The Cosmonaut
Encyclopedia
The Cosmonaut is an upcoming Spanish science-fiction feature film directed by Nicolas Alcala and produced by Carola Rodriguez and Bruno Teixidor. The first feature-length project of Riot Cinema Collective, it is notable for its use of crowdfunding techniques and Creative Commons
license in its production. Also, it will be the first movie in the world that will put all the filming's raw footage at the audience’s disposal.
(and his main cinematographer, Christopher Doyle
), Andrei Tarkovsky
, José Luis Guerín
, and Robert Bresson
, among others. There are many links especially to Andrei Tarkovsky’s body of work either thematically (the main themes of the films of memory, lost love, and reality), or plot-related (the film’s two main characters, Andrei and Stan Arsenievich, share Andrei Tarkovsky’s name and patronymic, respectively). These ties are more evident through a look in the collaborators’ list: among others, the names of Eduard Artemyev
, and Marina Tarkovskaya (Tarkovky’s sister) are some of the project’s collaborators. But that may be not so simple, and not so Tarkovskyan. In fact, the plot reads like something from the very pages of Stanisław Lem, the author of Solaris
— and the cosmonaut's first name is Stan.
The fictional Program K, which hummingbird
icon is one of the main images used in the project’s promotion, is based on the real Soviet projects that attempted to place a Soviet cosmonaut on the moon (see Soviet Moonshot
).
, the Lost Cosmonauts theories and the Soviet space program
; and b) the poetry
book Poetics for Cosmonauts, written by Henry Pierrot. Throughout the time it was developed, the main plot core underwent a lot of changes, although some key elements remained through all the process, mainly the principal plot element (the comeback of an astronaut to Earth
after a long trip to the Moon
). After the reading of Poetics for Cosmonauts, the script changed to its present form. The preproduction for the short film started in October–November 2008.
and Artemis Eternal
, The Cosmonaut is the first Spanish feature film that makes use of the Crowdfunding financing method. There are two ways to getting involved in The Cosmonaut’s production:
Being a cinematographic project whose spread is based mostly in the use of social networks, and synergy between audience and creators, the network material of the movie is centered mostly in the creation of a fan community. Producers, regardless of their monetary participation in the film, form part of Programme K, a social group in which they can relate between each other, follow the development of the film, and take advantage of special perks and contests. Over a year after the launch of the project's web page, more than 2000 producers and 20 investors have signed up.
. Also, besides the full movie on HD, all raw footage shot during the movie's filming will be uploaded too. As the film is licensed under a Share-alike
Creative Commons license, the users will be able to download, lend, re-cut or use the film footage in any way they wish. This way, the audience will be not only allowed to create new versions of the film and other derivative works, but encouraged. Not only that, the producers will organize a contest to prize the best re-cuts of the film.
), to active collaboration (Eduard Artemyev). A number of supporters have signed support letters for the project:
and Cuatro, and in a divulgative program of La 2. The main coverage of the project, however, came through the Internet. A great quantity of blogs and web based media dedicated articles to the film, between them some of the most influential blogs of Spain. Some examples of this include the digital version of El País, the daily newspaper with the biggest print run in the country, or Microsiervos, one of the most visited blogs in Spanish
. The media reaction wasn't limited to Spain: some English blogs wrote about the project as well.
played in front of an audience that, according to the organization, reached 400 hundred people between the two days, with the emerging filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo
as the master of ceremonies
. The concert, held in Madrid in the Sala Heineken, wasn't able to fill the seating capacity of the concert hall, mainly due to schedule hardships (the concert was held in the middle of a working week, and at the end of the month), and the organization's inexperience. While it was a mild economic failure, the organizers and responsibles of the concert ascribe the subsequent promotional success of the movie and the posterior peak of sales in the online store to the festival, and, therefore, consider it a success.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license in its production. Also, it will be the first movie in the world that will put all the filming's raw footage at the audience’s disposal.
