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Lime Salted Love was written and co-directed by Danielle who also co-stars in the film. It’s tragedy of love and secrets, very different from Cowboys and Indians which shows the idiocy of Tea Party/Minutemen types with their own words.
Danielle’s focus and vision as a filmmaker have always been a strong component of her personality, and she has worked hard to make her visions as reality. She has stories to tell using an ear for dialog and compelling visuals, as seen in both films.
Cowboys and Indians makes its debut here on FDL Movie Night, and given the fun we have had with Tea Partiers over the past year and half and the genuine effort progressives put into changing the hearts and minds of our less open fellows, it is an honor to have Cowboys and Indians.
Cowboys and Indians reminded me of two very important things: The Dream Act which allow undocumented students the same rights as students citizens; and the need to improve our school systems across America so that spelling and grammar are learned and critical thinking is celebrated.
“Speak English” is kind of dumb coming from a native English speaker who can’t spell a word on a sign or–colloquialisms aside–correctly conjugate a verb during a conversation, mangling the language beyond reasonableness. The illiteracy level in the US stuns me on a regular basis, and with a lack of literacy comes the inability to think for oneself and willingness to be spoon-fed narrow ideas.
So here’s to better education for all, and with it compassion, love and care for those who work to America better, including immigrants, their children, and descendants of immigrants. Because for the most part, isn’t that what we are?
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Before we start, just a couple quick notes: Please refresh your browser every minute or so to see new comments, questions and answers. To reply to specific comment, hit the reply button underneath it and then type away. Always after a comment or question hit “send comment.”
Please stay on topic–in this case Danielle Agnello’s two films Lime Salted Love with its themes of love, loss, drug addiction and her brand new short Cowboys and Indians The Great Diversion which is a grea look at the ignorance behind anti-immigrant movements and the Tea Party. Plus t
PLEASE STAY ON TOPIC/s If you want to jump in about the Gulf oil spill, Katrina anniversary, politicians, predator drones or anything else not about tonight’s topics please find a post elsewhere on FDL to do so. Thank you.
Please–and I can’t believe I still have to say this, but–no ad hominen remarks, no attacks on belief systems… And please be respectful of our guest and of each other. And yeah, I tpye badly…
Hello Danielle, and welcome to Firedoglake Movie Night!
Danielle, thnak you so much for showing us Cowboys and Indians which is really debuting here….WHat prompted you to make it?
Welcome to Firedoglake – glad you could join us!
Hi Lisa thank you so much for having me.
Sorry about that. One moment
My friend Jim has a bunch of his own film equipment and he asked me to put something together for us to shoot so I started thinking and I gave my dear friend a phone call that I work very good with for creative projects
We all have our favorite Tea Party fail signs and it’s wonderful to see many collected together.
And before we continue further I would like to address two things,
1. My purpose doing this film was not to “attack” the Tea Party even though I have different beliefs than them.
Sorry for that delay. Something wasn’t working but now it seems to be moving better.
I am always stunned by the illiteracy…I mena I have spacial issues but when I am making a sign I make sure to do it in pencil first and have extra board for f-ups. Though using a computer to make the BIG LETTERS is helpful, as is a glue stick…
Thanks so much for being here. I really enjoyed the clip of the movie. Good stuff.
Understood. The great thing about America–and I am watching a doc on skinheads in the background–is that we have the right to protest, and I support the tea Party for doing that.
Also many in the Tea Party share the same hopes and goals as those they protest: Food, shelter, fellowship, betterment. Sadly rhetoric and fingerpointing can interfere with constructive dialog.
Well I do think it is funny that my first interview/discussion happens to be one where I get to type for 90 minutes straight as it leaves me plenty of time to make my own spelling errors. Just so you know – I am not expert with grammar either! LOL.
But my purpose for doing the film wasn’t to focus on people that can’t spell
I thought it was a great short!
And why not “attack” them? Some things just need to be “fought” whether we like it, or are uncomfortable with fighting.
I agree and it seems that they are aware that there is indeed a problem with the way things are.
I can’t type very well either.
What inspired you to make C&I?
Let me apologize as my computer is running a little slow here. I didn’t want to attack them because I think there is more important issues to focus on. To attack them would be a distraction from bigger issues. I certainly did poke fun at them and I am not apologizing for that. I am just saying that I think that they are terribly misguided and very scared.
My friend Jim asked me to put something together for us to shoot. He has a lot of equipment that he owns and he wanted to do something fun and important. So that made me start looking for a project to get involved with and help create.
So I gave another friend a call on the phone and we started bouncing ideas back and forth and shortly there after we had a script!
Right now everyone is focusing on illegal immigrants and putting all our countries problems on them. It is like any other time in history when the economy is terrible and people are insecure they want answer and they are desperate. If you can really scare someone you can get them to believe almost anything. That is why I feel bad for some people that are in the Tea Party.
