Case study: Paraiso for Sale
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Official Synopsis
What price would you pay for paradise? And who would you be willing to take it from? The pristine archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama attracts retirees and developers from the U.S. with its crystal-clear waters and its island culture. In Paraiso for Sale, filmmaker Anayansi Prado returns to her homeland to document the effects the fast-growing migration is having on the local community.
This engaging and revealing documentary tells the personal stories of the people who call this area home and would like to keep it that way. From an American couple who’ve invested not just in their home but in their Panamanian community to a local businessman turned political hopeful and an indigenous leader fighting for his land, the characters and stories in Paraiso for Sale speak to the larger global issue of communities, new and old, under siege from faceless corporations.
Paraiso for Sale explores issues of modern day colonialism, residential tourism, global gentrification and reverse migration, by revealing that immigration between Latin America and the U.S. is not just a one-way street.
Development & Financing
Originally from Panama, Los Angeles-based director Anayansi Prado had long envisioned a project that would illuminate an important issue in her home country. When she learned from a friend of a Diversity Development Fund at ITVS, she knew she’d found a way to make it happen. In 2007, Prado applied for and received a development grant of $20,000 that allowed her to travel to Panama and hire a local Director of Photography, Victor Mares. She shot roughly twenty hours of footage during her first three-week stay, and found the perfect location in which to explore the story: a small island in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro that was being parceled out, sold off, and developed. “I did a lot of research beforehand online,” she says of the planning process. “And being from Panama, I had some knowledge and sort of started to understand the breakdown of the place.”
With the project coming together, Prado dug into the grant application process, which she knew was a question of playing the odds: “To get [approved for] one, it’s like you have to be rejected by ten.” A sizeable grant came through from Creative Capital, an organization that provides not only financial but also advisory support and in-kind services, and it became a turning point for the film. Prado worked with Creative Capital’s advisory services in planning additional trips to Panama, attended two of their grantee weekend retreats, and soaked up the industry advice they offered. An additional (undisclosed, but significant) grant from Latino Public Broadcasting came in halfway through production, and was followed by a second sum during post; this money functioned essentially as a licensing agreement or pre-sale of television rights to PBS for five years. This was a huge plus for Prado, who knew the agreement meant that Paraiso for Sale would be guaranteed multiple television broadcasts.
Production
In order to communicate multiple perspectives on the issues in the film, Prado reached out to a number of different subjects in Panama, and it took time to discern the story’s arc. The locals were generally comfortable signing releases to participate, though an indigenous community leader—who would become a main character in the film—took some convincing. Prado took the time to gain his trust and that of his community.
When she realized that another of her central characters was planning a local run for office, she was able to plan shooting around major milestones during the course of the election. “I knew that my story had a beginning, middle and end, and I knew there were some events I had to capture along the way.” Though she admits that part of the fun of documentary filmmaking is in the uncertainty of a story’s trajectory, she also comments that, “I don’t think that you can go in blindly and not look for an arc... You just kind of let real life fill in how you’re going to get from one point to the other.”
During multiple trips to Panama between 2007 and 2009, Prado shot with a crew that included only her DP and a locally hired production assistant. “It makes it a lot quicker to move around,” she says of the tiny production. “And for me as a director, it creates a more intimate environment without tons of people around.” Prado paid herself a minimal salary to cover living expenses during the long periods spent away from home. The director was convinced that she was finished shooting after the island’s local election in 2009, until she learned that one of her subjects would be coming to the US in the spring of 2010 to testify before Congress and the United Nations about the very issues on which the film is focused; she captured the unexpected event, which became an important part of the narrative. Editing began back in Los Angeles soon afterward, and continued on and off until May of 2011.
Festival Preparation and Strategy Like many filmmakers, Prado dreamed of sending her film to Sundance, to which she submitted a rough cut. Though she wasn’t accepted, she began to screen the cut for small groups of trusted advisors, and got vital feedback at a three-day documentary workshop in Chicago hosted by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. The notes she received led her to excise an extraneous storyline and character, and her new cut suddenly clicked into place.
Picture was locked in February of 2011, but Prado had no more money to cover a sound mix and color correction. A programmer at Sundance recommended her film to the Los Angeles Film Festival, which requested a screener and invited her to participate. Once accepted to the LA Film Fest, Prado was pleased to receive finishing funds from a supportive donor.
