Meet Andrés Taboada | Writer/Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrés Taboada and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrés, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Back in 2009, I went on my first road trip to Baja. We drove from LA all the way down La Paz. I fell in love with it, the people, the food, the beautifully empty landscape. It became my go-to travel destination whenever I could afford it. Years later, my family and I spent Thanksgiving in La Misión, a small border town between Rosarito and Ensenada. It was such a picture-perfect little place, with both a beach and a mountain range near the “Ruta de Vino” in Valle de Guadalupe. I thought that if I were to ever make a movie (I hadn’t at that point), it would film it here. It kind of reminded me of the small Mexican town where Robert Rodriguez shot “El Mariachi.” It being so close yet so foreign to the United Sates is what got me thinking about the story.
When I found out I was going to be a dad, I decided to start writing the script. Making a feature film had been a lifelong dream. Without much prior experience, and nine months before my free time was about to be significantly reduced, I thought it was either now or never. I drove back to Baja a few more times while getting the script done. Every time I went back, I would add layers to the story: Spring Break in Rosarito, the American vs the Mexican experience in Baja, my own life as a former undocumented immigrant, and my trip down to La Paz. It all came together. Six months later, we shot the movie. It took two weeks to film it but five years to edit it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What I’m most proud of is having actually finished this movie. When it comes to no-budget feature films, it is very likely to either never finish them or be dissatisfied with the final product. This project was such a hustle. Everything that could have happened during pre-production, filming, and postproduction kind of did. I was a first-time director without a shot list, casting mostly first-time actors. On our second-to-last day, our skeleton crew was held at gunpoint in Baja, but it turned out to be just a prank by one of the locals. That same day, my car, which was not only the main prop of the movie but also our primary mode of transportation, started breaking down in the middle of the desert during an unexpected flash flood. When we finally got to the hotel in San Felipe, my DP and lead actor went to sleep. These were the only remaining members of the cast and crew because our boom operator got food poisoning, and I sent him back to the States. I wasn’t sure if I the rest of us were going to be able to make it back home the next day. After an emotional breakdown and a pep talk over the phone with my partner at the time, I woke up, found a mechanic, and he gave us the ok to drive back to the U.S.
Once back home, the plan was to lock myself in an editing room and have a rough cut done within a month, but my son was born early, only a week after I got back from Mexico, so I didn’t touch the hard drive for six months. After five years of false starts, postproduction staff not working out, or simply not working (it’s to be expected when you rely on favors and offer people little to no money), a global pandemic, and some personal battles, we got it done.
I think I overcame these challenges because I didn’t have any other creative outlet. It’s such a cliché, but as most creative people say, it’s not that we want to create; we just need to. And since at that point I no longer had the time to do standup comedy, this is all I had. If I gave up, all that time, effort, and money I invested into this project would have been for nothing. As many times as I thought about it, I just couldn’t let that happen. The thought of running into the people who had helped me make this movie and having to tell them that they were never going to see it was just out of the question. I guess that’s the secret? Giving yourself no other options but to see it through? I may be onto something there that I’m sure someone else has said in a beautifully crafted sentence before.
Right now, what I want people to know is that “Alta California” is an Official Selection at Dances With Films and will play at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollwyod on Saturday, June 22nd at 7:15pm. For a movie with our budget, this recognition is unexpected to say the least. This movie speaks for me, which is something I had always hoped it would do. It tells people, “Hey! Look at me. Look at what I can do with no money or experience or even a clue, but an abundance of creative problem-solving, immigrant work ethic, and a pathological need for validation!”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Mar Vista and avoid LA traffic as much as possible, so I tend to stay pretty local. This would be my food-centric itinerary for people coming to visit and staying in my neighborhood:

Day 1: If it’s warm, I would go straight to Santa Monica Beach, because it’s closest to my place and my go-to spot if I want to take it easy after a long flight. I would then get some IN-N-OUT just to get it out of the way, and because I’m just another LA person who loves it. When did it become cool to not love it by the way? Is there such a thing or am I making it up? Side note: a taxi or uber from the airport to the Westside is between $30-$60. The city bus is $1.25. Take that. If you must take an Uber, just walk to the rideshare area instead of waiting for the shuttle.

Day 2: Do the whole Hollywood/Sunset Boulevard thing if you have to. Most people do. It would be a good day to catch a music/comedy show.

Day 3: Sunnin Lebanese Café on Westwood and Santa Monica. Check out the Persian stores on Westwood Blvd. as you walk your way up to Westwood Village for the old timey movie theatres of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” before taking the bus to the Getty Museum. On the way back, I would hit Sawtelle Japantown for some ramen, but leave some room for the fried chicken and donut shops above the Daiso.

Day 4: Breakfast Burritos at Saby’s on Venice Blvd. Head to Venice Beach and either walk or bike to the Santa Monica Pier (avoid weekends) and back to Venice Beach to catch the sunset. Dinner at the Primos Hermanos taco stand in Mar Vista. If they’re closed, look for any taco stand with the largest meat “trompo” you can find and, if possible, a long line.

Day 5: Hike to the Griffith Observatory, lunch at Jitlada in Thai Town, and drinks at the Guesthouse in Los Feliz.

Day 6: Choose your own adventure: South Bay for more beach (The Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach if you want your La LA Land moment) or San Gabriel for mountains and dumplings.

Day 7: Visit Olvera Street before heading to Union Station. Take the Pacific Surfliner down to San Diego during golden hour.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Making “Alta California” has been such a huge group effort that it’s really hard to name just one person, but if I have to shout anybody out, it would have to be my producer, composer, VFX artist, colorist, sound designer, and main collaborator, Patricio Amerena. Without him, this movie would have never been finished. He first came in as a composer, and as modest as I may be about our movie, I will put our original score, composed in its entirety by Patricio, against anybody else’s, even studio films. Leland Sklar himself gave props to Patricio’s music after one of our screenings. As I needed more things done in postproduction, Patricio kept taking on more roles, and for 5 years I worked with him almost daily to get this movie done. So big shoutout to Patricio.

Website: https://altamovie.com/screenings

Instagram: https://instagram.com/altamovie

Twitter: @andreswhat

Facebook: https://facebook.com/altacaliforniamovie

Youtube: @andreswhat

Image Credits
Joe Turman and Veronica Luna Charles