

I find myself in the embassy district of Mexico City. 




Staying with the director of the film, Eva in her parent's house. It's just me, the DP Sebastian, Eva, Lincoln the German shepherd and 2 maids around. 


Eva's father is Homero Aridjis a writer of poetry and prose. He is also a serious environmentalist and has through Eva's stories become my immediate hero. He was a major player in saving the breeding grounds of the gray whales in the lagoons of the Baja peninsula. He did the same for the Monarch butterflies. The house is  incredible and filled with art, books, knick knacks from around the world and an all around awesome intellectual vibe. 




One of MANY traditional and ritual masks that decorate the house.



Handsome house mate and modern art.


There really is no strolling about Mexico City. It is just toooo damn big. The area I'm staying in is very nice and most houses have a booth with a security guard outside. 



Kooky fairy tale Gaudi inspired villa close to Eva's house.


We get in a van or a taxi and we get driven to where we need to go. Crime is obviously present but Eva says tourists are usually not the target. Of course there are muggings but kidnappings have gone down in number because there is just too much work involved and Americans rarely get nabbed because who would want the American government on your ass anyways. Drug crime stays outside the city, the big guys in the trade need the city clean for their legitimate affairs. But still, taking a lazy afternoon walk through Mexico City is not the best idea. I'm staying behind the bars of the house and am content taking hipstamatic snaps out the car window. 





We did a camera test yesterday at the rental house. It all went well but the language barrier is giving me a little bit of a head ache (made worse by the high altitude...). The camera department is Sebastian, me, 2nd assistant camera Stefania, our data manager Gilberto (meaning downloading of media from flash cards to computer) and our 3rd, Ruben. Both these guys don't speak much English so thank god Stefania's English is flawless. Poor thing will be translating her little heart out. Cause the same thing goes for Irving, our chief lighting technician and Ivanhoe (YES! Ivanhoe!) our keygrip.


Our equipment comes from Renta Imagen, a very cool rental house and studio in Mexico City.




I never met a dessert I didn't like so I wasn't going to frown at this one which looks like a slab of lard with raspberry sauce.

Tonight is dinner with the gang in the city and tomorrow we start our loooong journey to Palenque where we start shooting on Monday. 




1 comment:

  1. Vilket trevlig rapport! Bilderna illustrerar din reseberättelse så fint! Hoppas det fortsätter att vara ett positivt äventyr. Här har vi vinter, kalla vindar och inga kläder räcker till. Eftermiddagens utefritids känns inte så lockande. Jag kommer att strida för tidigare ingång och lite pyssel istället. Förmiddagen har varit lugn. Just nu är det överlag lugnt på jobbet. Det är bra. Då har jag kraft över till annat på kvällarna. På torsdag har jag dock ett tråkigt och lite jobbigt möte och ska jag jobba över för en konferens. Men hela livet är ju en enda stor give and take. I helgen har jag noll, nada, zero planer och tänker inte träffa någon eller lämna hemmet. Verkstad, verkstad, verkstad. Längtar! Helgen därpå är det julmarknad och sen är det dags för the big invigning. Idag ska de beställda inbjudningarna ligga i brevlådan. Hoppas att det stämmer. Det börjar bli dags att dela ut dem. Kramar!

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