Baltazar in New York

It wouldn’t have felt right to attend the premiere of The Last Ice Merchant alone while so many great people helped to make the film possible. So, I invited Baltazar, his daughter Carmen and producer Rodrigo Donoso to join me in New York for the Tribeca Film Festival in 2012. It is all too simple to watch a movie and forget that the people in it are real, but Baltazar, standing in front of the film festival audience, could bring Ecuador to the theater. And for Baltazar, who had never been outside of Ecuador before, it would be a chance for a cultural exchange in the opposite direction, as well as a symbol of my appreciation for all that he has done for me, the movie and his community. And so, just four days before our first screening at the festival, Baltazar, Carmen and Rodrigo landed at JFK airport in New York City. The following slide show documents their trip.

 

Baltazar and his family board a bus to the Quito airport
Baltazar's family
Saying goodbye at the Quito airport
Baltazar's first plane ride
Baltazar's first plane meal
Arrived at JFK airport
Rodrigo, Carmen and Baltazar arrive at baggage claim
Sandy greets Baltazar and Carmen
Baltazar's apartment in Brooklyn
Baltazar's block
Baltazar's first subway ride
Baltazar's first pizza
A bagpiper at Union Square
Advertisements for the Tribeca Film Festival plastered the city
Baltazar enjoyed a Japanese ice cream sandwich
Baltazar accidentally locked himself in the bathroom
New York laundry machines
Carmen discovers that New Yorkers sometimes throw away perfectly good things
These free boots will keep her feet warm on Chimborazo
Rhinos at the Natural History Museum
Giraffes at the Natural History Museum
Baltazar saw a lot of things that he had never seen before at the Natural History Museum
Carmen knitting in the Inca textiles section of the Natural History Museum
The dinosaur hall at the Natural History Museum
Baltazar at the Natural History Museum
Carmen sees her first tiger at the Natural History Museum
At the Natural History Museum
Cherry blossoms in Central Park
Cherry blossoms in Central Park
Baltazar draws with chalk in Central Park
Sandy's mother with Carmen in Central Park
Baltazar with the Mad Hatter in Central Park
At the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park
Near Central Park
Street performers near Central Park
Baltazar on 5th Ave.
Looking up at the tops of the buildings
A man from Colombia introduces himself
A Colombian man lets Carmen try on Jewelry at Bulgari
Carmen is wearing $1.2 million of jewelry at Bulgari
A Colombian man lets Carmen try on Jewelry at Bulgari
Baltazar makes friends wherever he goes!
At a Tribeca Film Festival Party
Rodrigo shaves Baltazar on the day of the premiere
Baltazar visits the World Trade Center
The new World Trade Center
The statue of liberty
Baltazar had never been to the water before
At the Museum of the American Indian
A street performer in the financial district
Baltazar tries on some new shoes
Baltazar likes his new shoes
At a Peruvian restaurant in Corona, Queens
Baltazar receives a song from a Colombian woman
At the premiere in New York City!
Baltazar and Carmen wait for the premiere
At the Q&A after the premiere
After the premiere
Andes Manta plays at the premiere party
New friends at the premiere party
New friends at the premiere party
As usual, Baltazar makes friends wherever he goes
Baltazar and Carmen at JFK, ready to return to Ecuador