A Filmmaker's Travelogue: Guanajuato, Mexico The Filming of La Primavera

by Len Borruso

A Given Day—7:AM. Probably went to sleep around 1:AM. Shower in the room that is toilet, sink and shower in one open space. The crew has temporarily taken over this entire building. It serves as a sort of dorm for pirates. I wake up my friend, the sound mixer, Anthony, out of spite since his call time is half an hour later than mine. Then I’ll make him blast Led Zeppelin to get me going. We come from the land of the ice and snow… I’m out the door and past the two dogs who live here. Tomás + Beethoven. Officially renamed Peaches + Pooches by the crew.

Head out through the streets or callejones for the walk to set. Pass a man going to work on a construction site. Teens, making out, who never made it back from their bliss last night. Usually spot our Camera Assistant, Aline, on the street con un café. She’ll be loading magazines and taping up cans “in the bag” soon enough.

I shout ¡Holas! to everyone in this apartment that’s briefly a movie set: Esparza, Raul, Javier, Seraphim, Gato, Cesar, Gabriel, Gadriel. Archie, the Assistant Director, was the first one in the door. David is already doing make-up. Noe, the Art Director, is in the apartment shower, after pulling a set dressing all-nighter. Hilda, the Cinematographer, is lighting. I have a camera to build and eventually, focus to pull. Ruben on his way—he’s got a new idea or two or three. He always does.

The sun is up in Ruben’s world—it’s a tungsten sun that’s daylight balanced. The emulsion on the film is hungry for it. The silver halide screaming. The halide is close to home here. Close to the old silver mines and vast tunnels of Guanajuato. The camera is ready. And when the Sailor, the Marinero, Antonio, dances with Nina in her rose-colored dress…there’s not a lot of analysis going on. It’s a world within a world that’s functioning for a few precious moments in time.

When that camera stops rolling, all my aches and pains, troubles and second thoughts return. Until we start to go again. Falling back into this dream. “Quiet on set! Settle! …Camera speed! Take two mark! Set! ....Action.”

Until it’s time for the circus to leave town. A final tequila and group photo at Las Leyendas—The Legends. They’ll say, “¿That summer they made the movie here—recuerdas, remember ?” And so will we.

Len Borruso’s documentary, Paint the City 2, chronicles a chapter in muralist Neo Medina’s quest to fill the walls of Appleton with vibrancy and life. It’s an official selection of the Driftless Film Festival and The Chi-Town Multicultural Film Festival. His other films reside at leneb.com