Plot
The film follows the misadventures of the Soviet cosmonaut Stan Arsenievich (Carlos Martínez-Abarca), chosen to be the first Soviet cosmonaut to land on the moon. During the journey, his ship disappears, and his childhood friend Andrei, the director of the mission searches for him for the next seven months. Seven months after the accident, the ship reappears, without a trace of Stan. At the same time, a series of eerie radio transmissions supposedly broadcast by Stan claim that he has actually come back home and that he found the Earth completely empty.Influences
The main influences behind The Cosmonaut conception and filmmaking approach are the works of some of the world most renowned filmmakers. The project’s dossier mentions specifically the names of Wong Kar-waiWong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...
(and his main cinematographer, Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer. He has won the AFI Award for cinematography, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards , and Hong Kong Film Award . Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers.-Biography:Doyle was born in Sydney,...
), Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
, José Luis Guerín
José Luis Guerín
José Luis Guerín is a Spanish filmmaker and educator, known for his meditative and intellectually curious work in both documentary and narrative filmmaking....
, and Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, among others. There are many links especially to Andrei Tarkovsky’s body of work either thematically (the main themes of the films of memory, lost love, and reality), or plot-related (the film’s two main characters, Andrei and Stan Arsenievich, share Andrei Tarkovsky’s name and patronymic, respectively). These ties are more evident through a look in the collaborators’ list: among others, the names of Eduard Artemyev
Eduard Artemyev
Eduard Nikolaevich Artemyev is a Russian composer of electronic music and film scores. Outside of Russia he is mostly known for his film scores from films such as Solaris, Siberiade, Stalker or Burnt by the Sun.-Biography:...
, and Marina Tarkovskaya (Tarkovky’s sister) are some of the project’s collaborators. But that may be not so simple, and not so Tarkovskyan. In fact, the plot reads like something from the very pages of Stanisław Lem, the author of Solaris
Solaris (novel)
Solaris is a 1961 Polish science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem. It is about the ultimate inadequacy of communication between human and non-human species....
— and the cosmonaut's first name is Stan.
The fictional Program K, which hummingbird
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...
icon is one of the main images used in the project’s promotion, is based on the real Soviet projects that attempted to place a Soviet cosmonaut on the moon (see Soviet Moonshot
Soviet Moonshot
The Soviet manned lunar programs were a series of programs pursued by the Soviet Union to land a man on the Moon in competition with the United States Apollo program to achieve the same goal set publicly by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961...
).
Production
The idea behind The Cosmonaut emerges from two main sources: a) the conversations between Nicolás Alcalá, (writer and director of the Project), and Bruno Teixidor (the main creative behind the project’s visual looks) about conspiraciesConspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
, the Lost Cosmonauts theories and the Soviet space program
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...
; and b) the poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
book Poetics for Cosmonauts, written by Henry Pierrot. Throughout the time it was developed, the main plot core underwent a lot of changes, although some key elements remained through all the process, mainly the principal plot element (the comeback of an astronaut to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
after a long trip to the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
). After the reading of Poetics for Cosmonauts, the script changed to its present form. The preproduction for the short film started in October–November 2008.
2009
In January 2009, the project underwent its most radical changes: the film went on from being a short film released and produced in a traditional way, to be a feature-length film funded through Crowdfunding and released for free under a Share- Alike Creative Commons License.Crowdfunding
Inspired by productions such A Swarm of AngelsA Swarm of Angels
A Swarm of Angels is an open source film project and participatory film community, whose aim is to make the world’s first Internet-funded, crewed and distributed feature film. The collaborative project aims to attract 50,000 individual subscribers , each contributing £25 to the production...
and Artemis Eternal
Artemis Eternal
Artemis Eternal is the name of an upcoming short film being produced independently by Jessica Mae Stover. The cross-platform web experience and other design elements for the film are created by artist Greg Martin, who frequently collaborates on Stover's projects. Filming for the movie starts in...
, The Cosmonaut is the first Spanish feature film that makes use of the Crowdfunding financing method. There are two ways to getting involved in The Cosmonaut’s production:
- first, as a regular “producer". From an initial quantity of 2 euros, a contributor may be listed as a “producer” of the film credits, receiving a welcome pack, and a ticket for the drawing of one of the cosmonauts’ suits that will be used in the film. Further investments could be used to buy merchandising items in the film’s online store.
- And secondly, as a movie “investor”. From an initial investment of 1,000 euros, a contributor can own a percentage of the film's profits.
