Telling ‘Belle’s story’
Award-winning film made during mariachi advocate Ortiz’s final days
In Belle Ortiz’s final days this past summer, musicians came to her bedside to play in appreciation for her work promoting mariachi education in schools.
A small film crew was on hand, too, capturing mariachis as they played the music that Ortiz loved, sometimes with tears streaming down their faces.
That poignant footage makes up part of “Suena La Educación: The Story of Belle Ortiz,” an hourlong documentary. The film was produced by Gabriel Redondo, the promotions manager for WOAI News 4 and Fox San Antonio; Baylor Jones, a content producer for the station; and Anthony Medrano, who plays violin with Mariachi Campanas de America, the ensemble Ortiz helped found with her husband.
They have entered it in a few film festivals, and it has been named best biographical feature film by the Cannes World Film Festival, a monthly competition. The 3-year-old festival is not affiliated with the Cannes Film Festival, the star-studded annual event held in the spring.
“Belle’s story is being shared around the world,” said Redondo, who got to know that story while he worked on the film. “We did our work as far as putting it together, but I think it’s the story more than anything else that sells the movie.”
“Suena La Educación” explores the life and impact of Ortiz, who died in July.
“She is the founder of Campanas de America, the mother of our
group,” said Medrano, who has been with the group for more than 40 years. “She’s also the founder of the International Mariachi Festival that started in 1979 here in San Antonio, which was focused on education. She was one of the first to implement mariachi education in the school systems here. And her first fight for that ended up being a big fight for everyone and a big victory for mariachi education throughout San Antonio, throughout the nation and throughout the world. So her legacy was great.”
The film initially was going to be more modest.
Medrano and Redondo first collaborated on the “Wembanyama Go Spurs Go” viral video, in which Campanas celebrated the addition of Victor Wembanyama to the Spurs
lineup. They also worked together for a piece about mariachi musicians who performed in Uvalde on the first anniversary of the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Medrano had talked about the history of mariachi music and its cultural significance, and Redondo thought they should expand that into a 15-minute film.
Medrano was game, suggesting they interview Ortiz,
“We were set up to go visit Belle at the hospice where she was staying,” said Medrano, who counts himself as part of her extended family. “She was very much active, she was playing the piano every day in the main room of the hospice. She was doing little concerts for everybody who lived there.”
Before they were able to do that, Ortiz suffered a health crisis and was rushed to the hospital. She was there for a few days, Medrano said, and the nursing staff allowed musicians to put on protective garb and play for her for short periods.
When doctors told her family that she was unlikely to recover, arrangements were made for her to spend her final days at her granddaughter’s house.
Plans were made for
musicians to play there, too. And Medrano started thinking about conversations he had had over the years with Oritz, who had asked him to tell her story.
“That was playing in the back of my mind as she was laying in her hospice bed and the family was all around comforting her and the music was playing,” he said. “I thought, this needs to be documented. We need to show the level of love and the level of life-changing that Belle did.”
He got the family’s blessing then asked Redondo and Jones to come film. They weren’t sure what they would do with the footage, but they all felt it was important. And they also decided to focus on Ortiz instead of making a more general short film about mariachi music.
“There was no budget. There was no script,” Medrano said. “It was, ‘Roll cameras and let’s just see what happens for the next three days.’ ”
After that, they did
interviews, talking to Medrano, Ortiz’s family, and members of Campanas and other mariachi groups whose lives Ortiz had touched. When they transcribed those conversations, they filled more than 150 pages. They also had more than 35 hours of footage, including film from Ortiz’s funeral, as well as archival material that Medrano had.
They got feedback as the film took shape, taking advice from people such as actor Tony Plana on
what was missing. And they invited Jesse Borrego to record some narration to frame the film.
The documentary can be seen on Youtube, where it has been watched more than 1,300 times. Medrano has heard that mariachi teachers have shown it in their classrooms.
The fact that the film has won an award and might have a life on the festival circuit is exciting, he said. But the most important thing is that it
helps preserve Ortiz’s legacy. And he and Redondo are hoping to make other films, too, with the same idea in mind.
“Whether it wins awards or not, I’m a believer that we need to document our stories,” Medrano said. “We need a receipt so no one else can say it didn’t happen, so no one else can tell a different history. It needs to be documented. For me, we needed to document Belle’s story and make it part of history.”