Local programming- The "El Favor de los Santos" documentary began production in December of 1999. Now 12 months later, after shooting more than 25 tapes, after placing dozens of phone calls in the U.S. and Mexico, sending dozens of faxes,traveling to northern New Mexico, taking a sixteen hour bus ride to the interior of Mexico, writing a script, finding several narrators, and editing endless hours until midnight...well we can finally say the documentary is complete.
The documentary was produced by Moses Shumow and was also produced and photographed by Hugo Pèrez. The editing was done by both Shumow and Pèrez. The idea for the program came about from "El Favor de los Santos: The Retablo Collection of New Mexico State University." The co-curators of the exhibit, NMSU Art Gallery Dirctor, Charles Lovell and Elizabeth Zarur, Assistant Professor of Art History, NMSU, approached KRWG TV-22-PBS, with the idea of a possible documentary project located right in our backyard.
The documentary explores the role Santos, Retablos and Ex-Votos have taken in peoples lives throughout the Southwestwern United States, Mexico and Latin America. In the program the Retablo is presented as a tool of worship in the church and home. The word Retablo comes from the Latin words retro and tabula, or behind the altar which is were these images were originally placed. Retablos gained popularity throughout Mexico and present day Southwestern United States, after the Spanish conquest of the New World.
As Catholicism gained footing in the New World, these images took their place in the home and were used for private worship. Retablos were originally painted on wood or canvas. However due to the fragile nature of these materials, many did not withstand the effects of nature. The high cost of the wooden materials also limited access of this artform only to wealthy classes. New materials were found in order to preserve the art form and also make it available to the lower classes. The alternative to wooden retablos was found in the use of tin. This new material was readily available and was very accessible by the lower classes.
The other artform that is explored is the creation and use of the Ex-Voto. These types of paintings (usually painted on tin) were created as a way of offering thanks to a certain icon for an answered prayer. For example an Ex-Voto, could have the story a family in Mexico whose daughter is very ill. The parents then would pray and ask for example the Virgen de Guadalupe, to help cure their daughters sickness. A small painting on tin was produced by a local artist regardless of the outcome of the ill person.
The painting would depict an ill person laying in bed, with the family in the background praying to a that particulaur icon. What distinguishes both the Retablo and Ex-Voto is the following. The paintings were not done by high skilled artisans. The majority of these 19th century pieces were done by local common people who were either hired to paint for several cents or in exchange for food items. The documentary hi-lites an artisan from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. The man has been painting Ex-Votos for many years and has taught and passed the tradion of ex-voto painting on to his sons.
The idea from the beginning was to maybe put together a half hour piece which would highlight the NMSU Art Galleries extensive collection of retablos and ex-votos. From there though the idea somewhat expanded to somehow possibly go in depth on the histories and roles that santos and this type of artform have in peoples lives. The in depth approach came about because we were going to have access to scholars and experts who were attending the "El Favor de Los Santos: The Retablo Collection of New Mexico State University" Symposium in Las Cruces. Having access to interview the symposium speakers in Las Cruces gave us the ability to expand the documentary. Otherwise travel would have been required to interview each individual on the panel. the panel was made up of scholars from the west coast, southwest, east coast and from different areas of Mexico.
The documentary includes several areas in the state of New Mexico as well as the interior of Mexico. The first shoot we did was the Tortugas Pueblo procession to the top of Tortugas Mountain (A-Mountain). This pilgrimage pays homage to La Virgen de Guadalupe. In this segment we document not only the procession up the mountain but also the previous nights activities which take place at the Tortugas Pueblo.
The other pilgrimage we take you to is to one of the most famous sanctuaries in North America. The annual pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayó was an excellent opportunity for us to capture exactly what lengths people go to in order to thank or ask the saints for a miracle. Many people will walk great lengths from their towns in order to thank the saints. The area of Chimayó, is a very peaceful and tranquil place, its no wonder why many people find so much solace there. Visiting the santuario can be a very spiritual experience. On our way to Chimayó, we began seeing children, woman and men who were making the easter weekend pilgrimage to the santuario. The people walk on the shoulder of the freeway. Some walk alone, others with a partner, and some groups are made up of entire families. Some were walking from nearby towns, others were walking from as far away as Albuquerque and beyond. We interviewed three different persons walking Between Santa Fé and Chimayó. We approached and identified ourselves to each person alongside of the highway. We told them about the documentary we were working on. They said sure you can interview us we placed wireless microphones on them to them and spoke to them on camera while they made their piligrimage to El Santuario de Chimayó
Most of the retablos and ex-votos which the viewing public will see in the documentary, are from the NMSU Art Galleries collection. Shooting plenty of video of these artforms was very important for us because we needed to have a wide variation of different pieces. The shooting at the gallery took at least fifteen hours. Many different perspectives had to be shot and all the shots had to be nice and steady without any movement. At least 45 seconds of video had to be shot for every different angle that was shot.
The other shoot involving the NMSU Art Gallery was the restoration process. This involved the help of NMSU Art Gallery Conservator, Silvia Marinas. We were able to capture and interview her while she restored several pieces from the 1700 piece collection which the gallery has.
In January and February members from the Art Gallery Staff, planted some ideas in our minds. They suggested that we go into Mexico, in order to capture on tape the masses of people that flock to a very well know sanctuary "El Santuario del Santo Niño de Atocha" By July we had made plans to visit this site as well as several museums and churches in the city of Zacatecas, Guanajuato and Mexico City. This sanctuary is located in Plateros, Zacatecas, several hours from the city of Zacatecas. People go to this sanctuary to pray and thank the Santo Niño de Atocha. The walls of the sanctuary are lined with paintings recollecting the role this santo has taken in the lives of individuals and families from different walks of life.
