Over the last few weeks, somewhere between watching a bit of Food Inc, as part of research for a documentary (I couldn´t stomach 10 minutes of it…), reading about the latest cutbacks to personal freedom compliments of the Obama administration, and watching Chris Hodges’ speech on the empire´s severe decline; somewhere along the line, I […]
I visited Hilo many times. Every single time, it rained at some point. Meanwhile, when I sailed into the other side of the Big Island, the sun was always shining. Apparently, there is a scientific explanation for this, but I won´t go into that now. I remember two special times fondly. Once, my Canadian friends […]
Years ago, when I was planning my first visit to Istanbul, I tried to get hired to interview Pamuk, just because I wanted to meet him. I hadn’t tried hard enough, and I thought my chances of seeing Pamuk had vanished forever. A dream come true Only five minutes ago, a few blocks from my […]
ATLANTIDA, Uruguay: Film workshop on the beach – A photo blog
I have done many things in my life, but I am pretty sure this is the first time I´ve had a class at a beach bar, in a biking, drinking white wine and nibbling on calamari. NÉKTAR FILMS` project THE ISLAND OF JUSTICE was selected for a production workshop with a very interesting Argentinean producer, […]
Caribbean holidays FAMILY, HONEYMOONS, MUSIC & CULTURE
When most people think of Caribbean holidays, the first things that come to mind are drinks served in coconut shells, white sands, Latin or reggae music and turquoise seas. Because of the weather, the scenery, the promise of Latin-style fun, and even the abundance of good looking Latinos and Latinas around, the Caribbean is the […]
Nothing beats that old world charm of Europe with its majestic ancient buildings and museums full of wonders. I have many favorite places all over Europe. Here are some iconic images from some of them. When I think of Portugal holidays, unlike most travelers, I think of the bucolic relaxation of Sintra. In Spain, I´d […]
We shot an unforgettable film and we survived (and thrived).
MONSTRUO by CARLOS MORELLI. A NEKTAR FILMS production.
Coproducers: La ofi cine Berlin, Cinescopio Mexico.
With funding from the Uruguayan Film Institute.
Though I wouldn't call myself adventurous, I have a flair for the unexpected,
for wandering down strange alleys and deserted beaches and going to the other side of the sand dune
to see what lies behind.
As soon as I saw the sunflower fields far as the eye could see, I knew we had entered Tuscany. No other place could be this beautiful, so green and inviting to all the pleasures of the world.
Es muy raro ver un show en donde ninguna canción pierde un poco el interés, donde la magia no decae en ningún momento, donde los músicos sienten que están viviendo un momento especial, único, irrepetible, y el público, es parte de esa deliciosa complicidad.
Acompañado por sus dos maravillosos guitarristas Jeremías di Polito y Juan Pablo Chapital, Francisco Etchenique en batería y Nino Restuccia en bajo, Pablo y sus amigos nos regalaron, sin duda, el mejor show del año.
Fake idols and real dreams – From Manhattan to Hollywood
Flying towards JF Kennedy airport in New York, I recognized a bridge out a F Scott Fitzgerald novel. It was the bridge that Gatsby crosses to go into the city. I remembered the description of ash heaps and the mechanic who looked as grey as the ashes. The place looked grey and dull enough […]
The condo where my friend was staying looked exactly like TV´s serial killer cop “DEXTER,” which is actually set in Miami. The feeling of being in Dexter-land was augmented by the headline I read on a local magazine my friend had lying around: “Bigger guns, no permits needed, Page 10.”
The death of the common enemy – Obama and Osama´s head
Seeing Obama tell people to be happy because Osama had been killed felt exactly like one of those political meetings in 1984, where people enter into a hate frenzy against "the enemy."
Hitler said " Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" to counter the argument that it would be impossible to "get away" with wiping out the Jews. That´s what pushing a genocide under the rug will do; beget another one.
Though I knew little about Ebert and had never seen him, in my mind, he was not necessarily a "nice" man, more like a Neptune with his trident, letting films pass in front of him, and decreeing which ones would live and which ones would be sentenced to death.
I have a friend who is obsessed with muses. She keeps saying, jokingly, "what did she have that I don´t?" referring to women like Gala, who inspired Paul Éluard, Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí alike.
No, this is not a post about how wonderful it is to travel round the world. It is about the death of children, the most unnatural of all unnatural things upon our ailing Earth.
The only thing that this little Caribbean island, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic, is known for is because the famous writer Jean Rhys once lived there.
