Onboard Diary

The Cosmonaut begins pre-production

We have been waiting almost two years to write this post. With goosebumps all over our body, we are ready to tell you the big news. With this post, we officially start working on the pre-production phase of the movie.

That means that in about five months, we'll begin shooting The Cosmonaut in Russia. That means that we have successfully pass our first test.

This is the most important news since we began the project and we have a lot of things to tell you, so let's go one by one.

Since the beginning of the project until today. The Cosmonaut vs a conventional film.

Conventional films start with a script. We started with a web page, an idea and a huge excitement to share it with a lot of people.

Conventional movies start summing viewers the day of their premiere. With The Cosmonaut, the week the website came out we already had 200 producers and 4 investors. Or what is the same, 204 future viewers.

Along the road, we have learned many things. The project increased in size, far exceeding our own expectations. We learned, shared with you each step taken and grew with each one of your ideas.

We appeared in El País, CNN, Wired Magazine, Cahiers du Cinéma and three hundred more magazines, TV shows and blogs (many more to come). Conventional movies rarely get a few press notes in the week of their release.

Along the way, we made The Plan so all of you were able to create a new era in cinema inspired in our model, we made an Aesthetic Dossier and a teaser to tell you how The Cosmonaut was going to be and, most importantly, we finished the script, which received several good reviews and was put at your disposal.

We hosted concerts and parties to which hundreds of you showed up. We travelled to Moscow, Cannes and Los Angeles. We gave more than a hundred talks in Spain, Paris, Brussels, London, Hamburg and New York.

Conventional movies remain in a hermetically sealed silence until the day of their premiere.

We, on the other hand, decided to share everything. Today, we can say it's the best decision we've ever made.

In return, you have become producers (2367 at the time of writing this post), investors (70 to this date), fans (too many to count in Facebook and Twitter), you've helped us, you've asked us for help, you've advised us. You've taken pictures of yourselves wearing our t-shirts all around the globe. You've talked about the movie and shared your enthusiasm, making the community bigger. You've made us bigger. This little revolution has started thanks to our common effort, and we have triumphed.

The Cosmonaut is finally going to be a reality.

But... (there's always a but, right?)

Nothing is ever as good as it sounds.

If you are going to shoot... then where's the problem?

The problem is that we haven't successfully reached our goal.

We had an ideal budget of 860.000€, of which 444.000€ corresponded to the crew's salaries. A wonderful team that decided to defer their salaries so we wouldn't need all the money to shoot the film.

The subvention of the transmedia project gave us 99.500€ so we kept deducting.

Thanks to our investors and the crowdfunding, we have amounted 85.406€. After the expenses that the project has generated over the past two years, there are 40.202€ left on the bank.

So? So, there are 276.298€ that we still need.

It's a very important nuance: still.

The process of production of a movie is based on the cashflow. When have you money to spend on what.

We now have some cashflow and we can still keep on moving forward and tackle the phase of shooting, but we keep working hard on the four ways of funding the movie.

Crowdfunding has proven to be a success. We've collected far more than the 5% that was our goal, and every day new producers join the initiative.

You still haven't told your friends? What are you waiting for? We need the community to grow more than ever and extend our income to finish the movie.

We have an important number of private investors (thanks to all of them!), even though most of them invested a moderate amount of money. We haven't got any business angel or capital funds to take interest in us yet. We could blame it all on the recession, but we tend to think that we haven't knocked on the right doors. After all, we are filmmakers, not businessmen. We are still working on making our financial plan better and trying to find our particular angel.

Do you know anyone you could introduce to us? You can even tell him or her about the project yourself and get a share of what he or she gives us.

We've tried to close some business deals with several commercial brands, but we haven't given them the time they deserve. If only we could have 36-hours days, we're sure we could fulfill a great deal of the movie's funding through that way.

Last but not least, we have some ongoing negotiations with several TV channels that could invest a substantial share of our ideal budget. Will they join the future with us? Who knows. We are still meeting and negotiating with them, with the hope that they'll think we're a winning horse worth betting on.

