PRODUCTION NOTES
"Fishing with bioluminescence"
The final fishing scene in the film - when they make a good catch at last - shows only a glimpse of the beauty we experienced that night. We didn’t have the quality of camera that could capture this experience (as it happened largely in the dark), but can fortunately describe it for you here. After the sun had set, Gaspar and his crew set off from the beach of Agua Verde in search of shallow, still bays that line the coast on either side of their town. Based on shimmering streaks of bioluminescent algae that light up when disturbed by the fish gliding at top speeds through the water, these fishermen could tell not only how many fish were shooting past their boat, but whether they were the particular fish they were after that night – mackerel. With all lights turned off, they would motor slowly through the bay, watching the trails of light made by fleeing fish. A spotter would stand on the bow of the boat, and on his signal, Gaspar would gun the engine, throwing out one end of the net that would woosh out of the boat as we motored fast in a circle around the glowing school of fish, enclosing them in the seemingly endless net. Even at two in the morning, the crew was giddy with excitement over their amazing catch.
"Eusebio’s new shoes"
We did most of the filming in January 2014, but returned in April to get the remaining shots for the story. We were told by Gaspar and Silvia that they had indeed used the money from their successful catch to buy Eusebio the shoes he needed for school, as intended. When we returned in April school was in session, and so we had to leave Agua Verde and drive several hours to the town where Eusebio attends high school. We wanted to get shots of Eusebio’s “new” shoes - now three months old - but when he showed us his shoes they did not look new at all! Like any school kid in Mexico, he had used them to play soccer during recess in the dusty, desert school yard. Having only a few hours to make the shoes look new and film them before flying out of the country the next day, we launched into a mission to find the only shoe shiner in town. After searching the town’s main square, and talking to many residents of the town, we were eventually directed by a police officer to the shoe shiner’s home where we found him tending to his orchard. He happily sat down with us and transformed Eusebio’s shoes from brown and dusty to black and sleek – and with few moments of sunlight remaining in the day, we rushed back to the school to film Eusebio walking through the school yard in his spiffy new shoes.
The final fishing scene in the film - when they make a good catch at last - shows only a glimpse of the beauty we experienced that night. We didn’t have the quality of camera that could capture this experience (as it happened largely in the dark), but can fortunately describe it for you here. After the sun had set, Gaspar and his crew set off from the beach of Agua Verde in search of shallow, still bays that line the coast on either side of their town. Based on shimmering streaks of bioluminescent algae that light up when disturbed by the fish gliding at top speeds through the water, these fishermen could tell not only how many fish were shooting past their boat, but whether they were the particular fish they were after that night – mackerel. With all lights turned off, they would motor slowly through the bay, watching the trails of light made by fleeing fish. A spotter would stand on the bow of the boat, and on his signal, Gaspar would gun the engine, throwing out one end of the net that would woosh out of the boat as we motored fast in a circle around the glowing school of fish, enclosing them in the seemingly endless net. Even at two in the morning, the crew was giddy with excitement over their amazing catch.
"Eusebio’s new shoes"
We did most of the filming in January 2014, but returned in April to get the remaining shots for the story. We were told by Gaspar and Silvia that they had indeed used the money from their successful catch to buy Eusebio the shoes he needed for school, as intended. When we returned in April school was in session, and so we had to leave Agua Verde and drive several hours to the town where Eusebio attends high school. We wanted to get shots of Eusebio’s “new” shoes - now three months old - but when he showed us his shoes they did not look new at all! Like any school kid in Mexico, he had used them to play soccer during recess in the dusty, desert school yard. Having only a few hours to make the shoes look new and film them before flying out of the country the next day, we launched into a mission to find the only shoe shiner in town. After searching the town’s main square, and talking to many residents of the town, we were eventually directed by a police officer to the shoe shiner’s home where we found him tending to his orchard. He happily sat down with us and transformed Eusebio’s shoes from brown and dusty to black and sleek – and with few moments of sunlight remaining in the day, we rushed back to the school to film Eusebio walking through the school yard in his spiffy new shoes.
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