Chimney pots in Paris (late Feb. 2015)

My mother loved to go to Paris.  She first went when she was in her late teens, and she studied there on a couple of occasions.  She also went often after she married and had a family, both when her kids were growing up and after they were all grown and gone.

there was half a day of sun while I was in Paris

She had an aunt who lived there, who ran the student housing where she stayed when she was a student.  She became close friends with her aunt's companion, who she visited often after her aunt (my great-aunt, of course) passed away.

looking down from the window of my teeny, tiny apartment

Her aunt, Sarah Watson, was the first foreign woman ever to be inducted into the French Legion of Honor.  Her induction was to honor her for her work in France in World War II, during the French Résistance (resistance).

chimney pots up close and personal

My mother passed her love of chimney pots on to me.  I hope you enjoy these.

looking out across the rooves (roofs)

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Eve A. Ma passed through Paris on her way to southern Spain, where she is working on a documentary about flamenco, and finishing up a video about Afro-Peruvian music and dance.  Keep up with her work at http://palominoprodvd-cd.com.

And then, the rest of Paris (or some of it) (late Feb. 2015)

(late Feb. 2015)

When I visit Paris, I in fact DO do things outside of the Jardin du Luxembourg.  I have lunch with my cousin, I walk up and down streets, I look at beautiful things like les Invalides, I go to movies or to a play, and if time and weather permit, I go to museums.

fine buildings on the Blvd. du Montparnasse

On this trip, I didn't make it to any museums but I did have lunch with my cousin, go to a movie, and also did a LOT of walking, and etc, etc.  Don't have photos of ALL of this but do have some to share.

a smaller street near where my cousin lives

I'll do one more Paris blog after this, which will be dedicated to the chimney pots of Paris...something my mother used to love.

the Eiffel Tower on a rainy night

don't know why I like this;  the man is coming out of the place I get chocolate and croissants

I would, by the way, love to do a documentary about the Jardin du Luxembourg, looking at it as it changes with the four seasons.  Maybe one day....

woman with dog

people hurrying along on a dark, cold winter's day

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Eve Ma passed through Paris on her way to southern Spain, where she is working on a documentary about flamenco (and finishing up some work about Afro-Peruvian music and dance).  Keep up with our work at http://palominoprodvd-cd.com.

On the road again (late Feb. 2015)

I'm in Paris now, on my way to Jerez (Jerez de la Frontera, Spain).  The main purpose of this trip is to film material that "we" have agreed is needed in order to make our trailer for the flamenco documentary a knock-your-socks-off trailer that will bring in grants, funding, and, well, money.

It's winter in Paris.  No surprise there.  The skies are grey and heavy with water.  It hasn't really rained since I arrived day before yesterday, but the air gets thicker at times and delicate droplets of water permeate the air.  Sometimes they even fall out of the sky.

A grey winter's day on Blvd. du Montparnasse, Paris.

It's cold, but not frozen cold with ice and snow.  Cold enough, however, that I'm very glad I brought a winter coat and a sweater.

I have now walked around the Jardin du Luxembourg two times.  It's an immense park, formerly the "back yard" for one of the palaces of the French kings, right in the center of Paris.  It's at least a mile long, and one of my favorite places on earth.  In the mornings, it's more a land of joggers than anything else.  Serious joggers.  Muscular joggers.  If I were here longer, I'd join in but I don't have the clothes, I'm not going to get the clothes, and I will just walk.

The lone jogger...but many more in front and behind.

The joggers - of all ages, both sexes, mostly white but some Moroccans and I even saw one black person.  About half are plugged into their music with earphones tightly ensconced in their ears and the other half are open to the world, as it were.

Most of the joggers are also solitary, but there is one large group at a certain point in the morning:  men from a nearby fire station with their fire station jogging suits, keeping very, very fit.

Children playing in a section of the park.

There are also some other people:  people out walking their dogs (dogs are permitted in certain sections of the park), a few people out with children in strollers, a few people like me, simply walking.

The palace.  It used to be a residence of France's kings;  now, it's the Senate building.

One of the park's fountains, dry now because it's winter.

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The American premiere

The American premiere of Domino:  Caught in the Crisis (Dominó:  agarrado por la crisis) - first, special THANKS to the non-profit Media Art Works (MAW) for their generous donation to support the event.

And do we plan to hold more screenings?  Of course.  We're in conversations with organizations in Berkeley and San Francisco, to name only a few...but it won't be until this summer or fall, because I'll be leaving soon for another trip to Spain.

And now, some photos from the premiere, followed by quotes from comments written by the audience:

MC Hershell West with filmmaker Eve A. Ma

Ruth Cazden, chair of the El Cerrito Arts & Cultural Commission, spoke briefly before the film started, as did Hershell West, chair of Media Art Works (MAW), the event's major supporter.

Inside the theater.

We had a good audience.  I want to thank our sponsors again, without whom the event truly would not have been possible:  City of El Cerrito (through its Arts & Culture Commission);  Rialto Cinemas Cerrito, City of Richmond (through its Arts & Culture Commission);  and our fiscal sponsor, From the Heart Productions.

