After a very mellow holiday that included spending xmas eve at the pub, I headed down to Northern New Mexico along with Dawn (my MFA classmate) and Nic to film Los Comanches, an equestrian folk play about Juan Batista de Anza’s battle with Comanche chief Cuerno Verde, performed every year in the village of Alcalde. This is another part of my larger project about layers of history in the Southern Colorado landscape. Events depicted in the play occurred somewhere near Colorado City, as commemorated by the Cuerno Verde rest stop along the 25 (filmed that too).
It was definitely an adventure trying to position the big ol’ sound-sync camera in the mud amidst galloping horses and performers constantly switching directions! I took some hand-held Bolex footage while Dawn worked the Arri and Nic recorded sound. He took some digital stills as well:
The post on Los Matachines has a link to background information on both the Matachines dances and Los Comanches.
Marcy Saude 