Asunción
Asunción may not have the world-famous locations of other South American cities, but for the creative-minded director, there is a story and certain gritty charm to be found in its grey streets and dilapidated concrete buildings.
Sitting on the banks of the Paraguay River, Asunción locations of note include López Palace, El Cabildo (National Congress Building), National Cathedral, Panteón del los Heroes, Cerro Lambaré, La Costanera riverwalk, La Chacarita neighbourhood, Calle Palma (Principal Street), Mercado Municipal 4, Estadio Defensores del Chaco football stadium, and the Botanical Garden. Museo Ferroviario is an old train station with waiting rooms, offices, and on the platform sits an old dining car.
For travel and cooking shows; chipá, borí borí, sopa paraguaya, kivevé, mbejú, and pira caldo are traditional Paraguayan dishes. Tereré (an infusion of yerba mate) is a traditional drink.
Asunción Film Location Permits
City authorities are very much interested in promoting Asunción to the world. As such they are film-friendly when it comes to timing and costs of visas, clearing gear through customs, location permits and fees, accommodation discounts, police assistance with traffic control and security, and any other services the city can provide to help make a visiting producer’s life easier.
Furthermore, once you are in the city, the local costs for food, accommodation, and other supporting services are very low, making Asunción an interesting option for cost-conscious film and photography shoots.
Asunción sees very few tourists and over the weekend, many businesses close, giving the city a deserted look and feel. Locking off streets and creating large equipment setups and set builds is easy and inexpensive to permit.
Asunción is the capital and main entry point by air.
Asunción Fixer, Service Producer & Film Crew
If you are looking for Asunción based directors, DoP’s, videographers, cameramen, stills photographers, and drone operators for your next production, contact us for recommendations. If you require Asunción production support such as film fixers and line producers, contact us. We are also able to arrange more specialist film crew from abroad, depending on the specific needs of your shoot.
Images courtesy of Simon Franco.
