Eva, New Robotic Film from Spain

This movie looks pretty awesome. Eva is set in the not-so-distant future (2041), in which humans live with mechanical creatures. Alex, a renowned cybernetic engineer, returns to Santa Irene -after being away for years- to build a child robot.

The most recent synopsis says Alex’s brother David and Lana have a ten-year-old daughter, Eva, a very charismatic little girl. She and Alex have a special connection from the first time they meet. From the trailer, we see that she is curious about robotics, or at least what Alex is up to in his workshop.

The following may be a spoiler, considering it’s from an older website, not included in the new one, and is quite different. A previous synopsis says that Eve became an amnesiac after being the only witness of a tragic accident where her mother dies. Eve enters the world of robotics with Alex to try and find her identity. If this version is correct, it is not hard to guess at least one of the plotlines. Either way I look forward to this film.

[END SPOILER]

Eva will premiere in December 2010. See the trailer here (with high tech awesomeness!). Production pictures from an older site here.

Karibukai Animation Festival

This weekend I made it to the Karibukai Animation Festival. I say “made it” because it was raining constantly this past week and I waited until the very last day of the festival for drier weather.

I got the chance to meet Carlos Goméz Nicolás (Nikodemo), creator of the funny animated series from Spain Cálico Electrónico. Niko was freshly arrived from a (wet) tour of El Yunque rainforest. Poor guy came to normally sunny Puerto Rico and barely saw the sun.  He was nice enough to autograph stickers of his Cálico series for free. Cálico Electrónico is about a short chubby janitor/superhero that fights (or tries to fight) bad guys in Electronic City. Some videos the Cálico website are dubbed into English so if you can’t understand Spanish you’re in luck.

I saw Dig Comics, a pro comic book reading documentary with writer/director/host Miguel Cima (of Argentinean heritage).  From what I saw, Cima is very much a comic book fanboy and this documentary is a labor of love.  Made me smile.  There was a second documentary about comic books called Comic Book Literacy. It was a longish but very educational. I learned something of the history of comics in the United States.

Of the Japanese anime I saw, I found Gundam Unicorn to be the most interesting and will be looking for the DVD. I hadn’t seen any robot anime since Voltron.  I thought it had ruined me for anything else.

The shorts contest was disappointing not because of the quality but because of the quantity. There were only three contenders, and three prizes, so it wasn’t exactly a fierce competition. Hopefully next year we’ll get more entries. Here were the winners:

1st place ($250) and Viewer’s Choice award ($150). Fried, Elena Montijo Capetillo. This was a cute dark humor story about a little girl who loves her chickens but each bird is a bit crazy (and the girl too). I voted for this entry because it was the one I liked best. Having it created by a woman was a nice bonus. Check out her promo video at the link. It shows a bit of the winning short starting at 0:37.

2nd place ($200). Boricuas Beyond: Happy Hour, José Luis Collazo. This animated short from the Puerto Ricans in the future series Boricuas Beyond was the one I least enjoyed. Although the animation is excellent, I didn’t like the crude humor.  It uses local pop culture and slang heavily so it would be hard to get if you’re not a Puerto Rican living on the island.

3rd place ($150). Ventana, José Vázquez. I’m not sure Ventana was a story, it was more like a look at past and future Puerto Rican cartoon characters, some corporate logos and others from comics and webseries. Vázquez also presented a short called Mad Taíno about a native couple who fight Spanish conquistadors.

I really hope more animators and  film producers participate in future Karibukai events. It’s great exposure and the money isn’t bad either. Here’s to next year not having such foul weather that keeps people home. I really enjoyed the event and hope the Karibukai Festival will become a yearly tradition.

Nacho Vigalondo Planning New Science Fiction Film in Spain

Nacho Vigalondo, director of Los Cronocrímenes (Timecrimes), blogged today about a new sci-fi film in the works- this time about alien invasion from a regular guy point of view. While he continues to work on two other features, he’ll also be writing this third movie entitled Extraterrestre (Extraterrestrial). Vigalondo writes that this will not be like a War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise, where a regular person manages to somehow closely witness all major invasion events. He writes that most people will experience a global alien invasion without even knowing it has happened, by listening to rumors, or engaging in pointless activities. Hence Extraterrestre.

