Man Vs Meteorite Wins First Place in Tandil Cortos Film Festival

“Man Vs. Meteorite” (Hombre Vs. Meteorito) won first prize in the documentary category at the 2010 Tandil Cortos Film Festival. The 10 minute film shows how an Argentine Knife master uses the skills his gaucho grandfather taught him to make a foot-long knife out of meteorite metal using century old techniques. The film was produced by San Telmo Productions and directed by Gabriel Balanovsky. The film was commissioned by Artisanal Knives as a way to publicize the high quality of knives made in Argentina by focusing on this unique challenge: to make a knife out of metal from outer space.

Praise for San Telmo Productions

Another Happy Client who used San Telmo Productions for complete production services and local production fixer for a series of educational videos:

“We found San Telmo Productions on the Internet and were a bit nervous, because
we’d never filmed in Argentina. They were able to pull together a six
day shoot, 12 actors, multiple locations and everything came out on
budget. We also found that there were a number of delightful extras,
like extra production assistants and private security, so our shoot
went off without a hitch. Ginger Gentile and Gabriel Balanovsky are wonderful. The
footage is spectacular.”

-Jonathan Dariyanani, Independent Producer for K12, Inc.

San Telmo Productions Wraps Filming Spanish Learning Videos for Joint Venture between K12 INC and Middlebury

Filming in Hotel Bauen Language Learning Videos for K12 Inc and Middlebury College

It’s not everyday that we at San Telmo Productions are part of a new global enterprise, but the New York Times recently reported on a new online language program that we filmed videos for in March in Buenos Aires. Middlebury College, a small Vermont college known for its rigorous foreign-language programs, is forming a venture with a commercial entity to develop online language programs for pre-college students. The college plans to invest $4 million for a 40 percent stake in what will become Middlebury Interactive Languages in partnership with K12 Inc.

UNICIPAR: Short Film Festival on the Coast

We just got back from UNICIPAR, one of the longest running short film festivals in Argentina that is part of the international UNICA festival–also one of the longest running festivals in the world (to give you an idea, the Lumiere brother were the judges in the first festival!).  Over 30 local and international shorts were shown, including San Telmo Production’s “Man Vs. Meteorite” short documentary.

Overall, it was a great experience–each morning we went to the beach of Villa Gesell (six hours away from Buenos Aires) and in the afternoon saw a wide range of shorts. We were pleasantly surprised by the technical quality of the Argentinian shorts.

We also caught some non-competition films, and were blown away by a documentary that takes viewers through one of the last violent fights between the military and armed political groups in Argentina, that ended badly, called “Tablada: El final de los 70″. Later we talked with director Fabian Agosta about his film and Gabriel Balanovsky, co-owner of San Telmo Productions shared with him his memories of this tragic event. You can read more about this documentary at http://tabladadoc.blogspot.com/

Another Happy Client: Author of “The New Global Student” Maya Frost

We received this kind note from Maya Frost after filming a 20 minute video for her:

¨San Telmo Productions could not have been a better choice for our
first experience making a 20 minute keynote address that was filmed in
Buenos Aires.  They were quick to respond to each of our pre-production
requests and set up the shoot almost at a moment’s notice.

¨Once at the shoot, Ginger Gentile was patient and methodical and lead me
step by step through the process.  Ginger had done her homework and
appeared to know the entire script by heart.  Even more importantly,
Ginger knew what points the script was weak and had us shoot extra
takes with different language and different angles to make sure the
final version was not missing any key elements.

¨The final product was provided quickly and the few edits we asked for
were done within hours of our request.

¨The end result were five hundred satisfied Rotary International
conference attendees who viewed the keynote address in Chicago,
Illinois and provided very positive feedback.

¨All in all, an extremely positive experience and we certainly can
recommend San Telmo Productions very highly.¨

Sincerely,
Maya Frost
Author
The New Global Student:
Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education
Crown/Three Rivers Press/Random House
http://www.NewGlobalStudent.com

Award Winning DoP Jorge Crespo directs music video for the first time

After lighting and shooting more music videos than he can count and winning “best cinematography” at the 2007 BAFICI, wunderkind Jorge Crespo directs his first music video. Produced by Gabriel Balanovsky of San Telmo Productions, cool camera moves and post-production magic turn this low-budget clip into a compelling experimental statement about Argentina´s political situation, with a punk beat. The band is “Mal Pasar” a local punk icon and the song is called “Violencia” (Violence).

The actor is local theater and movie star Guillermo Angelelli.

Locations include an old fishing warf and the Casa Rosada (presidential palace) of Evita fame.