Japan, nuclear tsunamis and what is wrong with “progress”
Recently, Kenzaburo Oe wrote an article about how intrinsically disrespectful of the memory of the nuclear bomb's victims it was for Japan to keep developing nuclear power
RAUL at Punta del Este Film Festival; cinema & pastoral bliss
When my friend Sergio, who was organizing the Fest told me that our preview was going to be shown at Fundacion Atchugarry, I didn't think much of it. I had never heard of the place, though the prospect of it being en route to beautiful Jose Ignacio and in the middle of the country sounded very appealing.
Whichever form of the paradise may fit your taste, the island of Ibiza, famous for its discos and pumping party scene, remains a paradise for all. An account of my trips and evolving perceptions of it from 1997 till today.
Las Toscas, Uruguay: Childhood memories and the smell of the summer
Sometimes, when you have been going to a place your whole life, you tend to take it for granted. There is a tiny beach spot on Uruguay´s Golden coast where I spent all of my childood summers.
My Berlin is a Wendersness. It is an existential black and whiteness where Bono and Lou Reed are singing a song on streetcorners and Nick Cave is crooning hypnotic tunes in some run-down basement
I arrived in Paris on a charter plane from Ibiza after sunset one summer. I wanted films, interesting conversations about cinema and books, moonlight walks by the Seine, museums with fabulous art and everything the city had to offer.
Messina, Sicily is forever linked in my memory with a rather peculiar character I met there. To add to my list of " random people met on trips" meet Carlo.
The Greece I found; after a train to Bari and a ferry to Korfu, was different from Miller´s untrodden paradise. Still, I fell in love with it forever; I fell in love with its musical language, its delicious food, its people, its traditions, and the sheer beauty of its perfect little white towns overlooking the blue Aegean sea.
Formentera: once a hippie paradise, still a killer vacation spot
She would always speak of crystal-clear waters and untrodden paradise beaches, but, somehow, though we lived only a few kilometers away from the port of Sant Antoni in Ibiza, where one could take an inexpensive boat ride to the island, over 10 years went by before I saw Formentera with my own eyes.
Anyways, after this colorful ride, we were in Herculaneum. The differences with Pompeii are directly apparent on arrival. This is like looking at a whole city from above, only the roofs have been removed. Buildings here are much better preserved than in Pompeii, as Ercolano inhabitants were killed by the tremendous heat, and not by the ashes.
Herculaneum used to be a beach resort for rich Romans, so the ruins, located below ground level, are looking at an imaginary sea, as the water has long ago retired. Pompeii is huge, while Ercolano is rather manageable and, provided you have a good guide, you can get a pretty clear picture of it in one day.
Love story at the Llamadas: Candombe drumming and amour in Montevideo
We followed the drummers dancing like crazy. The llamadas consist of each group playing and dancing candombe and walking for some 10 blocks over a street called Isla de Flores. They start around the corner from my apartment, actually, but our seats were near the end of the line, so, when we followed the drummers as they exited the gates, police closed them behind us and said we couldn´t go back inside.
Ana couldn´t care less: she was going to be reunited with him, and nothing else mattered.
Iemanja: Uruguayans celebrate the goddess of the sea
Every February 2nd, thousands of Uruguayans go to Ramírez beach in Montevideo to offer their gifts to the goddess of the sea and ask for her protection, for their secret crush to fall in love with them, for work, money, or whatever they may desire.
An Egyptian mirage: Mayhem in the land of the pharaohs
In a country where a blogger goes to prison for four years after criticizing the president, it is no secret that freedom of expression has been a standing concern.
After 30 years living in an ipso-facto dictatorship under Hosni Mubarak, it seems that Egypt has had enough.
However, when I saw images of an Egyptian museum after it had been ramsacked during protests, I felt a sense of terrible loss.
It is very hard to connect the images of charming little Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast; with its cliffs overlooking blue seas and the perfect beige buildings with their orange roofs scattered across the hills, to Croatia´s violent past.
Making wine and building mansions hardly seem to be activities to carry out next to a time bomb like Vesubius, but, since this type of volcanoes can stay calm for a couple of thousand years, people tend to feel safe there, and so did I, as you can see in my video.
(Top photo by Kris de Curtis)
Venice is a labyrinth of canals. It is easy to get lost on its narrow meandering streets, no matter how many maps you are carrying. The good thing about Venice is that getting lost there is a bliss.
Beach concerts in URUGUAY. One of the summer´s highlights. Videos of two concerts at the Fabulous Punta del Diablo beach: DIZZY NATY FAFA TRIO and CONTRA LAS CUERDAS.
Impressive rock formations, crystalline water, delicious seafood, a dolphin swim and fired up tequila on your coffee to top it off. You gotta love Cabo.
The Med is one of my favorite places on the planet. Since Europeans decided to switch to Euro and the dollar went downhill, European travel has become very expensive. Coming from Uruguay, some of the local prices seem outrageous, considering the exchange rate with the Uruguayan peso. In any case, I have been around the […]
