Handcuffs (end of March 2015)

Another scene we've shot in Jerez this time for Flamenco:  the Land Is Still Fertile (Flamenco:  la tierra está viva) will accompany a letra of cante - a verse of singing - this one a verse of carceleras (prison songs) sung by Antonio Agujetas.  As with the scene in the bar (SEE the previous post), the purpose of this scene is to bring the verse to life for those who don't understand Spanish.

Antonio de la Malena explains the scene to the two actors - two brothers.

Antonio Agujetas sings that his jailor wouldn't take his handcuffs off until he promised to give him his ring - the ring that "you gave me," that he always kept on the table by the bed at night.

In our scene, once again almost in silhouette, we see two pairs of wrists and hands.  One of the people is handcuffed, the other has a key and is wearing a uniform.  (He's the guard, ok?)  The one with the key unlocks the handcuffs, takes them off, and the prisoner then takes off his ring and gives it to the guard.

The handcuffs.

We had a lot of trouble with light in shooting this, but I think on the last take it came out ok.  I won't really look to see until co-director Antonio de la Malena gets back from France, since this is a joint effort, but I do believe what we have will work.

One brother looks like he's not so sure about all this.

But after our "prisoner" and our "guard" had left, I realized that you never clearly saw the ring, so I had Antonio pose as the guard, complete with the uniform jacket, and I shot an extreme close-up of the palm of his hand and his wrist...and in the palm of his hand was the ring.  This should make the point.

After the shoot, one of the brothers wanted to be dressed up like a general.

The ring in question, by the way, is the same ring we used in the pawn shop scene of Domino:  Caught in the Crisis (Dominó:  agarrado por la crisis).  It's my ring;  and it's getting to be a FAMOUS ring.

The co-directors enjoying the acting.  (Note that I'm doing
double duty as camera person again!  Saves money.)

I should mention that we have Raul of Fotógrafos Juan to thank for these great photos.

And you may be interested to know that my work will be in three different festivals in April.   Want to keep up with what we're doing?  Sign up for our monthly newsletter HERE.

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Eve A. Ma is in Spain where, having completed the revised Afro-Peruvian documentary, she is getting back to work on a documentary about flamenco which she is co-directing with Antonio de la Malena.