Creative Capital granted Prado additional funds to use specifically for the film’s premiere, with which she hired publicist Whitney Kimmel. Kimmel targeted Spanish language publications and radio stations, and Prado was gratified to realize that someone else was handling press at a time when she was consumed with getting the movie finished in time. Paraiso for Sale premiered at the LA Film Fest in June of 2011 and screened three times to enthusiastic audiences. Creative Capital was able to fly in two of the film’s subjects, and Prado’s grant helped to pay them a per diem for their time in L.A.
Paraiso for Sale has gone on to a healthy festival life, appearing at the 2011 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and AFI Latin American Film Festival. Upcoming festival screenings will include Ft. Lauderdale, Oaxaca and Havana.
The Sale After LA Film Fest, Prado was contacted by a few interested distributors via email, but she chose not to follow up. Instead, she plans to distribute the film through New Day Films, an educational DVD distributor and filmmaker cooperative, of which she’s a member. New Day takes submissions only once a year, and until then, she’s selling the DVD herself, through the film’s website. “I’m really happy at New Day,” Prado says, citing the coop’s relationships with festivals, universities and even some theatres. She’ll get to keep approximately 80% of the film’s revenues, and will be able to focus on her target audience through schools that offer cultural anthropology or hospitality and tourism programs.
The Release
Paraiso for Sale premiered on PBS stations on September 2, 2011. With so many PBS outlets, Prado is excited about the opportunities for the film to reach audiences. “I just really want to get it out there,” she says, particularly since the movie explores such a timely issue that begs hands-on involvement. She doesn’t, however, have plans for a theatrical release, which doesn’t seem to her like the right fit for this film.
Currently, Prado is using IndieGoGo, an online fundraising platform, to help finance a screening tour through Panama beginning in January of 2012. “I want to do a lot of outreach with it, within the country and in other parts of Latin America,” she says. With the indigenous leader featured in the film, Prado plans to drive a projector around the country, making the movie available to the communities for which she hopes it will be most meaningful and creating a dialogue along the way. (For more information, visit http://www.indiegogo.com/Paraiso-for-Sale-screenings-in-Panama)
Advice from the filmmaker “Stay focused. I think it’s so easy to lose focus on why you wanted to make a film in the first place when you are caught up in the frustration of things not going well or money not coming in. Be determined and assertive,” Prado says. She also reminds filmmakers not to let funding fears stop their momentum. “The money will come. The money always shows up, just not always when we want it to.”
What price would you pay for paradise? And who would you be willing to take it from? The pristine archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama attracts retirees and developers from the U.S. with its crystal-clear waters and its island culture. In Paraiso for Sale, filmmaker Anayansi Prado returns to her homeland to document the effects the fast-growing migration is having on the local community.
This engaging and revealing documentary tells the personal stories of the people who call this area home and would like to keep it that way. From an American couple who’ve invested not just in their home but in their Panamanian community to a local businessman turned political hopeful and an indigenous leader fighting for his land, the characters and stories in Paraiso for Sale speak to the larger global issue of communities, new and old, under siege from faceless corporations.
Paraiso for Sale explores issues of modern day colonialism, residential tourism, global gentrification and reverse migration, by revealing that immigration between Latin America and the U.S. is not just a one-way street.
Development & Financing
Originally from Panama, Los Angeles-based director Anayansi Prado had long envisioned a project that would illuminate an important issue in her home country. When she learned from a friend of a Diversity Development Fund at ITVS, she knew she’d found a way to make it happen. In 2007, Prado applied for and received a development grant of $20,000 that allowed her to travel to Panama and hire a local Director of Photography, Victor Mares. She shot roughly twenty hours of footage during her first three-week stay, and found the perfect location in which to explore the story: a small island in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro that was being parceled out, sold off, and developed. “I did a lot of research beforehand online,” she says of the planning process. “And being from Panama, I had some knowledge and sort of started to understand the breakdown of the place.”
With the project coming together, Prado dug into the grant application process, which she knew was a question of playing the odds: “To get [approved for] one, it’s like you have to be rejected by ten.” A sizeable grant came through from Creative Capital, an organization that provides not only financial but also advisory support and in-kind services, and it became a turning point for the film. Prado worked with Creative Capital’s advisory services in planning additional trips to Panama, attended two of their grantee weekend retreats, and soaked up the industry advice they offered. An additional (undisclosed, but significant) grant from Latino Public Broadcasting came in halfway through production, and was followed by a second sum during post; this money functioned essentially as a licensing agreement or pre-sale of television rights to PBS for five years. This was a huge plus for Prado, who knew the agreement meant that Paraiso for Sale would be guaranteed multiple television broadcasts.