Mixing & mingling after the premiere.

After the film was over, we had a little social time in a special room in the theater.  We also held a raffle there, which was a great success thanks to the donations of our supporters:  César's Restaurant of Berkeley, Pam Fingado Art of El Cerrito, Pearl Lounge Jewelry Design of San Francisco, Lucy Armentrout of Piedmont, The Spanish Table of Berkeley, Pyramid Brewery of Berkeley, and La Fonda Restaurant of Berkeley.

I should also thank our publicists, Social Lighthouse.

Now, here are some of the comments from the film's viewers:

"...very compelling...."            Natasha Ravnik, Oakland

"Really enjoyed the movie.  Loved the music...."             Luinda Dayak, Bay Point

"Well done and thought provoking.  Brings focus to an issue that needs much more attention."
                    David Rosenberg, Berkeley

"...different from any film I've ever seen."              Lucy Sterba (residence unknown)

"...I gained an appreciation for how hard it must be to edit a film..."              anonymous

Domino and relevance - plus some important thanks

You might wonder why a drama about someone in Spain suffering through the economic crisis there would be relevant to an American audience.

Well, wonder no more.

It has been estimated that.....

On the topic of hard times, our own San Francisco Bay Area has a major homeless population - in Silicon Valley, no less. There are some 7,500 homeless in that area, alone, many of them with full-time jobs. The working poor.

This is  largely because housing prices in Silicon Valley have skyrocketed. According to an article in EFE (a Spanish news service), rentals have gone up from $1,700 a month last year, to some $2,600 today. This has literally left many people out in the cold.

The City of San José recently broke up a huge homeless settlement, and metropolitan Los Angeles has between 38,000 and 45,000 homeless, depending upon which government statistics you trust most, those of the federal government or those of the City of Los Angeles.

New York City had 48,000 homeless in 2013.  San Francisco has about 10,000 while in Washintgon, D.C. there are about 7,000.  In all, it is estimated that there are over 3 million homeless people in the United States, many of them children.

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Some important thanks are due for their support of our American premiere of Domino: Caught in the Crisis (Dominó:  agarrado por la crisis). The release is being officially presented by the City of El Cerrito through its Arts and Culture Commission. Thank you El Cerrito. 

Another sponsor is the City of Richmond, through its Arts and Culture Commission. They are helping with publicity. Thanks to them, as well.

And of course thanks in advance to Rialto Cinemas Cerrito. We certainly couldn't do it without you!

Even more thanks to our fiscal sponsor, From the Heart Productions, and to César's Restaurant in Berkeley, who is the first donor of a prize for the raffle we'll hold at the screening - a $100 gift certificate for food and drink in their restaurant!

My Peru trip - day 15 (all about he BIG SHOOT)

Peru diary (Dec. 19, 2014)

Well, yesterday was the BIG SHOOT, the reason that I scheduled my trip when I did, so that I could get all three great percussionists together:  Lalo Izquierdo, Juan Medrano Cotito, and Huevito Lobatón.

We filmed the conversation part in "my apartment."  l to r:  Cotito, Huevito Lobatón and Lalo Izquierdo.

And they were, well, great!

We started off by filming a conversation between the three of them, in which I presented three topics and asked them simply to talk about them.  The first topic was...how did they learn Afro-Peruvian rhythms.  Of course, I knew they had all learned as kids in their homes, watching parents, family, and friends but I wanted them to talk about this in front of the camera.

They did, indeed, talk.  After an hour on the topic, I had to raise my hand and ask them to stop since I was running out of film.  (I still shoot with videotape, although the other two camera people had video cards.)

Me with Huevito Lobatón.  We filmed the interviews in a park in Barranco (another district of Lima).

What they said as they talked was really fun and interesting.  I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Because of the time factor, we had to skip topic two, and I had them move briefly through topic three (what they think is the future of Afro-Peruvian music, rhythms and dance).

Next, we filmed short interviews in which I asked each of them separately a very few questions.

Lalo Izquierdo and Juan Medrano Cotito in the park.

Finally, the big thing:  the performance part.  We filmed this in a cultural organization which has a stage and puts on performances.  It's called Casa Shenan.

They did four numbers:  one with just the three of them playing cajón and singing;  one with Lalo Izquierdo and Huevito Lobatón performing zapateo footwork (with a guitar accompanying them) and two with a guitar, a singer, and the three of them playing percussion - cajón and some quijada de burro.

In Casa Shenan, setting up for the performance part.

It was really great.  In fact, I've decided I'll use this material (supplemented by other things I shot in Peru) to make a documentary called Masters of Percussion...because they really are, and all three are fascinating people.

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(For more photos, go to the Facebook page of Palomino Productions, A Zest for Life Afro-Peruvian, and Eve A. Ma.)

I am in Peru for reasons related to our documentary, A Zest for Life, and other work about Afro-Peruvians.