California Documentary Project
Thinking Grande: Creating California's Mexican Wonderland
Media Arts Center San Diego
San Diego
Project Director: Kevin Bender
One man spends decades building a Mexican village in Santa Barbara County
It’s a re-created Mexican village in one of the most rural areas of Santa Barbara County. It has a full-size Mexican rodeo arena with seating for three thousand spectators, horse stables large enough for 70 Andalusian horses, and a bandstand topped with ornate handcrafted metal work.
The Los Angeles Times calls it a “folk art masterpiece.” To the man who built it, Jose Luis Bonilla, a successful Mexican grocer, it’s a dream of a lifetime, that is, until recently, when, amid permit disputes with Santa Barbara County planners, he abandoned the project and returned to Mexico.
This 60-minute video documentary, called Thinking Grande: Creating California's Mexican Wonderland tells Bonilla’s story and the story of his children who still live on the ranch.
“In telling the story of two generations of the Bonilla family, we will show how the family patriarch eventually encountered cultural divides and retreated home to Mexico, felling bitter toward American bureaucracy.” said filmmaker Kevin Bender. “His children, on the other hand, carry on many of their father’s Mexican traditions.
“In a way, Bonilla has created the piece of Mexico, the cultural bridge he always wanted to build. But instead of the grand showcase he envisioned, it is his children and grandchildren who are keeping the culture alive in their own families.”