As you can see, shooting the movie is a crucial step in our project. At last, there will be images that you can see and touch. But it's only one step of the long way in which we enthusiastically keep on working.

"Eh, uh, wait. I don't understand. How are you going to shoot the film if you still haven't got all the money?"

It's easy to explain, not so easy to do.

• We have reduced the crew (less plane tickets, less hotels, less catering...)


• We have adjusted the budget for actors, production design and wardrobe (even more)


• We have readjusted some expenses that would bring commodities but weren't necessities (we have decided to call this strategy "post-indie" :P)


• We have less money for incidental expenses.

We haven't counted the money needed for distribution and part of the postproduction (as some friends say, "we'll cross that bridge when we get there")

So, basically, we've checked our numbers, and we have reached the conclusion that, though with a very narrow margin, we have enough money to finish the shooting.

Was the movie obverbudgeted? No, not at all. It was what it had to be. The difference is that we are going to do it with less. It will be harder but we've secured the minimum amount for the end result not being compromised.

What after that? After that, well... a great deal of things can happen from here to the beginning of the shooting, and in the subsequent months. We expect to give closure to the many things we've got up in the air right now.

You can help us with it.

Risky?

Yes, but also necessary. We have an intense urge to shoot. We don't want to spend another two years to complete the funding. It's much more important to shoot the movie no matter what. In the end, there's two kind of people: the ones that do things and the ones that give talks to explain why they explain things rather than doing them.

We are the first kind.

And maybe seeing that we were capable of doing it and that it's an excellent movie will help us find the rest of the money.

"Well, I think you guys have totally failed"

It could very well be. But, in the end, time will tell. At this moment, the only thing that worries us is doing the movie as best as we can. Exactly the one we have in mind and that we want to share with you. And there's still everything to prove in the distribution phase.

"Where do we go from here, now?"

We have to look for a casting, the locations, and the myriad of other little, necessary things for a film. And, of course, we need more money.

We're gonna need help with all that. We, both you and us, have taken the first step: to develop a project like this.

Now comes the hard part: making it. And we're going to need to join all of our forces.

Don't be fooled, this is a call to arms. The project is going to be made no matter what. Now is when you have to truly bet on the movie and make it better.

If you were thinking about investing, do it now. If you were thinking of offering your technical material or expertise, now is the time. If you have a business and you would like to produce a derivative work, sell our merchandising, organize a party... The opportunity is now.

In the next few days we will make a post explaining how you can help, just by simply recommending us (english speaking) actors and actresses, technicians or just by helping out with the day to day production chores. We'll open a project on Wreckamovie and give you more details about it.

We also may need a little help with the financial part. Once again: if you have a rich uncle or a friend that's into business, if you know any brand or have a contact within the production sector... You can convince them of how important it is that this movie gets done and also take on a percentage of the money they bring in.

We're also going to need sets, wardrobe... a bunch of stuff that for sure you can help us with.

In the upcoming days we will tell you about it with more detail. In the meanwhile, raise your glasses and make a toast on behalf of us (and you).

The Cosmonaut is finally becoming a reality. We made it.

United States, here we go!

As another one of our strategies to grow and make the movie reach every part of the globe, we are finally ready to announce all the plans that we have been working on for weeks in relation to United States, an important market that we already had in mind as one of our main objectives.

First things first: we would like to present you to Jennifer Warren.

Jennifer is a consultant for independent cinema and she´s going to be our agent for the next three weeks.

Like she explains in her website, her work consists in "Connecting the dots for filmmakers".

She will help us prepare our business plan and adapt it to the American market, to pitch our film to every possible investor and distributor and make all the noise that we can.

Give her a warm welcome to the team!

However, we thought it was important to meet potential investors face to face, so we've decided to organize a brief trip to Los Angeles. We will try to take advantage of it in as many ways as possible.

