Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Spanish movies

This is topic Spanish movies in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 09-24-2004, 12:53 PM:

Does anyone has any contacts for getting Spanish movies. I am mainly interested in Spanish movies from Mexico and not Spain or Argentina.

I figured, during the slow season, my largely Spanish community may support that. Has anyone tried that?

thanks

Ramin

Posted by Bill Carter (Member # 156) on 09-24-2004, 05:35 PM:

I had simliar thoughts here in Minneapolis. The Spanish-speaking community is certainly not being programmed for up here. But I haven't been able to find a steady (meaning more than just an occasional Spanish "art" title) supplier of product either.

Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 09-26-2004, 08:30 AM:

How hard would it be to get Spanish Language DTS discs for your regular mainstream movies?
With that, I bet you could run Spanish Language shows of the same titles you are already playing.
Another idea would be to add a second DTS player and use a system like the hearing impared headphones and run the center channel into them for spanish dialogue.

Posted by Jeff Akin (Member # 1198) on 09-27-2004, 12:20 PM:

We ran Spanish language versions of our other films. We have a large spanish-speaking community here. We had some great promotional work to boost awareness, but it just didn't pan out.

We did very little attendance. In fact, one week, I think we did 11 total people for the Spanish Language 13 Going on 30!

The cost on these prints is pretty high. That is if you get a dubbed or sub-titled print. They only make about 7 or so of them, so it is pretty hard to get them on a break, and it will cost you a bit.

I have a difficult time seeing Mexican films doing much better. With very little advertising Stateside, I think it will be difficult to justify the cost.

Just my thoughts.

Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 09-28-2004, 09:54 PM:

You are probably right Jeff. I was thinking during slow period when things are dead any ways, it may be worth bringing a Mexican movie. A mainstream movie dubbed in Spanish,..., I am not sure about.

Still looking for prints of Spanish movies ......

Ramin

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-03-2004, 06:39 AM:

Hey Ramin, your post really brought me back. The very first commercial theatre that I worked was in Houston. It was the Venus theatre in a mostly Spanish-speaking neighborhood. It was so long ago, I couldn't even tell you where it was located. I am sure it is long gone.

We did a thriving business and all the films came from Mexico. They were not Hollywood titles dubbed or subtitled, but actual Mexican imports. And there didn't seem to be any shortage of product. My recollection was that the owner was getting the titles dirt cheap (we ran lots of double features), more than that I can't tell you. In fact, I am not much of a help because I can't recall what distributor he was getting them from. But that was long ago, around the late 60s. Things may be very different now. Still, there must be Mexican distributors that you can contact who would be happy to ship prints to you. When I get back to the theatre this week, I will look in the International Film Journal -- they have a yearly issue that lists all distributors, I will see what I can find out.

Here's an interesting tidbit -- When I first got to work that booth, I ran the show the way I had been trained. When the chief projectionist showed me the house light switches, naturally assumed they were to be turned off when the movie started. The very first show, I was quickly corrected -- for the matinees, the lights stay up at half because the mom's brought their toddlers to the matinees along with bags of food with them and they needed light to prepair lunch and to feed the kids. It was pretty unorthodox presentation, but still very homey.

Then there were the Spanish Snipes! In this booth all the snipes were identified on the snipe draws in Spanish. But the manager wouldn't write the make-up sheet in Spanish, but only in English. I was constantly calling the box office and asking, "How do you say, 'Be sure to buy our gift certificates' or 'Enjoy tasty snacks at our concessions bar' in Spanish?" She'd tell me, I would try to memorize them and run over to the cabinet to try to find them before I forgot what she had pronounced. Quite a few times it took a second call, "Can you say it again for me, please." I felt like the stupid gringo, or at least the stupid kid who failed Spanish in HS. [Smile]

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 10-03-2004, 06:43 PM:

I used to work vacations at the Jackson Triplex in Jackson Heights, NYC, a Diaz family twin.

Upstairs we ran a double bill of films from Spain, Argentina or Mexico (in Spanish), while downstairs we'd run a double bill of two U.S. films dubbed in Spanish.

Two films were loaded on a single platter in both houses.
These programs met the needs of local families very well.

In Manhattan I used to work a privately owned side-by-side twin, with a film from Barcelona or Madrid on the left, and one from Mexico or Argentina on the right. During the years it lasted, it was a very popular, classy house.

Perhaps the easy availability of Spanish films on videotape or disc may have reduced the attendance of such venues today.