the making of Severo Perez’s
 
  • ABOUT
    • About this Digital Exhibition
    • Severo Perez and The Wittliff Collections
      • Severo Perez donates his archive (press release)
      • The Severo Perez Papers at the Wittliff Collections (finding aid)
      • Severo Perez discusses “…and the earth did not swallow him” at Texas State University (1998 video)
      • Severo Perez at the Wittliff Collections (2014 video)
    • Watch the film
  • STORY & SCRIPT
    • THE NOVEL: y no se lo tragó la tierra by Tomás Rivera
      • “Envisioning the Screenplay”
    • FILM RIGHTS
      • Working with Tomás Rivera
      • Acquiring the rights from Concha Rivera
    • RESEARCH
      • Tomás Rivera’s family in Crystal City
      • Location Scouting: Following Tomás’ footsteps
      • The novel’s “true stories”
      • Don Cleto/Leto story
      • The historical Bartolo Ortiz
    • WRITING THE SCREENPLAY
      • “The Challenge: Adapting for film”
      • Finding the Narrative: “from the tomb to resurrection”
      • First draft in 3 weeks
      • Creating a “Tapestry”
      • “Too much tragedy”
      • Adapting from Spanish
      • Script Rewrites
    • PRODUCERS
    • FUNDING
      • National Endowment for the Humanities
      • PBS/American Playhouse
      • Other funders
  • CAST
    • José Alcala as Marcos
    • Rose Portillo as Florentina.
    • Marco Rodriguez as Joaquin
    • Daniel Valdez as Bartolo
    • Lupe Ontiveros as Doña Rosa
    • Sam Vlahos as Don Cleto
    • Art Bonilla as Lalo
    • Evelyn Guerrero as Lupita
    • Castulo Guerra as the photo salesman
    • Full Cast
  • FILMING/PRODUCTION
    • Giving the film a “Heartbeat”
    • Storyboards
    • Storyboard sequence: Calling the Devil
    • Locations
      • Why Crystal City wouldn’t work
      • Location breakdowns
      • Location budgets
      • Chino, California
      • Piru, California used as Crystal City
      • Minnesota
    • Shooting Schedule
    • Budget
    • Art/Production Design
      • Russell Lee historic photos
      • Marcos under the house
      • Gonzales family home
      • Doña Rosa’s and Don Cleto’s House
      • Painting and dressing sets
      • Art Department Budget
    • Cinematographer
    • Script Supervisor/Continuity Photos
    • Scene: Marcos’s sister collapses in the field
    • Deleted Scenes
    • Wrap party
    • Crew Photos/Full Production Credits
  • POST-PRODUCTION
    • “the film spoke to me”
    • Editing
    • Sound
    • Music
    • Censorship
  • ACCLAIM & AWARDS
    • Awards
    • Press kit
    • Reviews
    • Original airing on PBS
    • Film Festivals & Screenings
      • Américo Paredes’ reaction
      • Santa Barbara
      • Cinesol
      • Cairo
      • Moscow
      • Chile
    • Distribution - Challenges
    • 20 Years later- “It almost seems like a dream”

Chino, California

← Location budgets
Piru, California used as Crystal City →
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