english or spanish in my film?

ernesto

ernesto

Well-known member
I'm writing this script for a short film I want to make this coming winter. The main premise is that a very americanized Cuban-American family is having their old conservative Cuban grandma visit them for Christmas. So the realistic thing to do would be to have the family speak both english and spanish and then have the grandma speak only spanish. However, I don't know if doing it in spanish and subtitling would be good for my movie in terms of festivals and just getting attention to it.

For example, Amelie had subtitles but it was made in France and was taking place in France, etc. My movie will be made, and takes place in Minnesota, it's just that it's a Cuban-American family. On the other hand, there is also Memoirs of a Geisha, taking place in 1930s in Japan, and there they speak English with just an accent.

So do you guys think I should go all spanish and have most of the movie subtitled? Or should I just have the grandma speak broken english and say some things in spanish?
 
For festival and other "art house" venues, you can go much more legitimate and use spoken Spanish exclusively (with subtitles) where it is appropriate. For a more "commercial" distribution, the mixed approach of broken English and Spanish might be a better approach.
 
I would go for broken english with some spanish. I personally would not want to watch a short with subtitles. a Feature maybe, but not a short.
 
I think an English spanish mix would play well on art house festival circuits.

But the story is what will matter more. So as long as that is solid you should be golden either way in terms of language.

I personally wish more American films were made in Spanish when it makes sense for them too.
 
I agree to keep it real. I am Cuban-American and everyone in my family but my grandparents mixes Spanish and English. I wouldn't worry about it. If the dialogue is good it doesn't matter if they are speaking Swahili.
 
I don't know, but remember that I think you are making a movie(short) not a documental, real and cinema are not always the best mix.
 
Have you considered a transition moment, like that when the family and the grandmother come together for the first time they all speak in spanish for a minute or so - then a crossfade type transition into english where it lets everyone understand that they are still speaking in spanish, yet we understand every word.
Just a thought... que viva cuba y su gente.
 
I know we're supposed to avoid politics but I really want to ask something.

The quote from Che Guevara is not political, but it is weird to see it juxtaposed with the "que viva Cuba y su gente". Is there a reason that he has become such an icon? Are there really that many Marxists out there that believe his ideologies? I am obviously not a fan, and don't understand why his image is everywhere. My best guess is that he is popular for standing up to the political power of the US. That and that there are a lot of people who just think it is cool without knowing anything about him, what he's done and what his ideas were.

If this post is too controversial, let me know and I will delete it. I know this is a filmmaking forum, but many of us spend so much time here that it is impossible to not have some serious discussions.
 
Yeah, I'm not a fan of Che Guevara either. I don't know what happened to him, if you've seen The Motorcycle Diaries, he was a great guy. However, that was in his early 20's. By his 30's he was completely different. He pretty much became a murderer. He kept diaries of all these people he killed and how he was thirsty for blood. No one makes a movie out of those. Also, by his 30's he said he didn't like medicine, that he liked politics and economics. I don't know, he completely changed.

I'm guessing he's just really famous because people that don't know anything about him just recognize him as a symbol of rebellion, and automatically think he's cool.

However, back to the topic. Another issue is that the actress playing the grandma really is my grandma. She speaks English but with a heavy accent, so she could pull that off easily, but if sometimes she might not be understandable. I'm leaning more towards the English with an accent at this point, but I'm worried that the accent might be too thick once in a while, she doesnt have any control over it since she's not faking it, that's just how she talks.

Thanks,

Ernesto.
 
ernesto said:
Yeah, I'm not a fan of Che Guevara either. I don't know what happened to him, if you've seen The Motorcycle Diaries, he was a great guy. However, that was in his early 20's. By his 30's he was completely different. He pretty much became a murderer. He kept diaries of all these people he killed and how he was thirsty for blood. No one makes a movie out of those. Also, by his 30's he said he didn't like medicine, that he liked politics and economics. I don't know, he completely changed.

