Director’s Statement
By Marta Leclaire
The experience of making this film in 1985-1986, Juan Grillo, was inspiring. The amount of skill, effort, care, and love with which all the cast and crew participated is really a testament to the creativity and power of the Nicaraguan people. I came up with the idea of making the film while I was working as a producer of children’s programming at the national television station. I wanted to celebrate and honor the life of our 10-year-old hero Luis Alfonso Velasquez Flores and tell his powerful story by combining various forms of art: folkloric dance by youth from the National School of Dance, original music by a well-known singer, Luis Enrique, paintings by Solentiname Islands artists, costumes, props, and masks. At the time, green screen technology was very new and I thought it would be an innovative way to use paintings from the Solentiname Islands, a proud aspect of Nicaraguan art and culture, as the set.
The 1980s were a tumultuous and difficult time to live in Nicaragua. On May 1, 1985, U.S. President Reagan issued an executive order that imposed a full economic embargo on Nicaragua because he opposed the Sandinista government. The United States quickly suspended aid to Nicaragua and expanded the supply of arms and training to the Contra fighters in neighboring countries in an effort to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. There was armed conflict erupting in the country and you were never sure if your loved ones were safe. In fact, one of the actors who appears in Juan Grillo was killed in this Contra War shortly after production of the film.
Watching the film decades later, it is a clear reminder of a time in history during the heroic Nicaraguan revolution when we were able to collaboratively create such a unique piece of media filled with art, lyrics, poetry, dance, music, cultural identity and history. Although it was produced at the national television station, the film has been practically unknown to Nicaraguans because it was created at such a politically unstable time that it received limited broadcast and distribution. I left the country shortly afterward, and was unable to distribute it further. For this reason, I am thrilled to bring the film back to Nicaragua in 2015.
While volunteering at my grandchildren’s elementary school in Berkeley, CA, I had the opportunity to screen Juan Grillo for the students. I got such a positive response from the children and the teacher that I was inspired to embark on a project of digitizing, updating, and adding English subtitles to the film in order to re-release it more broadly in 2015 and make it available for use by other educators. I completed the re-release in July 2015 and also held community screenings in Nicaragua to keep the history alive and make the film DVD available in its home country. Some of the original cast and crew were present at the screenings and it was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect the community and honor their contributions to the film. A discussion guide for use with the film is also being produced so that youth and adults can discover the metaphorical significance of the characters, making the history of Nicaragua come to life.
Adelante Juan Grillo!
By Marta Leclaire
The experience of making this film in 1985-1986, Juan Grillo, was inspiring. The amount of skill, effort, care, and love with which all the cast and crew participated is really a testament to the creativity and power of the Nicaraguan people. I came up with the idea of making the film while I was working as a producer of children’s programming at the national television station. I wanted to celebrate and honor the life of our 10-year-old hero Luis Alfonso Velasquez Flores and tell his powerful story by combining various forms of art: folkloric dance by youth from the National School of Dance, original music by a well-known singer, Luis Enrique, paintings by Solentiname Islands artists, costumes, props, and masks. At the time, green screen technology was very new and I thought it would be an innovative way to use paintings from the Solentiname Islands, a proud aspect of Nicaraguan art and culture, as the set.
The 1980s were a tumultuous and difficult time to live in Nicaragua. On May 1, 1985, U.S. President Reagan issued an executive order that imposed a full economic embargo on Nicaragua because he opposed the Sandinista government. The United States quickly suspended aid to Nicaragua and expanded the supply of arms and training to the Contra fighters in neighboring countries in an effort to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. There was armed conflict erupting in the country and you were never sure if your loved ones were safe. In fact, one of the actors who appears in Juan Grillo was killed in this Contra War shortly after production of the film.
Watching the film decades later, it is a clear reminder of a time in history during the heroic Nicaraguan revolution when we were able to collaboratively create such a unique piece of media filled with art, lyrics, poetry, dance, music, cultural identity and history. Although it was produced at the national television station, the film has been practically unknown to Nicaraguans because it was created at such a politically unstable time that it received limited broadcast and distribution. I left the country shortly afterward, and was unable to distribute it further. For this reason, I am thrilled to bring the film back to Nicaragua in 2015.
While volunteering at my grandchildren’s elementary school in Berkeley, CA, I had the opportunity to screen Juan Grillo for the students. I got such a positive response from the children and the teacher that I was inspired to embark on a project of digitizing, updating, and adding English subtitles to the film in order to re-release it more broadly in 2015 and make it available for use by other educators. I completed the re-release in July 2015 and also held community screenings in Nicaragua to keep the history alive and make the film DVD available in its home country. Some of the original cast and crew were present at the screenings and it was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect the community and honor their contributions to the film. A discussion guide for use with the film is also being produced so that youth and adults can discover the metaphorical significance of the characters, making the history of Nicaragua come to life.
Adelante Juan Grillo!