From big dreams to the big city and back: Part II
By Melanie Harris de Maycotte

Film Fundraiser
Eden, Elise DuRant
Wed, Mar 12
The Restaurant at Sollano 16

In a previous edition, I introduced one of San Miguel’s best kept secrets, local writer/director Elise DuRant. We spoke about her newest screenplay, Eden, scheduled to film here in San Miguel in September with local talent and crew. For this week’s article, I elaborate a bit on her efforts to stimulate the local San Miguel film and cultural community by telling a unique story about this town we all love and appreciate in many of the same ways she does.

Melanie Harris de Maycotte: So, Elise, since last week’s article, people want to know more about what made you leave New York when you were working for one of cinema’s living legends, Woody Allen, an enviable position for any aspiring filmmaker.

Elise DuRant: Around the time I turned 27, a series of events forced me to take a good look at my life. Yes, I was doing well. With a lot of luck and hard work, I had landed in the hands of great filmmakers. As you say, I was working as part of Woody Allen’s editing team, but at the same time, I was living in a miserable little apartment in Brooklyn and spending all my earnings on rent and food. I was approaching 30 and barely getting by. And then I remembered that all of this was to prepare myself to return to San Miguel with the necessary knowledge to make my own movies. I thought, “You either live your dream or you don’t; it’s that simple.” So, after completing the film I was working on, I said, “Goodbye, New York,” and returned for the first time since I was a child to San Miguel.

MHM: You had been away from San Miguel for almost 15 years, just like Alma, the main character of your screenplay. Can you explain to the readers how your vision for the film will help preserve visually San Miguel’s past as you remember it?

ED: I feel a sense of urgency to depict the character of this town at a certain time and place, now and 20 years ago, especially considering how rapidly the community is changing. I also see making this film as my way of participating as this community continues to change, a way of continuing to foster a long-established tradition in the arts. I grew up under unique circumstances that only a handful of us, the children of foreigners, who grew up in San Miguel know. I think that experience is worth writing about and sharing.

MHM: I work with girls in the campo. I took them to see their first movie in a theater a couple of years ago and I recently asked the group of middle school girls if they would like me to help them make a movie. They absolutely couldn’t comprehend that this was a possibility for them.

ED: I want to be able to be an example of what she can do to a girl growing up in this town.

MHM: Well, what can we do to help you? This is to be a community project in a way, so as a community we need to help you.

ED: I need funds. I’m planning a dinner in mid-March to raise the initial funds needed to compile a team of talented young filmmakers to help me make my movie.

I am in contact with some outstanding up-and-coming filmmakers in Mexico City—producers, cinematographers, actors—who are beginning to be recognized for their talent on an international level and are eager to participate in making my film. At the same time I can call upon long-established film industry people for guidance. I can call upon some of the best cinematographers, editors, directors and producers in the world for advice and support on how to shoot my little movie. But in this initial phase, I’m going to call upon my community to help me get financial backing.

MHM: I recently read in the January edition of the Mexican Film Bulletin that 70 Mexican films went into production in 2007, a 10-percent increase over the previous year. Of those 70 films, 25 were “debut works by new directors.” I interpret this as a good sign for your film.

ED: I’m very excited about all of this. I am lucky that I have returned to make films in a time when Mexico is undergoing a renaissance in filmmaking. What a beautiful coincidence.

For more information on Eden and how you can support the film contact Elise DuRant at edenthemovie@yahoo.com. Tickets to the fundraising dinner, sponsored in part by Donnie and Cynthia Masterton at their new restaurant, will be sold at Café Correo, Galería/Atelier at Fábrica la Aurora and Sollano 16.

Final cut of “Old Ways” to be screened at Teatro Santa Ana
By José Luis Mendoza

Film Screening
“Old Ways”
Thu, Mar 6, 5:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

The film “Old Ways” by New York-based cinematographer Joe Gutowski makes its San Miguel final cut premiere on March 6. The film is a chronicle of La Cieneguita-based visionary artist Anado McLaughlin and his relationship with his mythical muse, Jimmy Ray. “Old Ways” was shot in April 2007 at the time of the groundbreaking for McLaughlin’s gallery known as “The Chapel of Jimmy Ray.”

Anado is interviewed throughout the film and gives the viewers a somewhat “guarded” account of his work with Jimmy Ray. Some light is shed on the comings and goings of this mysterious muse that McLaughlin met at the New York Museum of Modern Art in the early seventies. 

We get an insider tour of McLaughlin’s home and studio known as Casa Las Ranas. Original music by local and international recording artists Jennifer Grais, Billy White, Takayuki Yoshida and Joaquin Jesus accompanies this lively look at one of San Miguel’s decidedly revelatory artists. Many San Miguel residents who attended the groundbreaking are included in the footage and it is a delight to see familiar faces in their festive wear. “Old Ways” is scheduled for the independent film festival circuit so we encourage you to be one of the first to see the film in its final cut version.

