Our Mexican Film Production Company Explores Oaxaca

Our Mexican film production company filmed several projects for our client World Nomads’ “Mexico Discovery” series. Let’s take a closer look at a video that we especially enjoyed creating: “Community Through Mezcal,” filmed on location in Oaxaca.

Oaxaca: Hip and the Heart of the Dream

We open in the city of Oaxaca, a town at a cultural crossroads, where young Mexicans seek to reignite their region’s ancient cultural past and bring it into the 21st century. At the heart of this dream is mezcal, the national spirit of Mexico, made in the rugged canyons and mountains of Oaxaca for centuries. Our host, Patrick Abboud, begins his quest to learn more about this most Mexican of drinks by hitting up a fashionable downtown Oaxaca bar.

We meet young people inspired by the traditional culture of mezcal, sporting chic agave tattoos, and on-point facial hair stylings. Bars like this one are where the ancient traditions of mezcal are blending with the hip vibes of modern Mexico. The hipster barman sends us on the next stage in our journey to discover the roots of mezcal in Oaxaca: “You need to get out of Oaxaca city to experience the real deal, and you need to go and find the mezcal maestros.” What are we waiting for?

Off The Beaten Track on the Mezcal Trail

We set off south, along the jagged, dusty canyon of the Quiechapa River. After driving for four hours along dirt roads, surrounded by giant cacti and sweeping vistas, we arrive in the tiny village of Yegole. Here we meet Aquilino Garcia Lopez, one of the founders of Mezcal Vago, a distillery that aims to empower the master craftsmen of mezcal by celebrating their unique art form.

Aquilino looks straight out of a Mexican western movie: short and wiry, with slicked-back greying hair and a jet-black mustache, his family has been making mezcal in these mountains for five generations. He demonstrates the three delicate steps of making traditional mezcal: from cooking the agave in large outdoor ovens, gently adding the water, and then moving the resultant mixture for distillation. This man makes some of the best mezcal you will ever taste, but he’s humble when asked about his knowledge: “I don’t know if I’m a master yet, or if I’m going to learn more if God grants me life.”

Exploring the endless agave fields of Oaxaca, Mexico with fifth-generation mezcal distiller Aquilino Garcia Lopez

After spending the day learning about the distillation process, Patrick enjoys an intimate family meal in Aquilino’s home, before rising, bleary-eyed, at 4:30 am to join the family on a pilgrimage for the birthday of the Virgin of Juquila. It’s still dark on the hillside when the villagers gather to let off fireworks into the starry sky. They sing traditional songs to the accompaniment of the accordion. When daylight hits, long tables are laid out in the middle of the dusty road, and everyone gathers on the mountains’ edge for a communal meal. Patrick is coaxed into taking a 7 am shot of mezcal. “Very fucking nice,” as his new local friend exclaims with a throaty chuckle.

Creating Cross-Cultural Bonds

At the heart of this project is the surprising bond formed between Patrick and Aquilino. Patrick’s cultural background is a mix of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Australian. Earlier in the video, Patrick connected his Bedouin cultural roots to the footloose joy he finds in traveling. That evening, at dinner in Aquilino’s home, he hits upon an intangible moment of connection.

He sees echoes of his Middle Eastern family traditions at the table as they sit down to a lovingly prepared meal of traditional Oaxacan tacos, washed down with generous lashings of mezcal. Even the rituals of distilling have their reflections: he presents Aquilino with a bottle of Arak from Lebanon, a traditional Anise spirit of the Levant that his grandfather once made. Aquilino needs no second invitation to partake, clearly touched by the gesture of kinship.

As the food keeps coming from the kitchen, and the drinks flow, Patrick starts to see his grandfather in Aquilino. This 60-year-old Mexican mezcalero shares the same generosity of spirit, humility, and resilience that Patrick loved in his grandfather, who first taught him Arabic and connected him to his roots and traditions. In a beautiful moment of vulnerability, Patrick explains this feeling to Aquilino.

The present and the future of Mexican mezcal production?

Practical Mexican Wisdom

You might think that this tough old farmer, a fifth-generation mezcalero, and as “manly” a person as you’re ever likely to meet, would be uncomfortable with this naked show of emotion. Far from it: just as he distills that bold, clean mezcal the same way his great-great-grandfather did before him, he distills the beauty of living in the moment in two simple lines: “You have to feel pain when it hurts. And you have to feel joy when you enjoy.”

At that moment, Patrick comes to a realization. Speaking directly to the camera, tears in his eyes, he’s thankful for his family and the bonds they share. The simple act of sitting down for a meal with a family, thousands of miles from his home, has had a stronger impact than he could have imagined. He comes away from it all with a newfound determination to live in the moment, whether he’s traveling or at home: “I want to be more present in simple moments when I’m not traveling.”

Aquilino and Patrick sharing their thoughts on life, tradition, and family, overlooked by the rugged mountains of Yegole

Creating Community Through Mezcal

That’s why this video is entitled “Community Through Mezcal” – when you watch it, you’ll see that mezcal serves as a means of forging connections between people from different backgrounds, and strengthening bonds within a community and a family. It brings people closer together, whatever their history or background, like traveling does. As Aquilino says to Patrick during the mezcal-soaked dinner in his home, “never in my life did I think I would form a bond with an Australian. But here we are.”

Talk to Us

Learn more about our Mexican film production company or contact us, and we can talk about how to create an integrated campaign in Mexico.

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