These are our plans:

• When we attended the conferences organized by the PIA in the San Sebastián Festival, we met Carlos Antón, from the EGEDA, who surprised us with a brilliant and progressive speech, very well connected with the present and future of films. And the best of all, it resonated with us.
  
  He talked about a program organized by the Latin American Training Center in collaboration with EGEDA called "Inmersión en el mercado americano de cine". It consists of an intensive week of meetings, meals, dinners and events to meet important people from Los Angeles industry, with all the expenses paid and everything perfectly organized. This is a spectacular opportunity that it´s served in silver platter and we have been lucky to have The Cosmonaut admitted into this program.These are some of their activities: Meals with investors, talks with the syndicates of the american film industry, experts in talent agencies who will explain how they work, meetings with the MPAA (ouch! :P), a visit to Universal Studios, talks about the world of television series or how they function on Warner Bros, pitch with studios and guided tours to the walk of fame and similar famous places.
  
  
• At the end of the week, we´ll attend the American Film Market, a market that has some resemblance to the one at Cannes, even though we are aware of how big it is for us and that it is not the right place for our movie, it will help us make more contacts, meet possible collaborators and make small publicity for our movie. Jennifer´s help, who attended the AFM for several years, will be crucial.
  
  
• We will have a meeting with Shannon Blake, CEO of New Deal Studios, one of the most impressive post-production studio in Hollywood, that has made movies such as Shutter Island, Alice in Wonderland or Inception, who is in love with our project and has invited us to meet her and the facilities at New Deal.
  
  
• We will also meet a producer in Los Angeles with whom we are in the process of preparing a project (that may possibly turn out to be our second film) and we can't tell you anything about it (but when we do, you will fall off your seats :P).
  
  
• At last, we will meet with Ricardo Uhagón, one of the founders of one of our favorite production companies, Watergun, who's currently studying in L.A.
  
  
• Radio interviews, some guerrilla action, putting up posters and stickers... And the release of our Kickstarter project, an excellent platform for crowdfunding projects, which we'll try to make people aware of it and let our name shine on the mecca of cinema.

All in all, we are going to have 10 worthwhile days in which we hope to generate all the possible attention and, with luck, come back with a new agreement or a new collaborator.

We are going to do a chronicle of all these adventures on this blog, in the style of a video diary (as we did on our first trip to Moscow).We'll keep you posted through Twitter and on the videoblog diaries. .

Good news with a bitter aftertaste...

This is one those long post that is worth reading to the very end.

Why? Because we have received a grant of 99.595€, that has filled us with happiness, but it hasn't made us burst with pride. And we would like to tell you the reason why.



1. The correct way of telling how we feel about this particular grant is to explain, in general terms, our position regarding film grants. The long version has been published in this article, written for Subbabel. The short summary:

• Subsidy for conventional products should cease to exist. The market is based on supply and demand. If there is not a demand for certain type of movies, then we should not supply the market with those kind of movies. At least, not using money from public funds.
• These grants should only be given to those products that are difficult to commercialize, those that can not be generated on a industrial level or be profitable on easy terms. Experimental cinema, up and coming directors and niche cinema.
• In any case, these grants should be considered a loan instead of a gift. This would lead to a much better comercialized marketplace for the distribution of films that needs to obtain the necessary money to pay off the movie.

And that's the position we are in now. We are trying to make a commercially viable product, that could fund itself because of the potential support of the audience (we always wind up telling the same anecdote, but 50% of the movies produced in Spain that premiered on local Spanish theaters do not reach a thousand spectators... while we, on the other hand, have support from more than 2200 producers who will watch and re-watch the film).



We are trying to create a economically viable model in which, if a product does have a demand, it could be supplied.

This, evidently, implies trying to finance the movie through the uses of: crowdfunding (microinvestors), investors, TV presale, cinema and DVD and also with brands. But never by means of grants.



2. Why have we applied for it?

Because it was not a grant for a film, movie project, or an amortization. This was a subsidy for those projects that had technology as their main platform.

