Film
El Cochero 
Thu, Apr 16, 7pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
Free


The Carriage Driver
Compiled by Atención staff


Alonso Echánove in El Cochero

Neto (Alonso Echanove), a widowed horse-and-carriage driver in Central Mexico, has recently lost his only son. During the day he tries to share his grief with various passengers, but nobody is interested in listening to him, partly due to his obvious speech impediment. Based on the story “Heartache” by Anton Chekhov, El Cochero (The Carriage Driver) is a touching tale about loss and isolation but also about ultimately finding the strength to carry on.

Echanove will introduce this screening of the moving and extraordinary short film El Cochero written, directed and produced by Miles Merritt in San Miguel. A Q & A with the lead actor follows afterwards.

Echanove teaches drama twice a week to a group of Mexican actors in the Casa de la Cultura in a program launched by the dynamic head of the Education and Culture department, Veronica Agundis.

Don’t miss the opportunity to meet this Mexican actor-director.

The making of “El Cochero”—a labor of love
By Miles Merritt

The Russian composer, Igor Stravinksy, once said, "In order to create, there must be a dynamic force and what force is more potent than love?" Although producing the short film, "El Cochero" in the historic town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico was an endeavor of love, it was nonetheless a tremendous amount of labor. The film was inspired by an Anton Chekhov short story entitled, "Heartache." 

After writing the first draft of the script, we went out searching for locations. This aspect came easily as San Miguel is a city bursting with picturesque streets, historic buildings and vibrant colors. The next dilemma - and certainly one of the most critical - was casting the lead role. It turned out to be a frustrating search. We were only a few weeks away from shooting when a miracle occurred. Sara Hoch, Director of the Guanajuato Film Commission, suggested we contact the renowned Mexican actor, Alonso Echanove.

When I first met Alonso, I was thrilled. He was our protagonist personified. Re-reading the script the next day II was unable to get past more than a page without seeing Alonso in my mind. It was then I realized that Alonso was meant to play this role. 

During the seven days of shooting, our working title should have been "The Manifestation of Murphy's Law." Everything that could, and couldn't go wrong, did. There were problems with the carriage, the weather, and tourists who refused to heed our pleas to stay out of the line of the camera. And naturally, we had to contend with all the ambient sounds of San Miguel including horns, hammers, bells and fire crackers. Add to the mix, the linguistic challenges of a bicultural crew amidst all this chaos, and you have a recipe for short tempers and bruised egos. The shoots were exhausting, lasting from sun-up to sundown, but somehow we managed to get everything done.

I had always envisioned this film as a visual poem, and when the former U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, watched "El Cochero" and called it, "a poignant, beautifully paced, vividly colored piece of cinematic lyricism," I knew we had succeeded.

Ultimately, the process of creating somehow brings us closer to humanity and unites us with our fellow man. And, not the least of the many rewards I've gathered from this experience is a deep and evolving friendship with Alonso. Yes, creating "El Cochero" was a labor of love and -as love is often known to do- it has transcended time and space and even culture to leave an indelible mark upon my heart.

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Expresión en Corto 
International Film Festival
July 24–28
San Miguel & Guanajuato
Free

Eco-logical: It’s not a fashion, it’s a way of life
By Atención staff

The Expresión en Corto, Mexico’s largest competitive film festival and the most prestigious of its kind in Latin America, will celebrate its 12th edition this summer in San Miguel de Allende.

The state-sponsored, nonprofit, cultural event offers a variety of screenings, workshops, conferences, tributes and activities at no cost to the visiting public.

Each edition of Expresión en Corto has a central theme. Past themes have included “In the Land of the Blind,” “Seven Virtues and Seven Sins,” “Censorship, Self-Censorship and Provocation,” “Breakout Filmmaking” and “Identity.” Each festival features special week-long programs of classic films dedicated to each theme and invites international filmmakers, writers, researchers and historians to give conferences. This year the festival is greenlighting responsible environmental practices, in observance of Mexico hosting the international World Environment Day celebrations in 2009. The program has been dubbed, Eco-Lógico: No es moda, es el modo de vida.

As a result, the festival is currently organizing various ecological programs in conjunction with the State Institute of Ecology, the University of Guanajuato, the cities of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato, as well as within the private sector. The programs will be implemented during the 10 days of the festival in both host cities, with the hope that they will be adopted permanently by each city and remain as part of the festival’s legacy to the community.

One of these programs involves measuring and evaluating the festival’s own Carbon Footprint, as well as that of each of the festival’s 72,000+ visitors, guests and press, while giving tips on how to reduce the environmental impact.

The festival will implement a recycling program for each of its venues in both cities throughout the dates of the festival, with the hope that these public recycling centers will remain permanent, or at least create a demand for such centers in our cities. A permanent public recycling program, administered by the municipal government, already exists within city schools of Guanajuato, but not yet in San Miguel.

In conjunction with the State Secretary of Tourism and the State Institute of Ecology, the festival will be co-organizing workshops for local restaurants and hotels, giving them advice on how they can reduce their environmental impact, save energy and protect our natural resources, while cutting their operating costs.

The festival will produce fiction, animation and documentary video workshops for children addressing subjects such as the environment, proper recycling and protecting our natural resources. These films will be presented during the festival’s closing ceremonies and will be screened throughout the year as part of the festival’s traveling environmental showcase.

The festival will establish a special “environmental route” within Guanajuato, operating large transport vans or micro-buses, free of charge to the public, with the goal of reducing traffic and gasoline consumption from the bus station to the main venues within that city.

The University of Guanajuato has proposed workshops for young people that deal with the responsible use of our natural resources as well as offered to set up additional recycling stations around Guanajuato where people will be paid by the kilo for certain materials.

The festival is doing its part by reducing the amount of materials it usually prints and will use recycled and less-harmful materials wherever possible.

For more information on Expresión en Corto and its various programs, visit www.expresionencorto.com or call Sarah or Daniel at 152-7264 or 152-8899.

For the third year in a row, Expresión en Corto invites the San Miguel community to participate in their Adopt a Filmmaker Program. For more information on how you can become a Host, Networker, Sponsor or Member Supporter, email Mimi at adopt@expresionencorto.com  or call 152-1114.