Here’s hoping we get to see this film made in the next couple of years. Read Vigalondo’s blog in its entirety here (in Spanish).

Smallville Fans Make Tribute to Cherished Character Chloe and Actress Allison Mack (Part Two)

Elizabeth De Razzo

In the previous post I wrote about the Smallville tribute commercial that fans have been working on this year. I had the opportunity to interview Elizabeth De Razzo, who is a co-producer of the Legendary Chloe project along with Maggie Bridger. De Razzo is an actress currently residing in California. She grew up there and in Texas, where her parents were born. Her family has roots in Texas, Mexico (Monterrey and Zacatecas), and Spain. She also lays claim to Native American and French heritage. Quite a nice mix!

Ms. De Razzo has played several small TV roles. I had the opportunity to see her in Cold Case, a role she is very proud of. She plays a young college student who is an unwitting participant in a cruel frat boy prank. This was her first TV role, and you really can’t tell it is! She is also proud of her work in the Real Women Have Curves on-stage musical, where she had the chance to sing to a diverse repertoire including rancheras, tejano, and pop rock. De Razzo is very passionate about her acting and singing career. Of course she is also passionate about her work on the Legendary Chloe project. Here De Razzo speaks of her charity work, which started with a love for the X-Files, and her job on Legendary.

Besides working as an actress, you are part of a charity organization called IBG, Inc. Can you tell us about that?

IBG, Inc. was something that four friends came up with in a diner. Two of us grew up watching the X-Files (me from the age of 12 and my friend Caileigh, 9) and we really admired the character of Scully and the actress Gillian Anderson. Two of us were inspired to become actresses [because of her].  IBG, Inc. started as a thank you to Gillian for inspiring us to follow our dream. She kind of gave us that first push. We did an event and raised over $6,000 for her favorite charity and we thought this could be really great and something we could actually do. We were all philanthropic in our own way, donating whatever we could. We thought “why don’t we use this passion of being philanthropic and also what we do in the business to make events, try to get people to go meet and greet a celebrity or have something signed by a celebrity, and then all that money can go to charity?” We recently had two successful charity events and raised over $25,000 in November, then one with Rob Bowman, an executive producer of Castle, who donated set visits and we raised $15,000. We want to keep doing this and keep helping underfunded charities. Now IBG, Inc. has five members: four co-founders and our CEO who later joined us.

What genre shows do you like?

I love the X-Files. I’ve been a fan since the show started when I was 12 years old and have been a fan ever since. Scully is my all-time favorite character. She was the first strong woman that I saw on television that was in the boys’ club and taking charge. She wasn’t a damsel in distress! I also love Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) from Smallville. Other shows that I enjoyed were Dark Angel, and Battlestar Galactica with Edward James Olmos. I really liked Dollhouse, because I loved Amy Acker’s character [Dr. Claire Saunders] and Echo’s handler. A show can disappoint me, whether it’s the direction that they’re taking it or the writing, but I get attached to characters especially if the actors portray them in such a way that you just can’t not watch the show even if you’re dissatisfied with it. That’s what happened with Smallville. I’m characters first- I got invested in characters like Chloe Sullivan, Lionel Luthor, and Lex Luthor. It’s Clark’s story but they brought in all these interesting characters that made Smallville so much juicier. [SPOILER] Now Lionel and Lex are gone and Chloe has been relegated to the background so what I grew to love about the show is kind of slowly fading in Season 9. This really inspired me to help out in this project any way that I could.

What makes Chloe’s character so special to you?

Well the show started when I was twenty; I was just out of my teens. It’s almost like I grew up and became a young adult watching this show. What spoke to me was that she has elements of characters that I already loved, like Scully. She reminds me of a young Scully with her determination and spunk, not afraid to take on the world and fighting for what she believes in, following her dreams and pushing towards that goal. She really resonated with me and that’s who I got attached to from the beginning. I think it’s hard to get invested in the story because one thing that we’re constantly hit over the head with is that that story, that future, has already been written. Even being invested in a character like Chloe Sullivan that doesn’t exist in that story- what happens to her? That’s who I like. I know where Clark Kent ends up. I know where Lois Lane ends up.  I want to know what happens to [Chloe].  It’s really hard to take an interest in some of the story lines when that future is predestined. It’s almost redundant, and you’re just waiting for the other shoe to fall.