Cinemateca, March 3–9, 2008

José Luis Pick’n’tip

The Pick

Keeping Mum


This movie is a little gem. The story takes place in a quiet little village in southern England where people usually live quiet, uneventful lives. Rowan Atkinson plays a straight part as the local vicar with a wife and 17-year-old daughter. They have some problems but accept them as part of their normal lives. To say more would give the story away but the events that take shape following the arrival of their new housekeeper (Maggie Smith) at first made our jaws drop with disbelief and then we began to chortle with glee as we waited for the next problem to be solved. Great fun.

The Tip In order to provide the best viewing experience, the show times for some movies may be adjusted to accommodate their length. Be sure to check the schedule carefully. I also want to remind you of our new ticket price: 50 pesos and discount cards buy 12 shows for 450 pesos. Starting Monday, after 11am, buy your tickets in advance for any movie or show of the week. If you have a discount card, collect your pass to secure a seat; don’t take the risk of being locked out…Nos vemos en el Cine… Would you like to receive this info by email? Write to José Luis at alephamour@hotmail.com.  Thank you.


The Movies


Keeping Mum (2005) 
Wednesday, March 5 at 2pm
Friday, March 7 at 2pm
Best of British humor, English with Spanish subtitles, 103 minutes.
Director: Niall Johnson. Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze, Emilia Fox. 

When housekeeper Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith) arrives at the Goodfellow vicarage, she finds a reverend (Rowan Atkinson) too busy for sex, a bored wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) who’s bedding her golf instructor (Patrick Swayze), a promiscuous teenage daughter and a bullied son. Little does the family know that their new “Mary Poppins” has a few tricks—and secrets—up her treacherous sleeve in this witty black comedy directed by Niall Johnson.



Duane Hopwood (2004) 
Monday, March 3 at 5:30pm
Sundance standouts, English with Spanish subtitles, 91 minutes.
Director: Matt Mulhern. Cast: David Schwimmer, Janeane Garofalo, Judah Friedlander, Susan Lynch. 

A down-and-out divorcee struggles to get his life back on track in this bittersweet tale. Depressed by his recent divorce and the late hours he’s forced to work as an Atlantic City casino pit boss, Duane Hopwood (David Schwimmer) can’t imagine that things could get any worse—but they do. After a run-in with the law, Duane realizes he needs to get himself together before he loses everything. Janeane Garofalo and Judah Friedlander also star.



“Old Ways” 
Friday, March 6 at 5:30pm
San Miguel Artist Special, English
Cinematographer Joe Gutowski.

The film is a chronicle of La Cieneguita based visionary artist Anado McLaughlin and his relationship with his mythical muse, Jimmy Ray. “Old Ways” was shot in April 2007 at the time of the groundbreaking for McLaughlin’s gallery known as “The Chapel of Jimmy Ray.” Anado is interviewed throughout the film and gives the viewers a somewhat “guarded” account of his work with Jimmy Ray. Some light is shed on the comings and goings of this mysterious muse that McLaughlin met at the New York Museum of Modern Art in the early seventies. We get an insider tour of McLaughlin’s home and studio known as Casa las Ranas. Original music by local and international recording artists Jennifer Grais, Billy White, Takayuki Yoshida and Joaquin Jesus accompanies this lively look at one of San Miguel’s decidedly revelatory artists.



Kids Movies: Cartoons
Saturday, March 8 at noon 


Our beloved pianist from Norway, Age Kristoffersen,

while performing one of his extraordinary concerts, broke a bone in his left hand, so against his will and ours, we have to cancel the Sunday Matinee concert series for this season. Age expresses his intentions of coming next winter with a series of concerts designed for San Miguel’s connoisseur’s audience. We wish Age a successful and fast recovery and are looking forward to next winter piano season.

Musical Saturdays
Turandot
Saturday, March 8. at 2:30pm, 132 minutes.

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, based on Friedrich Schiller’s adaptation of the play Turandot by Carlo Gozzi. It was left unfinished by Puccini at his death and completed by Franco Alfano. The first performance, at the Teatro alla Scala, in Milan, on 25 April 1926, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, included only Puccini’s music and not Alfano’s additions. Later performances were of the completed score. “Turandot” is a Persian word and name meaning “the daughter of Turan” (Turan is a region of Central Asia which used to be part of the Persian Empire). In Persian, the fairy tale is known as Turandokht, with “dokht” a contraction for “dokhtar” (meaning “daughter”), and both the “kh” and “t” are clearly pronounced. However, according to Puccini scholar Patrick Vincent Casali, the final “t” should not be sounded in the pronunciation of the opera’s name or when referring to the title character, as Puccini never pronounced it (according 
to Rosa Raisa, the first singer to play the title role) and, as Casali notes, the musical setting of many of Calaf’s intonations of the name makes sounding the final “t” all but impossible.