Production
In order to communicate multiple perspectives on the issues in the film, Prado reached out to a number of different subjects in Panama, and it took time to discern the story’s arc. The locals were generally comfortable signing releases to participate, though an indigenous community leader—who would become a main character in the film—took some convincing. Prado took the time to gain his trust and that of his community.
When she realized that another of her central characters was planning a local run for office, she was able to plan shooting around major milestones during the course of the election. “I knew that my story had a beginning, middle and end, and I knew there were some events I had to capture along the way.” Though she admits that part of the fun of documentary filmmaking is in the uncertainty of a story’s trajectory, she also comments that, “I don’t think that you can go in blindly and not look for an arc... You just kind of let real life fill in how you’re going to get from one point to the other.”
During multiple trips to Panama between 2007 and 2009, Prado shot with a crew that included only her DP and a locally hired production assistant. “It makes it a lot quicker to move around,” she says of the tiny production. “And for me as a director, it creates a more intimate environment without tons of people around.” Prado paid herself a minimal salary to cover living expenses during the long periods spent away from home. The director was convinced that she was finished shooting after the island’s local election in 2009, until she learned that one of her subjects would be coming to the US in the spring of 2010 to testify before Congress and the United Nations about the very issues on which the film is focused; she captured the unexpected event, which became an important part of the narrative. Editing began back in Los Angeles soon afterward, and continued on and off until May of 2011.
Festival Preparation and Strategy Like many filmmakers, Prado dreamed of sending her film to Sundance, to which she submitted a rough cut. Though she wasn’t accepted, she began to screen the cut for small groups of trusted advisors, and got vital feedback at a three-day documentary workshop in Chicago hosted by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. The notes she received led her to excise an extraneous storyline and character, and her new cut suddenly clicked into place.
Picture was locked in February of 2011, but Prado had no more money to cover a sound mix and color correction. A programmer at Sundance recommended her film to the Los Angeles Film Festival, which requested a screener and invited her to participate. Once accepted to the LA Film Fest, Prado was pleased to receive finishing funds from a supportive donor.
Creative Capital granted Prado additional funds to use specifically for the film’s premiere, with which she hired publicist Whitney Kimmel. Kimmel targeted Spanish language publications and radio stations, and Prado was gratified to realize that someone else was handling press at a time when she was consumed with getting the movie finished in time. Paraiso for Sale premiered at the LA Film Fest in June of 2011 and screened three times to enthusiastic audiences. Creative Capital was able to fly in two of the film’s subjects, and Prado’s grant helped to pay them a per diem for their time in L.A.
Paraiso for Sale has gone on to a healthy festival life, appearing at the 2011 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and AFI Latin American Film Festival. Upcoming festival screenings will include Ft. Lauderdale, Oaxaca and Havana.
The Sale After LA Film Fest, Prado was contacted by a few interested distributors via email, but she chose not to follow up. Instead, she plans to distribute the film through New Day Films, an educational DVD distributor and filmmaker cooperative, of which she’s a member. New Day takes submissions only once a year, and until then, she’s selling the DVD herself, through the film’s website. “I’m really happy at New Day,” Prado says, citing the coop’s relationships with festivals, universities and even some theatres. She’ll get to keep approximately 80% of the film’s revenues, and will be able to focus on her target audience through schools that offer cultural anthropology or hospitality and tourism programs.
The Release
Paraiso for Sale premiered on PBS stations on September 2, 2011. With so many PBS outlets, Prado is excited about the opportunities for the film to reach audiences. “I just really want to get it out there,” she says, particularly since the movie explores such a timely issue that begs hands-on involvement. She doesn’t, however, have plans for a theatrical release, which doesn’t seem to her like the right fit for this film.
Currently, Prado is using IndieGoGo, an online fundraising platform, to help finance a screening tour through Panama beginning in January of 2012. “I want to do a lot of outreach with it, within the country and in other parts of Latin America,” she says. With the indigenous leader featured in the film, Prado plans to drive a projector around the country, making the movie available to the communities for which she hopes it will be most meaningful and creating a dialogue along the way. (For more information, visit http://www.indiegogo.com/Paraiso-for-Sale-screenings-in-Panama)
Advice from the filmmaker “Stay focused. I think it’s so easy to lose focus on why you wanted to make a film in the first place when you are caught up in the frustration of things not going well or money not coming in. Be determined and assertive,” Prado says. She also reminds filmmakers not to let funding fears stop their momentum. “The money will come. The money always shows up, just not always when we want it to.”