This year is the first time it has been offered by ICAA, who prohibited those projects that ended up in the big screen or on T.V. Nevertheless, usual movie grant restrictions concerning copyright issues and distribution had been eliminated so The Cosmonaut was eligible.

That is why we are presenting one of the biggest parts of The Cosmonaut: The transmedia project united to the film.

Photographs made by the characters of the movie...a series for the cell phone...an ARG...micropieces for the Internet...alternative audio...books that enrich the story of the film...and definitely, a universe of The Cosmonaut, as rich and deep as the spectator chooses it to be.

And that is what we called: Fly me to the Moon (The Cosmonaut files)

There are few transmedia projects in Spain, even though they are playing an ever growing role throughout the world. This is the first time the government has given a grant for this type of project.



3. So now, where does this leaves us?

Here comes the bitter taste. That bitter aftertaste is to accept the grant. It is bitter because, even though we are still fighting for the rest of the funding, we would've rather preferred getting it without the means of the grant.

It is true that we had argued untill we were exhausted. Some members of the team leaped out of their seats when they heard the news. Some of them, were stuck at a crossroad. Others have even put on the table the idea of rejecting the grant.

Finally, for a lot of reasons, being one of the main one, you guys: our audience and, second, a team composed of thirty people working in this project for more than two years, we have decided to accept the grant and keep moving forward.

Be aware that this will be a important push to get the rest of the funds. Beware of what it means, for good or bad. Bear in mind what we are rejecting, and, if we turn out to be victorious, something we are completely sure, victory won't be as sweet as it could have been, but it will be a victory, and that is what really matters. 



So, having said of all the above, the only thing left to do is to thank all of you for being there, with us, with your movie. We would like to remind you that now is the time where we most need your help to finance the rest of the money that is needed for the movie (as it is easier now), which we needed to make this adventure come true.

 

We are having a sale at the store and a new contest.

We have the studio full of Kolibries, Tereshkovas, Vostoks and matrioshkas all itching to go out and breathe the air outside, go to the beach and travel... 

Moscow onboard diaries #3

The conclusions....

We are going back to Moscow! ... one of the 18 selected participants for the Moscow Co-Production Forum

"The Cosmonaut" has been selected to be one of those 18 projects. 

Winners from the Teaser Remix Experience

After a week of thorough discussions, we now have the list of winners of the Teaser Remix Experience. The election has been so difficult that we ended up creating a special category, to award even more remixes. But we'll tell you all about it below.

Before announcing the winners, let's remember what were the prizes. The winner will get a LOMO L-CA+, meanwhile for the second and third places and the 8 áccesits, they will received a LOMO OKTOMAT. All of the winners, except the 8 áccesits, will have a month subscription to The Auteurs and a special Riot Cinema pack.

Without further ado, the names of the winners are:   

First prize goes to Robert Pratten, becuse his perfect remix from beginning to end, on its atmosphere, as well as the image treatment process, as well as the game about the memory,  las lomos and everything else. It is the mind of the Cosmonaut in images. Inspiring.

On second place we have Miriam Mira remix. This teaser is, without a doubt, the best that managed to capture the essence of the movie beyond images, using fragments from the first draft of the script and it's own text and giving it an absolute radical spin to the general aesthetic seen on the totality of all the teasers. It is a jump into the void, an act of love.  

Edgar Lledó takes the third place. His teaser is, maybe, the one close enough to the aesthetics of the movie. Its content, promising and well rounded. The treatment of the image is by far the best we have seen.  

First prize: Robert Pratten

Second Prize: Miriam Mira

Third Prize: Edgar Lledó

We go on now to enumerate the eight áccesits.

Jack Shadow. We have been flabbergasted by the backwards take of the cosmonaut, in which his eyes seem completely white.   

Tom Schestak. We think this is a very bold teaser. It's first 20 seconds is a work of art, playing with the thunderous sound as he removes his helmet . Because of its experimentalism, a worthy teaser remix.

