After a wonderful film premiere, you can now purchase a copy of Casa de los Angeles for your very own! Please visit http://casadelosangeles.org/, where you can put in an order for a DVD and Digital Copy on the main page.
If you like what you see and want to share it with others, please let us know. We are currently submitting the documentary to film festivals, but we would love it if you wanted to set up a small (or big) screening of your own!
After almost a year of production, the Casa de los Angeles film will be having its first screening! With much long work in post-production and the support from Donna all the way in Mexico, the film is ready to see the world. So if you are around the Chicago area, you are in luck!
The film will hit the big screen at the Lewis University in Romeoville, IL in the Academic Building on campus!
The event will entail a short introduction, the premiere of the 32 minute film, and a Q&A with the filmmaker and some of the cast in the film. Refreshments will aslo be provided.
To find the Academic Building, look for building 11 on the University Map.
For any questions please see our contact page.
As you can see we’ve made it back from Mexico all safe and sound. The time we spent there was amazing and I can’t even begin to explain how much I have learned about the people, Mexico, life, helping, and film making. Over the past few weeks I’ve been pretty busy, but I’ve found time to put together a trailer. I can’t wait to dig further into the material I captured while in San Miguel, and I’ll be posting updates and clips over the next few months. The film will be screened at the Northern Lights Film Festival in Houghton, MI during the fall of 2012, and other dates for screenings will be posted in the near future.
I have had the opportunity to visit several families over the week. Unfortunately, I have no pictures from any of these visits. I have plenty of video. These visits have been the most exciting and intense parts of filming on this trip. On Wednesday, I found myself duct taping a mini flip cam to my DSLR Camera Shoulder mount, putting together the film rig itself, and filming Miguel, the director of Casa de los Angeles, while he is driving the van we are in and talking about the Mother we are about to visit. It all worked out.
The Mother’s homes vary so much. One is a colorful yet crammed apartment in the thick of San Miguel. Another Is a three roomed brick and mortar home at a lively ranch with kilometers away from the daycare. The poorest I have seen was a three roomed concrete building with a dresser, a mattress, an empty water jug, and a few odds and ends. The windows are covered with plastic bags or sheets. The mother, son, and daughter sleep in the bed. I joined the two children at lunch. Tomorrow I will meet with another mother. Although, I can only interview her at the daycare.
It sounds like her landlord doesn’t want her to have us over.
Well, I have been pretty busy since I’ve been here. So I will only write a little bit . . . so I can go to sleep.
San Miguel de Allende is an awesome place. People all about. Cars driving and parking in whatever direction they like. We here fireworks on a daily basis, sometimes at night and sometimes in the middle of the day. Music is playing everywhere. Many different languages can be heard on the streets. Dogs bark. Roosters crow all the time. Bells can be heard on every hour. Although, the business of the place varies as you drift from the Jardìn downtown next to the gigantic cathedral called La Parroquia, to the Casa de los Angeles at a less crowded part of town.
During naptime at the Casa de los Angeles daycare you can hear some of these sounds from the roof. From around noon to 1:45, sixty-eight children from the ages of a couple months to 8 years old are sleeping. It is lunch at 1:45. The place gets pretty crazy around then. It is the job of several volunteers, and the Maestra’s, and the cook to feed, love, and guide all of these niños. Whether it means making funny faces at them or changing their pants again and again after they keep wetting them. Just ask Zach. Its all good though.
After being swarmed a few times by the kids trying to see what I was doing, and want to press buttons on my camera, they seemed to get distracted by the next thing. Although, I still get a lot of “hola’s” and the 1 year olds just become completely mesmerized when I walk into the room with my camera. Maybe tomorrow they won’t be as surprised as they where Monday and today.
Well, that’s all for now… check out the facebook for more pictures. I will be visiting two Mother’s homes tomorrow.
We made it . . . Due to not really hanging around my computer that much, and very indecisive internet I have not been able to post until now. Anyways, here is a little bit about our arrival on Saturday, the 19th.
