FANDANGO AT THE WALL

Virtual Showing 
2020 | USA, Mexico | 93 min | Documentary
Director: Varda Bar-Kar
Producers: Kabir Sehgal, Doug Davis
Editor: Luisa María Martínez Arcaraz

FANDANGO AT THE WALL follows Multi Grammy Award winners Arturo O’Farrill and Kabir Sehgal, as they prepare to record a live album at the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The project is inspired by the annual Fandango Fronterizo Festival, which unites people on both sides of the Tijuana-San Diego border. This festival features son jarocho, a 300-year-old folk music tradition. Before recording, festival organizer, Jorge Francisco Castillo, takes O’Farrill and Sehgal on a tour of Veracruz, Mexico, where this musical mixture of indigenous, Spanish, and African traditions originated. As they travel, they meet legendary son jarocho musicians such as Patricio Hidalgo, Fernando Guadarrama, Ramón Gutiérrez, Wendy Cao Romero, Tacho Utrera, Andrés Vega, Martha Vega, Yaratczé Hidalgo Sandoval — and recruit many of these artists for the upcoming festival. Their travels cumulate with the annual celebration, promoting peace and celebrating unity. From executive producers, Quincy Jones, Andrew Young, Carlos Santana, the film introduces the beautiful music of the region through intimate interviews and captivating concert footage.