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Cartels can't curtail production
Local authorities help make shoots troublefree

By James Young

A look at the latest news cycle sets the tone -- a young, idealistic Mexican chief of police flees to seek U.S. asylum; a U.S. immigration agent is gunned down in cold blood; some 30 bodies turn up in three separate mass graves within the span of a week.

The violence is chilling, but the truth remains that Mexicans made 70 feature films in 2010 with barely an office break-in to note.

Last year, two foreign productions, Mel Gibson's "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" and Gallic adventure-comedy "Houba, Le marsupilami et l'orchidee de Chicxulub" starring Gerard Depardieu, took advantage of the government's new ProAudiovisual incentive program (run by business promotion administration ProMexico). Both were filmed without incident.

A third produced by Mexico's Corazon and New Land Films, "Cristiada," brought a raft of Hollywood talent, including "The Lord of the Rings" vfx guru Dean Wright, who helmed, and topliners Andy Garcia and Eva Longoria.

That film, the highest budgeted in Mexican history, shot many sequences in the Durango desert, lying in the heart of cartel-disputed territory, and yet, Wright later glowed with appreciation for local authorities who helped make the shoots trouble free.

According to ProMexico, Zoe Saldana vehicle "Colombiana" may well be the next in line for the program, as the number of foreign shoots appears to be returning to pre-economic crisis levels.

As far as productions interested in applying for ProAudivisiual, "we believe the effect (of the violence) has been null. Already, the response that we've seen has been very encouraging, having three high-impact projects approved in our first few months of operation," says a ProMexico rep in a written response.

Furthermore, Mexico's annual top industry draw, the Guadalajara Film Market, saw attendance increase by 16% between 2008 and 2009 and then 16.6% between 2009 and 2010 -- this despite the downturn that blighted film markets internationally.

This isn't to say Mexican filmmakers aren't leery of working in the country's hot spots.

Cine Pantera prexy Christian Valdalievre, working as a co-producer with Paul Mezey ("Maria, Full of Grace"), agreed to nix shooting upcoming project "The Girl" (La Niña) in the Gulf of Mexico border state Tamaulipas where narco-violence-related murders skyrocketed in a single year from 90 to 1,209 in 2010.

Another top indie producer writes off the entire north of Mexico, including Nayarit and Zacatecas, just above Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, thanks to the endemic violence.

The question, then, seems to be what is real and what is perception.

Baja California, home to the ocean-adjacent Baja Studios where "The Titanic" was shot, saw its national narco-murder toll rise from 209 to 779 in 2008, only to fall to 540 in 2010.

Juan Salgado, an analyst of economics and security at the Center for Economic Research and Education, one of Mexico's most highly regarded think tanks, points to Baja as the sole border state to have bucked the trend towards violence.

"Baja California is safer now than it was 10 years ago," he says. The once-infamous Arrellano-Felix family that once terrorized the state has lost much of its leadership in the last decade, and the state has since managed to steer mostly clear of the inter-cartel violence that has plagued much of the rest of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mexico City, home to about 8.85 million in the city proper, saw 190 murders related to the drug war in 2010 compared to 182 in 2007, the first full year of President Felipe Calderon's anti-cartel campaign. Comparatively, Chihuahua, home to murder capital Ciudad Juarez went from 244 to 4,427.

Long before Calderon took office, the capital had acquired a bad rep for taxi kidnappings and being rife with petty crime.

"Some crimes have been reduced, like robbery," says Salgado. "But high-impact crimes have gone up … the violence associated with the low-level drug trade has gone up, and this had hidden the improvement."

Mexico City film commissioner Fernando Uriegas laments the negative image has reduced international A/V production in the capital by 90%.

"We are attending a lot of festivals …Ventana Sur, American Film Market and Seville to improve our image," says Uriegas.

Lying half way between Sinaloa, headquarters for billionaire drug baron Juan "El Chapo" Guzman, and the U.S.-Mexico border at Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Durango has been caught in the crossfire, as drug-related murders have steadily risen: 108 in 2007, 276 in 2008, 675 in 2009 and 834 last year.

While acknowledging violent crime, state film commissioner Sergio Gutierrez is quick to point out that it has one of the most sophisticated security options available with access to local, state and federal police details and even helicopters for high-value talent -- all provided upon request without charge.