Another reason why we choose to do this is short is cause we realized how much the media likes to distract people from real issues. It isn’t really about illegal immigrants. My film isn’t really about illegal immigration either. It is about how they are used to distract.
The location’s desolation and flat out hugeness was terrific. Where was that?
El Mirage Dry Lake. It was amazing!
I have been to several tea Party events and people are so desperate and angry, and yes, looking for a cause. “Them” “the Other” have always been a target. It is often easier to blame a specific group rather than the greater picture. And it is better for those running the show to have folks at each other throats rather than working to overcome what is oppressing everyone.
I really wanted something exactly like that. What we were trying to do wouldn’t have really worked in a typical setting. I wanted everyone to look out of place. As for the day laborers it was sort of a bit metaphorical in the sense that they are out in the desert looking for work but there is no work. Kind of like here in LA
Bread and circuses… what issues are important to you right now? What should we folk be focusing on, rather than playing “cowboys and indians” getting caught up in the great diversion?
It is always easier to blame the other rather than the people you have trusted for years. Amazes me how often folks point in the wrong direction.
It is amazing to me that the media could fool people into thinking some of the things that we seem to just “accept” so readily when the truth is right there in front of us.
Tell us about the casting process for this, I noticed a Screen Actors Guild logo…
Exactly! Well it’s funny cause I really wouldn’t have ever described myself as a “political” person as I avoided politics for a big part of my life. But in the past year I have really started to pay more attention mainly cause
I guess it always seemed like the problems were to big to be able to do anything about and I had always wanted to do something but I felt I couldn’t. Now I feel differently because I think that art can be used as a powerful medium to help and teach people and to shed light on things that they would have missed otherwise.
The weed whacker was a most excellent touch in that location. LOL!
And the command of colloquial Spanish, just hilarious; “Mira, guey!”
I wanted to answer this really quick. One of the most important things we are trying to say with the film is at the end. About the Chinese worker and that the aim of business is to make people’s wages next to nothing.
If we stop illegal immigration that problem would still exist amongst many others.
HA! I thought that was funny too and we wanted to place that there.Wanted them to sort of stick out like a sore thumb. Those guys were great to work with. The whole cast was really great.
I thought it was great because, before I saw the weed eater, it sounded like a cow. I’m in to sounds.
I hope my comments are not coming in too slow.
Well I knew I needed really good actors! Otherwise this would not work.
I didn’t want to cast “characters” I wanted to use people that were real so that people could relate. The main thing I was looking for was excellent actors and I found them. A few were Union so I made the film SAG so they could be in it. We did it under a Short Film Contract cause we really didn’t have a budget at all.
As for the cowboy character, I’ve known David Nieto for 8 years and it just so happened he looked perfect for the role! I really love his work so it was nice to be able to finally work with him.
A film starts with a script.
Your comments are coming in fine, we toss out a lot of ping pong balls and you are hitting them all!
Unless we as people united address corporate ownership of our bodies and souls, it will just get worse. For example:
In Minnesota, Target and Best Buy–which corporations support LGBT rights–gave $ to a politicla action committee which endorses anti-LGBT candidates. So these corporatins are setting themselves up as fiefdoms above the laws of the state and supporting laws which differ form their own policy because overall the the PAC supports a beneficial business climate. Which will in turn allow the corporation to continue to act in ways that benefits them, though possibly not the people of the state in which they operate.
Corporations are eager to suck dry areas for manufacturing and labor then move on. ANd leave people pointing fingers at The Other as the cause of their problems…
It sure does. At least that is the way that I prefer to work.
I wrote a report on NAFTA in 1994, a very fact filled neutral effort that detailed industries that seemed to show a comparative advantage to U.S. and those for Mexico. Forget whether I was right or wrong (missed the fact that U.S. ag supports would put Mexican farmers out of biz, but that’s not my point right now.) As a result, I was invited to speak at a conference on the subject in Guadalahara. All the Qs from the Mexican attendees were whether the Chinese were going to take their jobs. That was 16 years ago. Now, of course, that’s the excuse that ex-prez Clinton is using to excuse why NAFTA did not turn out the way it was supposed to.
That’s great that SAG has that available for filmmakers.
I thought the last bit, monologue, the summing up could have been more less on the point. Everything else, leading up to it was great. Trust your gut.
I agree. It is weird cause sometimes I feel like no one is really paying attention to just how much power corporations have. Doesn’t that make people upset and want to do something? You know?
You co-wrote and co-directed Lime Salted Love,and you co-starred in it…what is it like to direct yourself? Ddi you find yourself more critical of your own acting? And/or were you able to turn off your director voice in your scenes and just let the actor flow?
No one at this blog trusts the corporations. Believe it.