Zach and I got an early start Saturday morning around 5:30 am, and made it through airport security alright. Fortunately, having a bunch of hard drives, lenses, audio equipment, and film equipment did not cause us to much hassle. After a series of flights and a mix of nervousness and excitement we made it to the airport in Leon, GTO, Mexico at about 5 pm. We met the director of Casa de los Angeles, Miguel, at the airport and rode from Leon to San Miguel, which took about an hour. The landscapes, towns, colors, and sounds in Mexico are so different from the states. As we could see from the windows of the van we rode in, there was a lot going on, yet everything seemed so much more relaxed and everything seemed to go with the flow. Traffic laws are so lax, yet you can’t speed in town that much because of the speed bumps. The sun was setting as we made our way to San Miguel, and as we heard on the radio, the Chivas soccer team was doing quite well.
We made it to the Volunteer House after it has been dark for a while, and we met up with many of the volunteers for Casa de los Angeles. Elias, a 32-year old volunteer from Texas, has been there for several months, but today is his last day in San Miguel. Like many of the volunteers, he travels is off to the next place. We also met Megan, an 18-year old Texan who as spent much time at the Casa and was happy to let us know all about the place. Maree, who is from Australia, and Christoff, from France, were also among the friendly people at the house who have been living there for a while already. We learned that the volunteer coordinator, whom which I have been in touch with for a little while now, grew up in Wisconsin! She is 24, much younger than I imagined actually, so friendly, and along with the other volunteers showed us around San Miguel.
My brother Zach Palma, and I, Alex Palma, will be leaving for Mexico this Saturday! I cannot express how excited I am, and I am happy that everything is coming together so well.
I want to give a special thanks to:
Esther Palma, Judy and Terry Stewart, Cindy Nourse, Joe Sacco, Ted and Judy DeWitt, Karen and Paul Marquardt, Betty Swiston, Cindy and Clay Baznik, Kelsey Branch, Zach Palma, and Pat and Beth Palma we have reached our funding goal. Without all of you we would not be able to travel and film in Mexico over the next week.
In addition, I am very grateful for all of the advice and gear from Erin Smith, the gear and DSLR expertise from Ben Jaszcak, the gear and help from George Olszewski, the advice and español from Michaela Carmein, the assistance with sound gear from Christopher Plummer, and the never ending guidance and support from my parents, Patrick and Beth Palma.
Thank you so much for all the help!
Now as I am in Mexico over the next week, I will be posting daily about my experiences, adventures, or whatever has happened in that day. So keep your eyes on this page, and you will know how things are going! Zach and I will be flying out of Minneapolis this saturday morning.
Casa de Los Angeles is a safe haven for the children of the single mothers who come from the outskirts of town into the city to sell goods at the market, work in factories, clean the streets, clean houses, or other low end jobs to support their children. Casa de los Angeles has built daycares for these children where they can be fed, educated, and loved while the mothers work.
The founder, Donna Quathamer has let me, Alex Palma, create a documentary about the program and the families that are involved. Most of the families in the program are made up of a few kids, and a single mother. Most of the fathers are not around as they have went north to the United States, or have left since the mother was pregnant. I will spend about ten days in San Miguel de Allende to film this documentary that will capture the mothers’ stories and daily lives, along with the story of Casa de los Angeles.
This project will not be cheap to facilitate, but I am determined to make it happen. My goal is to raise at least $3,000 dollars to create this film. This money will go towards travel expenses, lodging, food, equipment rental, film festival entrant fees, and distribution. This is where I need your help. Any donation, no matter what amount, will help create this film. Your support will help share the stories of these families, and help Casa de Los Angeles grow.
What you get if you donate:
If you donate anywhere from $25 – $99 you will be listed as a donor on the website, be mentioned in the credits, and receive a digital copy of the film.
If you donate more than $150 you will be listed as a donor on the website, be mentioned in the credits, and receive a dvd copy of the film featuring cover art that was created with the children at Casa de los Angeles’s daycare.
If you donate $500 or more you will be listed in the credits as a producer of the film, a donor on the website, and receive a dvd copy of the film featuring cover art that was created with the children at Casa de los Angeles’s daycare.
