Cordoba–The Heart of Argentina offers Mountains, rivers and Colonial Architecture–Great location doubles for American West

In Cordoba city, colonial constructions blend with modern industry.

by Amelia Batho, contributing blogger

Argentina has a plethora of interesting landscapes for filming locations and many of these are found in the province of Cordoba, located in the center of the country.

What does Cordoba offer the film maker? A fantastic range of natural and man made backdrops. The physical landscapes are some of the most beautiful in the country and include the undulating Cordoba Sierras (small mountains) and valleys, hosting idyllic salt lakes and streams. Many of the landscapes can double for the American West-think Colorado, Idaho and Montana.

Cordoba-Argentina-filled with rivers, stream and foothills

The vast, fertile grassland of the Humid Pampas can also be found in this province.

The historic city of Cordoba offers outstanding, historic architecture, from churches to convents and colonial-style houses which date as far back as the 16^th century. A notable landmark is the beautiful Cathedral, Manzana Jesuitica (see picture above). It is one of the largest cities in Argentina, home to the oldest university in the country and the historical importance is matched by the industrial strength of the city.

While Cordoba is the heart of Argentina, it is not a popular international tourist destination or filming location–right now it is the center of internal tourism. So if you are lo0king for an undiscovered location but with great infrastructure, Cordoba could be the ideal location for your next film or commercial. And the weather is dry and sunny!

And here are some other locations to think about:

German lifestyle and buildings abound in Villa Belgrano, Cordoba

Villa Belgrano: This small mountain village was settled by German settlers who constructed typical alpine houses. It hosts the annual octoberfest.

Cordoba is literally the heart of Argentina. The capitol is about 6-8 hours drive from Buenos Aires, or 40 minutes by air.

Villa Carlos Paz: a lake surrounded by mountains, is one of the main tourist destinations in summer, empty in winter. If your story is about an amusement park in the mountains, look no further.

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 Web Page updated!

In the on-going quest to improve our SEO (search engine optimization) we’ve redone our home page in html (it used to be in beautiful but not so search friendly flash) so check it out, we’d love to get your feedback! We’re hoping that more people will be able to find us when they are looking for film production services, local production fixer or original video, tv and film content.

Home: http://www.santelmoproductions.com/ (same url as always, but new look)

Documentary Landing Page: http://www.santelmoproductions.com/documentary-argentina.htm

Production Services landing Page: http://www.santelmoproductions.com/film-tv-production-services-argentina.htm

SpanishLanguage Landing Page: http://www.santelmoproducciones.com/

New Show Reel 2010 for San Telmo PRoductions

See what we´ve been filming, in under 2 minutes, from documentary to commercials to fiction.

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.

Production Fixing in Buenos Aires: Nazi Hunters

Today, Gabriel of San Telmo Productions just set out to do location scouting for “The Nazi Hunters” a documentary series produced by NextFilms of Toronto Canada. Often, foreign TV crews want to resolve things in the moment (hence, the term production “fixer” meaning you solve problems in the moment) but a lot of times it makes sence to do location scouting beforehand.

For example, for the show “The Nazi Hunters” which centers on the Eichmann abduction in Buenos Aires, a lot of the locations no longer exist or are not fully known. Trying to find a house that looks similar to the safe house where the Nazi criminal was held before being taken to Israel in the moment would take too much time.

A few days of planning can save precious hours during a shoot, and in this case the crew will be here for very little time.

Film Production Company in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, San Telmo Productions is a film and video production company owned and operated by Argentinean and U.S. filmmakers, ensuring the right mix between local know-how and an understanding of the needs of international markets and clients.

Co-owned and operated by filmmakers Ginger Gentile, a New Yorker and graduate of Columbia University, and Gabriel Balanovsky, who is a registered producer with INCAA (Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales), the Argentine Film board.

We have worked for multinationals such as Pottery Barn and Diagio, as well as local clothing lines like Delaostia. We have filmed all over Argentina. We have provided production services to create traditional commercials as well as have been contracted to create non-traditional ads: web videos, documentaries-as-ads and branded fiction.

San Telmo Productions can help you take advantage of Argentina´s low costs and century long history of quality filmmaking.

San Telmo Productions knows what international and local clients want from video and film productions: on-time delivery, clear budgets, proven technicians and creative problem solving. We work with the best technicians and equipment without passing on the costs to our clients, thanks to our low overhead.

Owners Ginger Gentile and Gabriel Balanovsky have worked in a variety of positions in the film industry, and know the best technicians not just because they have hired them, but also because they have worked side by side with them. They know who works well and who doesn´t.

San Telmo Productions has close relationships with studios, rental houses and other suppliers. This allows us to get lower prices than other production companies.

We understand that a main reason for choosing Argentina is the cost advantage, and we guarantee to never offer “Hollywood” prices to our clients.

Offer packages, can take care of the complete process, from travel arrangements, hotel reservations, transport to pre-production, location scouting, filming in HD or film, and post production, including sound mixing at the award winning Ñandú Sound studio.

San Telmo Productions offers film production services in Argentina, video production, and equipment rental.

Local Production Fixer Tip: You can save time or money, not both

Argentina offers a wide range of locations and tons of state-of-the art film and video equipment, but for you to take advantage of this in a cost-effective way, the key is giving your local fixer the most time possible. For example, there are tons of Sony Z-1 cameras in the market place and can be rented for a low price (as well as other cameras such as the Sony XDcam, Red 1, etc) BUT as there are so many productions going on they need to be secured well in advance to get a good price.

By extention, the same goes for setting up interviews. Argentines put a lot of empahsis on personal connections and contacts. If the local fixer can visit the interviewee a few times before the shoot, build trust and talk about the project, the subject will be more willing to participate than someone calling a day before and promising foreign TV exposure.

Argentina´s Film Union: SICA

If you are planning on filming a movie (for theatrical release or for television) or a commercial, one of the key players you will be dealing with is the film crew union, or SICA (Sindicato de la Industria Cinematográfica). Unlike in other Latin American countries, film crew members are not independent contractors: they need to be contracted with a union approved contract and receive the union´s benefit package (which includes health care, social security, and even discounts on vacations). For commercials, day rates apply but for films, salaries are based on weekly rates.

The union can file law suites against production companies that do not follow their guidelines and prohibit commercial releases in Argentina if union wages are not paid. However, unlike the US, a crew can be made up of union and non-union members, and membership in the union is optional.

One reason many foreign film companies hire local fixers is that if facilitates dealing with the union: as you can see from their website, they don´t speak English!

http://www.sicacine.com.ar/