It is interesting to hear everyone’s opinion on that monologue. It is just the way that I wanted to communicate that info. It isn’t for everyone but I just do what I feel I should when it comes to my work.
It is very challenging to direct and act. I am not sure I would want to do that again. You know, I would if we had a lot of assistance on the production but with LSL we were on a shoe sting budget.Working with an extremely small but hard working crew.
Have at it, babe, no, really It all depends on what your goals are. In communication, the listener is the key. But, hey.
Thank you for your command of the understatement. *g*
When you are acting you have to be able to concentrate on your work. As an actor you are always concentrating on something, and the only thing that ever changes is what you are concentrating on. It is important for me as an actress to focus on things other than myself if I want a good performance. Did I answer that OK?
It was well received too. Congratulations! What are you working on now/next?
Gothcher choir robe on?
Sorry, Lisa, for going off topic, I just had to…..
The monologue is kind of like the price of admission and I will totally admit that it is very heavy handed.
Thank you. Yes I have a feature that I want to try and shoot in New Orleans. It’s title is, “Misogyny’s Whore”. An excellent redemption story.
The rest of the film was of a different hand. That’s the only reason I mentioned it. I understand that the producer/director has the reins, as it were. But, having watched the great cast, location, that bit with the weed eater, I wasn’t ready for the over the top, not nuanced last bit. Just telling you. PS, I will sleep tonight. It wasn’t something that will creep me out, or anything. Just letting you know how I saw it.
New Orleans would LOVE you for that! I hope this being the anniversary of Katrina, the voodoo gods and all the city’s saints hear us ask fo rthat!
It is so interesting to me that when I ran into you a month ago I had been location scouting all day for COWBOYS AND INDIANS: THE GREAT DIVERSION. At first we were going to shoot it in an Industrial Park! Not nearly as visually stunning as El Mirage was.
What a name!! Can you give any hints?
I think it would be perfect for the shoot and from what I hear the people are great to work with when you are shooting a film. You know?
I am so excited for this one. It is about the true worth of people.
and the food…
Thanks….who would’ve thought. I will look forward to hearing more about it.
I hear the food is amazing. Have you been?
I look forward to sharing that with you when the time comes!
Plus the stunning irony of place; Class Warfare Waged In A Mirage.
Sweet.
When I was in my 20′s, a long while ago, I used to dirt bike out at El Mirage. It’s truly God’s Country. And, definitely a kick ass place.
If I lived in New Orleans, I’d ask if you if you need a P.A.
yes and i fact check a travel guide annually..we’ll discuss later!
Danielle, you are a young filmmaker–where did you go to school, what is your background?
El Mirage is just gorgeous. You have to make sure everyone on set stays hydrated. The wind is great. Unless you are trying to record audio.
Sounds good.
It’s a big, long dry lake bed, just south of Edwards Air Force Base.
Really excellent foamy wind screens.
I didn’t go to college, but right when I graduated High School I moved to Los Angeles. I never had the intention of making films or acting though. I had always wanted to be a counselor. Or at least in my last year of High School I thought I did. I was always a writer and I think a big part of me had always wanted to figure out a way to do that but I was too scared at first.
Everyone thought I was probably going to go into comedy but I never wanted to because I was so shy. Long story short for my last year in High School I was working four Jobs.
Dominos, Burger King, babysitting, Coldstones
You wanna know what’s really cool about El Mirage? You can get a little buzz going and then ride east on a little dirt bike. There’s just the brown ground below and the blue sky above. A totally stark landscape. Like you are flying, or something.
That was 35 years ago, but I remember with great fondness.
And I actually really had a lot of fun at those jobs but then I booked a job doing comedic improv and I loved it and moved to LA. Then I started acting classes and making my own films.
What a long answer! All of my friends are used to it. ;)
Wow. 35 years ago. There is something very special about that dry lake bed. At least for me. And especially now after shooting the film there.
LOL, did you go to film school?
Yep, I’m getting older, now. Saw El Mirage out the window as we were driving “the back way” through the desert up to the forest at Wrightwood. If it weren’t for all the red neck meth freaks out there, it might be a place I’d consider retiring to. Ha! Let’s talk about comedy!
Have you ever been to Redding?
Hey firepups, we are almost out of time. Thank you very much and thank you Danielle!
Next week for Labor Day, we have OLD RADICALS a short whihc you can watch at the link in the title.
Thank you all again!
Sounds like how someone once described that town. Pretty crazy. Not my kind of place at all.
Thanks so much Lisa. I had a great time with you.
and while another post is going up on the fornt page, we cna stil keep talking… just saying.
Thanks to everyone else as well.
Thanks so much for having me on here.
Best of luck to you, dearheart.
I just watched the Cowboys and Indians video. Terrific job.