While the video will be released in late February, you can take a sneak peak now:

Another Happy Client of San Telmo Productions: Cineflix Productions

Latest Happy Client, Tara Anderson of Cineflix Productions, on using local production fixer services for “The Nazi Hunters”:

 

“I had the fortunate pleasure of stumbling upon San Telmo Productions when I was looking for a fixer in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From the beginning, Ginger Gentile and Gabriel Balanovsky helped with all of my prepping needs for the documentary series I am working on. As soon as the crew arrived, I received feedback from them that Gabriel had coordinated everything to ensure the shoot would go as smoothly and efficiently as possible. We had a few hiccups throughout our visit in Buenos Aires but with Gabriel’s quick problem solving skills, we managed to obtain the footage we required. Post filming in Buenos Aires, Ginger and Gabriel have continued to follow up on outstanding documents etc and they have helped me out immensely. I highly recommend utilizing San Telmo and their talents for any future potential films / documentaries / series etc that you may have in Buenos Aires.“

Tara Anderson, Production Coordinator, Cineflix Productions

To find out how San Telmo Productions can help you on your next shoot in Argentina as a local fixer or providing complete film production services, contact us at info@santelmoproductions.com or via the comments section below.

It´s a Wrap: Dog Walking Documentary for Australia

We uncorked the champagne to celebrate wrapping up the film shoot of the Dog Walking documentary for Australian director Peter Wilson of Red Hawk Films Ltd. Here at San Telmo Productions, we provided complete production services as well as acted a local fixer in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We provided everything a foreign director would need to complete his documentary, that while was his idea, he had little time to pre-produce, and he DOESN´T SPEAK SPANISH!!

DoP Jorge Crespo films the "Dogmobile"

We spent close to a month an a half researching potential subjects and choosing the best ones for the documentary, including a man who invented a “dog-mobile” that runs on dog power, a dog walker who rescues dogs in her spare time and a client who has four dogs and fourteen cats!

Hired the crew, which included a production chief (Gabriel Balanovsky), assistant director (me), Director of Photography/cameraman, HD assistant, sound recorder (with mixer), and production assistant.

Rented all needed equipment and took care of logistics, meals, transport (in a hired luxury van), security and insurance.

Provided on set-translation and help in choosing best locations, etc.

And most important, listened to the goals of the director and suggested the best ways (both artistically and logistics wise) to meet those goals.

Production chief Gabriel Balanovsky lines up a shot.

The shoot lasted two weeks (plus a day that we shot without the director in December to get a dog walker who only walks poodles because his clients all go on vacation) and included locations in the city, as well as in the suburbs.  The final score: over 16 hours of footage shot on full HD using the Sony XDCAM EX1, the industry standard for high quality documentaries.

Getting nice slow-mo shots of the "dog-mobile"

Assistant Director Ginger Gentile lines up a shot.

Interviewing dog walker at the dog rescue shelter.

Filming the dog shelter: a dog gets taken out of the common pen for some love and affection.

This angle is refered to as "contra-picada" in Spanish.

Director Peter Wilson explains to DoP and HD assistant how he wants the shot.

Video as Fundrasing Tool for NGO (Charities)

As charities and NGOS (non-governmental organizations, aka non-profits) have to kick up their fundraising efforts, many more or turning to video to create an emotional connection between potential donors and the people their donation will help. We have been filming “Slum Girl Soccer” (aka “Goals for Girls”) which follows the struggles of teenage girls to play a sport that is off-limits to them in Argentina: soccer. We have received a grant from the INCAA (Arg. film board) to make a feature film, but in the meantime have been supporting the NGO Soccer Without Borders by making a short video fundraising appeal. Check it out!

And here is the feedback we got from Soccer Without Borders:

“Everyone loved the video tonight.  We were able to show it to a great group of supporters and it got everyone fired up for our fundraising run early next year.

Thanks again for everything that went into making it happen.”–Lisa Milton

San Telmo Productions Website: Cool New Feature

Due to popular demand, we have now added unique URLs (that´s web address, for all you non-techies) to our videos in our portfolio section of our website. No more scrolling to find what you want, and you can send your favorite videos to friends and contacts.

For example:

http://www.santelmoproductions.com/en/#/portfolio/goals_for_girls

sends you directly to our short documentary about girls who play soccer (football) in the Villa 31 slum in Buenos Aires.

http://www.santelmoproductions.com/en/#/portfolio/malaleche

Sends you to a short film about a woman seeking a really gross revenge on her boyfriend.

So pass it along!