Then again, when your documentary is about the swelling expat ranks of San Miguel de Allende, a low-key debut there makes perfect sense. And since Lanson lives in Gloucester, the American-side premiere choice of the MA town also is a no-brainer.
Lanson is a veteran documentary filmmaker, having previously covered such topics as the life and surprising musical legacy of a nuclear physicist (The Opus 139 Project), Vietnamese refugees living in New Jersey (Phans of Jersey City) and uranium mining in Wyoming (Booming). He is also a professor at Endicott College and author, currently sharing via his website the provocatively titled (and constantly updated) how-to tome Shooting Roadkill: How Not to Make a Feature Film.
Life in the slow lane
Lanson's exposure to San Miguel de Allende, a truly idyllic place in the mountains, comes mainly via his artist-wife Erica. The couple, who have an adult daughter, have set up a for-rent artists' residency (“Los Telleres”) on the fringes of the Mexican paradise in Guanajuato and plan to eventually retire there.
"Why do Americans choose to live abroad?” explains Lanson in a Director's Statement shared with local newspaper the Gloucester Times. “How do they impact this particular locale, which was once a sleepy provincial town in the mountains of Mexico? How do the Mexican residents view these 'visitors' from the north? How do the two cultures co-exist, for better and worse?" All of those issues are tackled in the film.”
This southbound migration has long been a topic, rightly, of American media fascination. For example, this Money Magazine mini-profile chronicles how a former top labor attorney in Texas relocated to San Miguel de Allende to launch a leadership institute and, eventually, the non-profit Save a Mexican Mutt.
The 54-minute Gringolandia is also available for purchase, via Lanson's website, for $22.95.
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