Santiago Fernández. A pretty disturbing teaser. The take of the cosmonaut "flying" backwards seeming like it was been absorbed has our 5 start rating. 

Alfonso Martínez. The use of interpose still film frames is superb. Besides, the sound, the takes and music make a good tight teaser remix. 

Visiophone. Experimentalism and lomos, what more can you ask for? 

Óscar Rabasa. This may pretty well be the most classic of them all. It's a very "American" movie feel to it, but on a closer look with all that written text, it managed to put our hairs on end. It captured pretty well the spirit of the film. 

Ernesto Valiente. A unique atmosphere through the use of still film frames and inverted takes. The music is another point in favor. 

Antonio Jarreta. Because it's different, epic and for being ambitious. 

We finished the list of winners with three additional award badges, creating it's own new category. This new category is for all those remix teasers that seem more like a video clip than a teaser trailer. All three of them, will be given a T-Shirt with the logo of the hummingbird  and a copy of Poetic for cosmonauts, the book that inspired the film script. 

Gil McRipley. What can we say about this teaser? It's was love at first sight. Humming the song under our breath while we worked. We have seen it a million times and showed it to all our friends. 

Isaac Rupérez. Few times have a song moved us so much, and it's exceptional use of the images with the music. 

Alberto Romo. For it's amazing work put into this "video clip", worthy of winning this award, but also, for using a format different from that being posted online, adjusting the images to a superb ratio of 2:35, making it worthy of its award. 

The only thing left is to congratulate all of the winners and thank all of those who participated in the contest. We also take this opportunity to thank those who made possible the original teaser trailer, to Cumie, for letting use her song and her voice; to Jonathan Mellor, who dub the English voice over; to Alexey Shurupov, who dub the disturbing Russian voice and to the rest of the people who participated in the creation of the teaser: Carlos Martínez-Abarca, Rubén Durán, Daniel Torrelló, Ezequiel Romero, Angel Trancón, Juan Cabrera, Miki Ávila, Edward Artemyev, Luz Nicolás, Carola Rodríguez, Javier Serrano, Margarita Mansilla y Silvia Benito).

 We leave you with a few words from the film director of the movie. 

As the film director, seeing each of the 78 teaser presented continuously to the contest  has been a wide opening experience. Not only have they made me realize the sheer magnitude of this project and of the potential of what we are putting forward. But also being deeply moved. It made my hair stand on end thinking of all the people that played, giving a new interpretation to the images and on the multiples ways it transform the teaser. 

And not only that. Also, seeing them as a whole, I have learnt more about cinema than any other class about editing or realization. This is a magnificent exercise to see how a piece of work can change the view of the creator. How you can go from one edge to the other, from the experimental to the classic Hollywood. From the contemplative to the emotive. 

I strongly urge everybody to download them all and give yourself the pleasure to learn. This have has been to me, a wide opening experience.

All that there is left for me to do is to give a big THANK YOU, for making of this movie a bit more real and beautiful than yesterday's dream. 

Nicolás Alcalá

Good news never come alone...

Last week we reached the 2000 producers for the movie and now we add 3000 € and a trip to the next ICT in Brussels. All thanks to a innovation award that we won at the Campus Party Europe and Nokia for the category of Digital Creativity... and, of course, thanks to all you. Stay tuned!

YURI'S NIGHT 2010: the CosmoParty of the year!

Remix my looks

A few days ago we told about how some of the reinterpretations of our Teaser give a very interesting  twist to the visual aesthetics. One more, for your eyes only. This one reminds us of those start of the century photographs, or of long-gone Cinema relics.

Remix Me, Baby!

From the start we've intended The Cosmonaut to be a participatory experience. An experience that might help us prove the power of using free licenses. Having played with different options and after a serious trial period, we are launching in collaboration with The Auteurs the first remix contest that will help us achieve just that: the Teaser Remix Experience.

