El mundo de cine Mexicano - y Marshall

Marshall Peterson, former Spokane resident now living in Guadalajara, Mexico, is on his first professional movie production job. What follows is his story:

Small town, Mexico, today…

Threatening movement, shouts, aggression, grimacing machete-wielding maniacs, the circle of irate locals rapidly closing around me… “It’s him! – GET HIM!” Heart pumping out of my chest – how did I get here? Where’s “here”?

Although the above is only a scene from the short that we’re here filming, it could very well be happening – right here, right now. Seriously.

Production is at a standstill because the locals are upset about exactly is happening here in their church . Although the pastor has given us permission, it’s not enough for them. The crew tells me to be on guard with the country folk around here; when they’re upset about something, they often turn to violence, and quickly (especially if they believe you’ve offended their religion).

Mind you that this advice came from a resident of one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Mexico City : If he’s telling me to watch out, it really must be worthy of concern. I’m reminded that not so long ago, in a small town just like this one, rumors spread quickly and when the dust cleared, two lifeless bodies lay in the street. Residents had heard that the strangers in town intended to harm the community and mob justice was swiftly meted out. There’s a certain palpable tension – the possibility of swift and brutal revenge hangs in the air.

A 10-hour bus ride, five hours shivering myself to sleep in the freezing forest cold (on a bad mattress no less), on set at 5:40 am. I’ve covered myself in with three T-shirts in an attempt to make up for the fact that it’s 45 degrees out and I’ve not even brought a sweater (it’s 85 degrees now in Guadalajara , therefore quite a shock to find it so cold here).

The last time I had my feet on the ground at this hour was a few weeks ago when Guadalajara’s opening night party carried on into the wee hours. A friend dropped me off to sleep; I’ve now had to wake up to work, to shoot a film.

That’s right, my neighbor invited me to do the “foto fija” (promotional stills) for her next project, a short film. When I say short film, I’m not talking about your nephew videotaping the family at Christmas with the new camcorder; this is a completely professional production – big cameras, well-known actors, professional crew, big bus, catering, the whole shebang, for what will be my first professional shoot here in Mexico.

I’m sure that sounds weird to those who know that I’ve been credited as executive producer a couple times. The truth is that for the multi-award winning short, I only became producer after the shoot (for advising the young director) and for the filming of the second short, I was on tour in Europe. So this is, officially, my first pro shoot.

How did I get here? Well, film festivals are a favorite pastime of mine. One of the many that I have attended here in Mexico is the one Guanajuato . In last year’s festival my neighbor Claudia invited me to tag along and shoot some stills as a part of her challenge to film and edit a short film in less than 24 hours.

She, along with five other young Mexicans, beat out 200 other scripts for the right to film. That short won a bunch of awards and with one of them came film, five days of professional equipment, and a team to run it.

Here I am now, in the Mexican countryside, seeing the process firsthand. I hope to send an update every few days.

I hope . We’ll see what happens.

Below: The slate, or clap board, bears the title of the film, “El Milagrito de San Jacinto” (“The Little Miracle in San Jacinto”) that former Spokane resident Marshall Peterson is working on.

Photo by Marshall Peterson