Working on the project

What has been your role in the Legendary Chloe Project?

I am one of the executive producers. I’m out in LA so I was in charge of gathering everyone behind the scenes- getting the director, the grip, the sound person, and set designer; casting actresses,  getting the location, and making sure things were flowing properly. Also I was in charge of reaching out to the CW, Warner Brothers and Smallville production to get permission to do this. I had dealt with Fox before for X-Files related charity events so I knew what I needed. I talked to like 50 different people until I actually spoke to the person I needed. This person was really helpful. They got us permission to use some Chloe Sullivan stills with the highest resolution. They sent us some of the Supergirl T-shirts that have the Supergirl shield the night before we shot the commercial. They knew that this was a fan-driven project, a thank you to Allison Mack for bringing to life the character of Chloe Sullivan, and a thank you to the creators, writing team and the producers for bringing that character to us.

Originally it was intended as a thank you to Allison Mack for nine great years because there’s been rumors that this was going to be her last year. We don’t know if she’s coming back or not. Her character is not promoted as much as others are, so we’re going to promote her! It’s a combination of appreciation, and saying “hey, we want her promoted too.” So, here we are: fans that love her and really want to see her out there.

How long did the commercial take to produce?

A bit stressed during production!

We started in the middle of January. First the idea got thrown out there and we thought “oh, there’s no way we can afford that.” Then when we found out the numbers, we thought it was actually feasible. Then came the process of getting the budget together, permission, getting people- some people donated their time. The actual commercial was shot in one 12-hour day.  It’s a full-blown production. Everything was professionally done. Right now we have our editor working on it and we’re adding more. We’re getting our second rough cut Thursday and we’ll go over it again. Once we get that final phase we should have our final cut and then we get our airtime- hopefully within two weeks. It will be 45 seconds long and we’re working to have it air on KTLA, the Los Angeles CW affiliate. We’re hoping to get it to other affiliates, and we’ll get it out for viral release so that people who aren’t in those areas get to see the final product.

What was this experience like for you?

It was a really great experience, getting everyone on board. Once we got on set, the feeling and the fact that people took this and ran with it- some of whom had never seen the show or really didn’t have an idea of what this was for- was wonderful. Once [its purpose] was explained they took ownership of that. Watching it happen, the vision come to life, was extraordinary and satisfying.

What can fans do now?

We’re still fundraising to try and hit other markets outside of LA. Fans can go to LegendaryChloe.com for more information. Also you can follow us on Twitter @legendarychloe.  We also have a Facebook Fan Page. Come out and support Chloe and Allison Mack!

Rally on Smallville fans! Thanks to Elizabeth De Razzo for the interview and the pictures! Remember to check the Legendary Chloe official sites for updates. Also, follow Ms. De Razzo on Twitter @ederazzo.

UPDATE 4/16/2010: Catch Elizabeth De Razzo in Season 2 of HBO’s Eastbound and Down as a recurring guest star! She’ll be filming soon in Puerto Rico.

UPDATE 5/17/2010: Full commercial here!

Cosmonaut, Spanish Film for All (Trailer)

From Spain, and set in 1975, El Cosmonauta is about a Russian cosmonaut sent to the moon and eventually lost in space. But through radio broadcasts he claims to have come back to Earth and found it devoid of humans. Sounds eerie!

A group of young Spanish filmmakers called the Riot Cinema Collective is financing this movie in part by crowdfunding, a way for anybody to contribute monetarily in small quantities.  For a minimum of two Euros (about $2.75), you can support this film, enter a raffle for a real cosmonaut uniform, and be listed in the credits.  It has a free online distribution model under a Creative Commons license. The film’s official website is chock-full of information in English and Spanish.

Here’s a fun video about how Riot Cinema Collective formulated their idea and a movie teaser trailer.

UPDATE 3/17/2011: There’s a second teaser trailer now on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/20996973. Shooting will start at the end of May for about 6 weeks, and they’re looking to meet their goal of 3000 producers by then. The trailers look great, so I would say this is an easy investment. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook  in English or Spanish: @cosmonaut_movie, @el_cosmonauta; and Facebook (facebook.com/cosmonaut.movie, facebook.com/cosmonauta.pelicula). Sorry I’m not putting in links- WordPress is giving me a hard time. But you know what to do!