"If Durango was too dangerous, nobody would come," says Gutierrez. "Last year, we shot nine films … and we never had any problem."

source...

Dear Mr. Cheese,

I'm wondering if I'm just naive to think that the bad drug guys are being patriotic to not bring bad actions against the movie industry. 'Not a political assertion, just a wondering. I would ask if there is something I don't know, but that would be just silly. The better question might be, "Where would I find information specific to the mind set of the cartels relative to their national identity?" It's not my first interest but it does seem interesting.

Thanks,
Margaret

In fact, a number of television series, and a couple of films located to Puerto Rico after deciding it was too dangerous in Mexico.

Amazing how parts of San Juan and Fajardo pass so easily for Mexico.

That is a good question Margaret - my guess is that those who live life on the edge of the envelope in pursuit of money rarely have any patriotic allegiance to any flag other than ther bank through which they launder their drug money...

Originally Posted by Margaret&Maggie

Dear Mr. Cheese,

I'm wondering if I'm just naive to think that the bad drug guys are being patriotic to not bring bad actions against the movie industry. 'Not a political assertion, just a wondering. I would ask if there is something I don't know, but that would be just silly. The better question might be, "Where would I find information specific to the mind set of the cartels relative to their national identity?" It's not my first interest but it does seem interesting.

Thanks,
Margaret

Ah, yes. Of course. No argument. Some things never change and be the same everywhere. Thanks
M

M ..... step one... just check the folks standing around....... some just jump out at ya ...

Teardrops.. really someone ya don't want to hang with... unless you want to walk on the "wild side"...

Keep safe... there are good people in every town in the world... but, then there are those Aholes too.... Its part of the environment we live in today....

One other thing.... the grows up in the States continue to expand... and they are not local mom and pop grows that used to be out there.... very large scale...

A significant transportation problem solved... they can deal with aerial surveillance ... been doing in since way back in the 70's ... worked with DOJ on some "issues" way back then, and through one op, we found another, which we found totally by accident... and led to the aerial op's we have today on these grows..

This occurred in the foothills of the Sierras along with fighting wars with timber growers up in the Northwest corner of the state and folks growing "stink weed" in Humbolt and around...

Would block the roads, put rail road spikes in the timber so a chain saw became pretty worthless cutting trees down... along with many other things...

Long term... it is easier to grow on this side and then sell, rather than make the treck across the border, deal with "turf wars", "payoffs"... et al ... and the quality that is grown NOB is really just as good if not better than from all the way down south were good weed used be grown...

Plus its legal now to grow in on your own property for your own medical use, if you may need ....

See if as another lost "trade" for the folks SOB, but, think the other drugs will fill some of the void... crack, meth, smack.... the old stand by... for making money .... in the "hard" world of drugs....

Hmmm,

If tatoos like that are obvious, I can easily keep clear of trouble! I never have cared to hang with angry people.

You might find it amusing that my little town in Arizona's LEOs seemed to consider pot a kind of crowd control! (I think that's what you refer to when you use the term, "grows," re: crop.) I have to admit that getting back to AZ only to find that the powers that be are dragging their collective feet to get medical marijuana dispensaries up and running has been a let down. I have SSDI for the pain and the pain pills that work without making me into a complete idiot or addict are going to really mess with my kidney the way I have to take them. I just wouldn't make much of a criminal in any culture and I hope to find a way to have it without paying for it with prison time! That's one of the things that sit on the "wait & see" list. I do appreciate the head's up.

I realize that my original question, about the drug cartel's possibly having a patriotic motivation, was romantic, but I would have liked to believe that the violence could be perceived as a defense and that the greed honored a "line."

The tatoos remind me otherwise and I thank you for that, too. Marijuana isn't really on the list of things that I think of as part of the big and bad drug stuff. Again, romanticism. I'm literally terrified of a population density partaking of such as "crack" and "meth," for instance. I had a boyfriend who turned out to be a crack addict and I never want anything to do with that world. But, alcohol use can be a "no joke," It's just a real world no matter what corner of you happen to be seeing.

Thanks for the food for thought, both of you.
M&M