Paris, Cáceres (by Wim Wenders)

We find ourselves in the midst of a start-but-never-stop hustle and bustle. With hardly no time to recover from the wonderful CosmoParty last Saturday, we are already charging our batteries full-throttle for next Thurday (December, the 3rd): We've been invited as lectures to the... zOMFC... PIXEL: Paris cinema and cross-media forum.

Oui, Paris! And this isn't where the party ends. During these hectic days, appart from mixing with distinguished figures of creation, funding and distribution... we'll also have the opportunity to share some time off with our admired Velasco Broca; who will be walking around town, showing his latest creation (give cinema a chance: Aurora) to certain authorities in this sector. That's right, we'll have a couple of coffees with this Titan.

Last but not least, please nobody get distracted yet... Because, at that same time, another cosmonautic delegation will be present at the Free Software World Conference , organized in Cáceres. Well, actually, it's going to be a bit more than 'being present'. We'll take this opportunity to give a workshop about Creative Commons (we've a bombshell in store for them) and taking part in a round table together with Ícaro Moyano and Lorenzo Silva, among others. Who's got more to offer?

Habemus Victores Lomographicus

 

Just like we started informing you here, and we reminded you about here and we reminded you again here (you can't say we haven't given it hype...), The Cosmonaut team had the good idea of organizing, together with our friends of Lomospain, a lomographic contest. The aim of the contest was to be able to find the lomographies which best captured the universe described in The Cosmonaut script, in which a Soviet cosmonaut finds himself trapped in a desolate Earth.

First of all, here's our utter gratitude to all participants. Thanks to you, the call for entries has been a resounding success: we have received over 400 lomographies which will be under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. With your participation, you have contributed to enrich the universe surrounding the project and to give it an imagery which is now at the disposal of all of us. 

Et voilà... the party of the second part. As we informed you a few days ago, we have at last found enough courage to undertake the always difficult task of deciding the winners. Hey, we didn't even have the time to celebrate the INVI thing (may all of you get a guilty conscience). So, after the meeting between Pasquale Caprile (lomographic ambassador in Spain), Nicolás Alcalá (director of The Cosmonaut) and Carlos Martínez-Abarca (the one and only Mr. Arsenievich himself), this is the way things are...

User: chippo

User: traqueotomia

User: blanch7

User: chippo

User: veduka

IMPORTANT: Now it's your turn. You have to show your leg under the door, that is, you have to contact us ([email protected]). And if you are in the commendations list, indicate which t-shirt and size you want. Also, the first three awards must send their negatives via traditional mail or take them to the Lomography Embassy Store Echegaray, to confirm that we can give those negatives to them at the ceremony award.

We are waiting for your reply... and you are waiting for the announcement of the fantabulous event in which the ceremony award will take place. We'll specify where in a few days. See you then!

INVI!

There isn't a better way of saying good-bye to FICOD than with this piece of news: The Cosmonaut won at the fiction category of the INVI awards! Little by little and thanks to all of you, we're getting closer to achieving something incredible: Not only making this film come true -your film-, but also proving that another way of making films exists. 

You can watch our video here, where we share the list of winners with those who got lucky in the two other categories. We're talking about For less or free (non-fiction) and 7 Hipopótamos (educational); to whom we congratulate and wish the best of luck, taking the opportunity.

Did you miss the broadcast of the awards ceremony? Now, isn't that nice? OK, no problem. A recap will be posted today on the INVI Awards website, in which you'll be able to see The Cosmonaut's team getting up to their old tricks.

Thanks a million to all of you for making this possible!

Elevator pitch

 

This is the 90 seconds pitch which we made for the FICODS entrepreneurs contest, which we'll be attending to take part in the Iberminuto round table (contents made for mobile). We're all jealous of Gabriela's pronunciation! :P

 

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Conclusions on the 1,000 Cosmonauts Party

In one of the meetings with Cosmonaut's team, one of the issues to consider was the fact that in that week, we would probably reach the number of 1,000 producers. After the initial joy about the news, it came an analytic moment. We discussed what we have done right, what we should correct; strategies were set out and we established our targets for the next few months until, making the most of a strangely quiet moment, Nico raised quite an appealing question: 'Hey, why don't we throw a party?' To which Wendy, my production workmate, quickly replied 'I'll see to it!', followed by, 'That's the best way we could meet each other' -this was added by Carola-. And that's how, my friends, the party began.