I'm guessing he's just really famous because people that don't know anything about him just recognize him as a symbol of rebellion, and automatically think he's cool.

However, back to the topic. Another issue is that the actress playing the grandma really is my grandma. She speaks English but with a heavy accent, so she could pull that off easily, but if sometimes she might not be understandable. I'm leaning more towards the English with an accent at this point, but I'm worried that the accent might be too thick once in a while, she doesnt have any control over it since she's not faking it, that's just how she talks.

Thanks,

Ernesto.
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I'll leave the Che stuff at that.

Since she is more comfortable speaking Spanish, I would have her speak Spanish. Her delivery will be much smoother and you won't have trouble, or as much trouble at least, with her saying her lines right. You also don't want to have the audience straining to understand her. I'm not sure how heavy her accent is, but if it gets to the point of not being clearly understood, you may have more trouble than you need.

Also, there are a lot of filmmakers that say that using family and friends in your films as actors or crew is not a good idea. Just be aware that there is good reason behind this statement. People can either try too hard or not give your work as much attention as you need. Hopefully you will have everything go very smoothly and get the footage you want. Definitley keep us posted.

Alex
 
The movie that you can watch on how Che was a cold, calulating dictator is "Fidel", with the same actor Gael Garcia bernal.
There are many people that tote che around because he was and is a cool icon and nothing more.
In reality there are those that follow his teachings because he was fair about wanting to unite the entirity of the hispanic populus, in an equal way. The hope to destroy the belief that all latins are different, and that we shouldnt be fighting each other was enough for Ernesto to break free of many things that he wanted to do with his life and become a revolutionary (and a marxist) against his better judgement. Along with this belief he was fervent on the thought that without an armed, violent revolution, there could not be change fast enough. This revealed the truth to many of us, his moral ideals were correct, Che Guevara was in fact a great warrior for the latin people on paper just as simon bolivar, jose marti and pedro abizu campos were... equally he was a murdering dictator, an impaired leader and horrible tactitioner as a physical, political figure. He only won one revolution and that was against batista and yes in fact wrote many diaries of the things that he did wrong.
But what he WANTED to do, the IDEA of his future for us was great. It was good that he died in Sierra Maestra, it gave the people who really like the idea of a united latin world (if not the whole world) a chance to fight for that in their own way. As a martyr his revolution became, "do what che says, not what che does."
Sorry if i offended anyone, and thats it from me about che, but I believe in being unbiased and educated when you talk about something.
 
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I don't really like the things that are going on over there in cuba, but I gotta agree with Glimmer, no one ever said you gotta be marxist in order to be a "guevarist".
Or when somebody says something they dont like about something they only know half about because of propaganda. We really should read the full story before we talk, and not let our personal emotions get in the way of what we say. It's a good recipe to end up sounding dumb.
 
I am not offended at all. I always like to learn new things and see things from another perspective. I asked the question of why he is such an icon so I could get an answer just like Glimmer's. A well reasoned, clear answer. Thanks for the response and I am really glad we were able to have an adult political discussion. I was a little worried that this could turn ugly.
 
GlimmerGhost said:
Have you considered a transition moment, like that when the family and the grandmother come together for the first time they all speak in spanish for a minute or so - then a crossfade type transition into english where it lets everyone understand that they are still speaking in spanish, yet we understand every word.
Just a thought... que viva cuba y su gente.
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Been done a bunch and a great idea; love this technique
 
Alex DePew said:
Thanks for the response and I am really glad we were able to have an adult political discussion. I was a little worried that this could turn ugly.
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Thanks Alex to you as well, it's nice to see that we can all get along here at the DVXuser forum and speak openly about stuff. Hopefully we can talk again.


John_Hudson said:
Been done a bunch and a great idea; love this technique.
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John has excepted me as an EQUAL!... I feel like when Eddie Murphy is accepted by his girlfriend's father in Coming to America. "When you think of garbage, think of Akeem!"
 
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