New York, New York

During the first long walk we had around Manhattan, Nallely mentioned: I feel like in a movie. Indeed, those streets and buildings had once been seen on the screen, however we were now creating our own movie:

Through the window Manhattan skyline at nightfall was seen. Upon landing at Newark International Airport we got informed that the most economical way to get from the airport to the last house on the last street in northern Manhattan was using the normal urban system; the expensive one was by special trains, limousines or taxis. To commute by these trains and buses provides a feeling of distrust among people, mainly for newcomers who have more difficulty to "read" verbal and body messages between people.

The United States, a country everyone in the world has an opinion about, often an extreme one. In half a millennium the indigenous people were reduced in numbers and marginalized in reservations after the arrival of waves of European immigrants, mostly of Anglo origin. The new world became the land of hope and opportunity for the old European world. British colony for centuries gained her independence and thus a new country was established further more with revolutionary ideas: for the first time in modern age a country could choose her leaders by voting and not as before by divine right or lineage. The land of the free and the home of the brave.

14 hours flight from Shanghai paled the "only" four hours from the airport to Gaby's house (a friend of Nallely´s best friend´s sister) her husband Erik and her baby Emilio. The following day we moved to Adriana’s home, another friend of the same sister of the best ... .. etc. her husband Gabriel and her baby on her way. Transcendental meeting for TWELVE (till then it was me the one who would do the editing, even with little knowledge of editing programs and almost no experience, but with the necessary determination to learn what needed to do the basic editing of TWELVE and thus complete the project) Gabriel turned out to be a professional editor with experience in film and video clips, to see his work left no doubt who should do the editing. In addition they would offer some contacts in Mexico City, that once returning to Mexico, would become our reality for the following steps.

When Independence was achieved the conquest of the West was launched, stopped momentarily only by its civil war, while for native people, the same old story. Already at the beginning of last century the United States had become an international power, defeating few years earlier Spain and snatching his last two colonies, Cuba and the Philippines. Upon leaving among the victorious countries from World War one, the country became the nation that would define the global balance when joining in World War two the Allies, to again emerge triumphantly. The second part of the twentieth century saw the growth of the United States as a world superpower, challenged only by Soviet socialism, until the fall of the Berlin Wall, when became the dominant nation on the planet, which is seen by opposite ends by different people and countries worldwide.

Central Park, 5th Avenue, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty and and and ... .... and so many other well-known symbols known to cinema goers like us. Visit these places and take pictures permeated our time in NY. But definitely the encounter with Gabriel and his talent seemed to be a watershed in the development of the project. We only needed to find our child number 12! Finally, the last person in the project. The advice obtained by local people and the vibe on the streets (where people time and again asked me the reason for taking those photos, scared that something bad or immoral or something related to money could the motivation for that), contrasted with the self-security that Americans are promoting around the world: the land of the free.

From WALL-E to King Kong (both versions 1933 and 2005), all kinds of movies have been filmed on the Big Apple: epics, love stories and comedies, all entering the psyche of urban people around the world. And this is just one place of many where films are made in this country, a country which although not producing the most films a year, is the one creating films with the strongest impact in the globalized world´s urban psyche. Hollywood movies, TV series from Miami to San Francisco to Dallas to Seattle. American products, created for all types of screens: movie, TV, computers, are seen and admired around all continents. That confronted with constant military intercontinental intervention (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq (1st), Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq (2nd) and many others smaller countries) has created this admiration and love on the one side and hatred and contempt on the other, from different corners of the world.

In Pennsylvania we knew the person who opened the doors to contacts in New York: the sister of the best ... etc. It was Leslie herself, who requesting in her work, achieved through a colleague, at the twelfth and last participant TWELVE: Deidra. Also through Leslie's life we experience a women's soccer game, a visit to a TV sales channelstation and a rite of a Christian congregation. Living in Philadelphia, Diadra´s life showed us American urban neighborhoods which were in general inhabited by descendants of Africans, today stuck to Latino neighborhoods. These two groups plus the waves of Asian and the first waves of Europeans are the "Melting Pot" where all races live together, all nationalities and the accumulation of many talents from different and various places. As for the Indians, the real Americans: as always.

Before entering by land on the northern border of Mexico, we visited the Los Angeles area, where we lived a few days with Lucha and Victor, who emigrated from Mexico 20 years ago, and his three children born there. More views of the many worlds of this vast nation.
The film was coming to an end, in the last scenes we went by bus through southern California and entered the next film: "Mexico lindo y querido”. “ Pretty and loved Mexico”.


Here ends our world tour. Eleven months "on the road" saw us passing through 12 countries, six of them related to "TWELVE", the other six were countries that we found on the road. Many people to thank, many places to remember, many frozen moments. Lots of life behind nevertheless the best is always yet to come.