This location at his santuario turned out to be very interesting because an indigenous prehispanic procession came out of nowhere. Dancers wearing green and white with images of the saints on their backs danced in single file lines to the entrance of the church there in plateros. The dancers were accompanied by many drummers. It was very visual and there was some ggggrrreeeaaaattt sound. This indigenous procession is included in the documentary. Moses was the one that heard the sound of the drums. I was shooting wide shots of the church, but I didn't hear a thing, until Moses said, Hugo look. I quickly grabbed the digital camera of the tripod and began capturing this great indigenous ceremonial dance that was unfolding in front of us. It was real, real cool.
The other surprise we had was on our bus trip between Plateros and Zacatecas City. The trip was about forty-five minutes to our next destination. While on the bus I noticed two ladies carrying on this wonderful conversation about their daughters, sons and grandchildren. I listened to them for about ten minutes, glancing over occasionally but never making any eye contact with them. After a while I introduced myself and described to them exactly what we were doing in Mexico. They loved the idea that we were doing a piece on santos and they also seemed very accepting of us because both moses and my self are bilingual. The purpose in speaking to them was to soften them up a little so as to possibly get an interview with them while they were seated on the bus. After a few minutes we clipped a microphone and conducted our interviews while en-route to Zacatecas City. We wanted to get the viewpoint that Mexican citizens had toward santos. This worked out very well. We interviewed both woman, one of them had some very interesting interviews which incorporated themselves very well into the segments pertaining to La Virgen de Guadalupe. Documentaries and news stories tend to have more impact when one is able to speak to the everyday common person. I consider myself aggressive when I shoot out in the field. I'm not afraid to walk up to strangers and get their stories on tape. That's one of the best parts of our profession, talking to perfect strangers and the opportunity and pleasure of hearing their stories.
Our entire trip to mexico turned out to be very well worth every minute of time we were there. In Zacatecas city we shot several retablos which we were lacking for the shoot. The staff and the director of El Museo Zacatecano, were very helpful. they gave us access to their entire collection. The director also volunteered to show us around the city. A city full of history, great architecture and wonderful tasty food. Our other planned shoots were El Templo de Santo Domingo and a historic Franiscan Building as well as plenty of shots of the city from a lookout point above the city.
Our purpose in going to Guanajuato, was to try and find an artist who has continued the tradition of painting ex-votos. The mans name is Diego Leonardo Rivera. We were told about him by the staff of the NMSU Art Gallery. We didn't know his exact address, but it was worth a shot to try and find him. We had one day to spend in Guanajuato, and we spend most of the morning looking for a particular church that was located near this mans shop. We walked and walked we found may churches but not the one we were looking for. We decided to go shoot this one church which was also on our list. We finished the shoot and afterwards asked some people at an art shop if they knew of this man. In Spanish we asked them "do you know of a man who paints ex-votos by the name of so and so...he paints and makes coffins for a funeral home" the people from the art shop said no we don't know anyone who paints...pause, pause...one of them said "wait, wait I know who your talking about"...sure enough they pointed us into the right direction. We finally located the man and he welcomed us and we interviewed him at his shop.
This man was not a guaranteed find before we left Las Cruces in early August. We We e-mailed his son, but never received a response. It was great finding him. At about six pm that day we had lunch, yes lunch. We had gone all day without eating, both Hugo and I were getting grouchy. It was time to rest a little.
The next day we made it to Mexico City, the largest city on the planet. Our main purpose there was to shoot La Catedral Metopolitana and La Villa d Guadalupe. La Catedral was amazing to see. Inside we shot many altars and images of La Virgen de Guadalupe. We had contacted every single site weeks in advance, in order go gain access to shoot inside those particular areas. We started shooting at La Catedral, which is located in front the large main square called El Zocalo. We were shooting for about a half hour when some employees with walkie-talkie radios asked us if we had permission to shoot inside. We told them we had contacted several management staff members who had ok'd all of our shooting. It turned out that one person had not told the other one that we were going to be visiting. We had to stop shooting. Everything was straightened out the next day after we showed them the permissions papers which we had faxed them, weeks before.
We also took a quick side trip which Moses suggested. Twenty to thirty miles outside of the city are the pyramids of Teotihuacan. Please make sure to include this area on a trip to Mexico City. The pyramids are huge and very picturesque. Visitors can climb most of these ancienty ruins. There are several shots of the pyramids in the documentary. Oh, don't forget to carry some cash with you, especially if you go these pyramids. There are many artisans selling handmade beautiful rain sticks and some really cool flutes.
The last shoot we did in Mexico City, was at La Villa de Guadalupe (La Basilica de Guadalupe). This was a very visual area. There are thousands of people who go and worship at this location. The big impact at La Villa, is seeing in person the original cloak permanently imprinted with the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe. The story of the virgin appearing to the Indian named Juan Diego, dates back to December 12, 1531.
We were able to interview a man from Mexico City, who visits this site on a weekly basis.
Getting to Mexico. We took a 16 hour bus ride from Juarez to Fresnillo, Zacatecas. Our budget for the entire documentary was very tight, so it was best for us to save a little money. We left on a Thursday night from the Juarez bus station. We arrived at around ten the next morning. We flew back on our return from Mexico City. We highly encourage using a bus, versus by air. One can buy a ticket on the first class busses. They are very comfortable and roomy. There were five people on the bus between Juarez and the state of Zacatecas. Mexico is like any other country including the United States, you'll meet great friendly people and you'll also meet not so friendly people. It all depends on where you go. We encountered no obstacles, we made great contacts, ate great food and returned to Las Cruces with some great pictures and some good sound. Tis all, es todo.