The formula should be simple: A place in the city centre, good drinks, good music and of course, Cosmonauts.

Contacting Muleke was the next logical step. Its two areas and the informal warmth of the walls made it the ideal place to party like crazy.

Dj Nelson's music moved our bodies like floating and the blue star shone all night. What a feeling is to know what a cosmonaut tastes like!

If you were there, I think I may have seen you at the 'videomatón', at the bar, buying one of our new t-shirts or when you went outside for a bit of fresh air... Because at 2 a.m. the party was on fire!

It was undoubtedly a night to remember. Everything else is just History and to document it, some numbers of the night: 

300 attendants (Muleke staff, we're sorry you had to work so much! :P)

90 new producers
47 videos recorded at the 'videomaton'
79 sold cosmonaut drinks

Nearly 1,000 € collected from drinks, new producers and merchandising.

As you can imagine, with such a hectic atmosphere,  I didn't have the time to be at the 'videomaton' and to say why I'm a cosmonaut, so I will take advantage of my 15 minutes of blogger fame to say it:

I am a cosmonaut because I believe we all have the right to make films.
Because we are an alternative to traditional ways.

Because, more than a simple cinematographic project, this is a movement which supports and encourages freedom of contents. A movement which crosses borders and ideological boundaries.
Because 1,185 people (and going up) make a community with the same objective: CREATING.

And finally, because we are a team who is capable of doing what we are determined to do and to do it well... O.K. Really well!

In other words, if you were there you know exactly what I'm talking about.

If you missed it, I can assure you that you shouldn't miss the next one.

I'll see you there my friends, поздравления!!!

Calina Jove

Photos in Flickr!

Power to the Pixel: Conclusions

Although we didn't look for it, we had already caught the attention of a small group spread in parts of the world like Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and the United States. But until now, there hadn't been a proactive will to show the project abroad, and least of all showing it to those who have acted as our gurus for issues such as online  marketing, free licenses, crowdfunding, cross-media projects, etc.

Nico and I got ready. We had a lot of 'kolibri' badges on us and a few business cards which went boom whenever we handed them out, after a pitch, a glass of wine or an interview. We've already told you about the teaser which we are doing and the photo shoot we did with Indiana. Well, some of these pictures were taken with a Polaroid and what Indiana created was portraits of the cosmonaut in a retro style. Here's an example:

In other words, two days of lectures and workshops (which were multiplied into seven days of meetings afterwards) at the BFI and the RSA, where we met a lot of people (you can watch all lectures on the Babelgum website). But here we're going to quote the people we interviewed (Get ready. We'll have another surprise for you very soon), and whom we could exchange ideas:  

-Franny Armstrong and Lizzie Gillet from The Age of Stupid. An example to follow regarding alternative funding and distribution and a project we had told you about weeks ago.

 -Nina Paley, director of the wonderful Sita Sings the Blues and the official author of this summer's hit 'Copying isn't theft' (now with a French cover too). She too, like us, has dared to license her film under the freest Creative Commons license: Attribution/Sharealike.

 

-Brian Newman, ex-director of the Re:frame programme at Tribeca's Film Institute, who shared with us many ideas on how the concept of 'value' has changed on the Net and how economic benefits can be obtained in spite of showing contents for free. I recommend his presentation, which you can find on Slideshare.

-Scilla Andreen, director of Indieflix. We're not telling you anything more about this, because that would ruin the big news will be dropping at the beginning of November.

 

-Two of the three guys behind buyacredit.com, who in just a few months have succeeded in getting about 100,000 pounds through crowdfunding  to make a film of a 1 million budget. And they're just 18 (they were the only ones who were younger than us).

 

 

 

-Efe Cakarel, director of The Auteurs, one of the best organizad VOD websites and one of the most beautiful initiatives to make auteur cinema and old-times films accessible to anyone. Efe works closely with Criterion and with Martin Scorsese's fascinating The World Cinema Foundation. 

Watch out: Efe has invited us to participate in a very selective -and still secret- project which will gather young, restless and talented film makers all over the world ;-). We'll keep you updated.

-Slava Rubin, one of the creators of IndieGoGo, with whom we had a very interesting debate on distribution markets and the real usefulness of the Internet.

 

Right, a briefing about London and Cosmonaut's deeds on a foreign land. It was worth taking the trip, because we have our spirits high after been presented as: "here are the guys from The Cosmonau and they're really doing it right". So, with a star on our foreheads, we can tell you this: We've learnt a lot. We will redirect some initiatives and after a workshop, locked up in the Riot office for four days, we'll do a huge brainstorming to set the necessary basis to make the life of this project long and productive. 

 

You have put your trust in us and you have embarked on this adventure. If you stay any longer, you will see it's all been worth it. 

Gabriela.

1001 producers

We've been on the Internet for a bit more than 4 months (we opened our site on May the 11th).

So little time has been enough to find a place and, above all, heaps of friends who have believed, just like we have, that the adventure of making films can be approached as such: with passion, efforts and... a 'different touch': believing in the community. Believing in sharing, building and enjoying between us all.

To all of you, thank you for making it happen. For making us reach 1000 without a notice (we had been updating all day, with a few friends who had been pending for a while, in order to get the yearned for first four digits position :P) As if it didn't matter. Thank you, Néstor. And thank you, Trini, for being the following person.
 

Are we going to celebrate? Mark in your diaries the 24th of October and think if you're good with Muleke (in Madrid, on the corner of Noviciado with Acuerdo, <M>: Noviciado/Pza. España).

"На здоровье!"  (Na zdarovia!)

We'll be able to say this together in a few days! Meanwhile...

Tell us why you are a Cosmonaut!



We're still getting videos on our Youtube which move us and make us laugh, and make it impossible to forget what led us to start all this.

 If you haven't send it yet... we want yours!

For those of you who have been with us for a short time or simple, for those who want to check this adventure, we have made available a chronology of the project which you can visit any time from our Home page or by clicking on this link.

This wonderful protozoos' evolution towards Space has been made by Angel Trancon.

Why are you a Cosmonaut? Send us your video before the 26th!

As you can see, we are about to have 1000 producers... in just 4 months. 1000 people have already decided that they want to become part of a project which some call 'risky' (we prefer 'brave') :)

We've always wanted to make a video about you, asking you to answer a question which we sometimes even ask ourselves: 'Why did you decide to support a project like Cosmonaut?'

 

What would we love you to do?


It's really very simple: record a video of a few seconds before the 26th and share it with us. You just need to have a Youtube account (or Google, they're joint now).

1)      1) Take a look at our youtube video where we tell you (in 40 seconds!) what do we want you to tell us in your video.

2)      Below it, you can find the option 'Post a video response'. Click on it.

3)      You have the option of uploading your video... or simpler, you can record it instantly!

4)      All this in less than 2 minutes!

This is the CNN

Ten days ago, our friend from "Fuera de Órbita" (a great Sci-fi podcast in Spanish) broadcast in their number 63 podcast a 40 seconds commercials of Cosmonaut (made in 5 minutes at Campus Party, with CC music of the great Century of Aeroplanes *)

 

Two days ago our phone rang: Víctor Esteban, from CNN+, he had listened one of the commercials, he was fascinated by the idea... and he wanted to know more. 'Where could I interview you?'

They came to our studio today :)

The interviews were for the technology programme "La Red", in Cuatro, and for the programme "Globoeconomía", in CNN (which is broadcast in Spain, South America and the USA). If we're lucky, short videos will be on CNN+ too.

 

Stay tuned!

 

We tell you all about it in our Facebook profile... and we include a few stolen fragments :)