Being a cinematographic project whose spread is based mostly in the use of social networks, and synergy between audience and creators, the network material of the movie is centered mostly in the creation of a fan community. Producers, regardless of their monetary participation in the film, form part of Programme K, a social group in which they can relate between each other, follow the development of the film, and take advantage of special perks and contests. Over a year after the launch of the project's web page, more than 2000 producers and 20 investors have signed up.
Release
The film, when finished, will be released on the Internet available for download and in HDHigh-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
. Also, besides the full movie on HD, all raw footage shot during the movie's filming will be uploaded too. As the film is licensed under a Share-alike
Share-alike
Share-Alike is a descriptive term used in the Creative Commons project for copyright licenses which include certain copyleft provisions. The Share-Alike license comes in two varieties, CC-BY-SA and CC-BY-NC-SA.-Share-alike license types:...
Creative Commons license, the users will be able to download, lend, re-cut or use the film footage in any way they wish. This way, the audience will be not only allowed to create new versions of the film and other derivative works, but encouraged. Not only that, the producers will organize a contest to prize the best re-cuts of the film.
Supporters
The project has attracted a number of supporters from very different backgrounds all over the world. The level of support ranges widely from the mere interest (Richard GarriottRichard Garriott
Richard Allen Garriott is a British-American video game developer and entrepreneur.He is also known as his alter egos Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa...
), to active collaboration (Eduard Artemyev). A number of supporters have signed support letters for the project:
- Boris VolynovBoris VolynovBoris Valentinovich Volynov is a Soviet cosmonaut who flew two space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 5, and Soyuz 21. He was the first Jewish cosmonaut.-Biography:...
- Sergei Volkov
- Richard StallmanRichard StallmanRichard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
- J. L. Ruiz de Gopegui (former director of NASA in Spain)
- Joan FontcubertaJoan FontcubertaJoan Fontcuberta is a conceptual artist whose best-known works, such as Fauna and Sputnik, examine the truthfulness of photography. In addition, he is a writer, editor, teacher, and curator....
- Campus PartyCampus PartyCampus Party is an annual week-long, 24 hour a day technology festival and LAN Party. Thousands of hackers, developers, gamers and geeks equipped with laptops camp out in tents on-site for the conference and hackathon....
- Russian Embassy in SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
- Javier Casado
- LEEM
- Aeronautics and Astronautics Museum of SpainAeronautics and Astronautics Museum of SpainThe Aeronautics and Astronautics Museum of Spain, in Spanish Museo de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica o Museo del Aire, is a aviation museum located in the outskirts of Madrid at Cuatro Vientos Airport, Spain. The museum was founded in 1981 and offers 6 exhibition galleries and it has 130 aircrafts on...
in MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... - Universidad Complutense de Madrid
- Bob McAndrew Studio (Hollywood Coach Agency)
- Spanish Embassy in MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
- MediaLab Prado
- Miraflores de la SierraMiraflores de la SierraMiraflores de la Sierra is a town and municipality in the northern area of the autonomous Community of Madrid, in central Spain, of c. 6,000 inhabitants, located 49 kilometers away from Madrid.-History:...
City Hall - Robin & Watson
- NC&T
- SubBabel
- Tractis
- Filmutea
- LaComida Visuals
- La CompañíaLa CompañíaLa Compañía is a Chilean town in the communes of Graneros and Codegua in Cachapoal Province, O'Higgins Region....
- LomoSpain (Spanish lomographic embassy).
Media Coverage and Reception
Afterover a year of promotion, the project has received certain degree of attention from the national media in Spain. There have been reports about the film in various of the non-"pay per view" television channels of the country: in the news program of LaSexta, CNN+CNN+
CNN+ was a Spanish 24-hour television news channel. Launched in 1999 as a joint venture by Sogecable and by Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner that owns CNN; it went off the air at the end of ....
and Cuatro, and in a divulgative program of La 2. The main coverage of the project, however, came through the Internet. A great quantity of blogs and web based media dedicated articles to the film, between them some of the most influential blogs of Spain. Some examples of this include the digital version of El País, the daily newspaper with the biggest print run in the country, or Microsiervos, one of the most visited blogs in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. The media reaction wasn't limited to Spain: some English blogs wrote about the project as well.
CosmoNauts Concert
Most of the media attention towards the project was generated after a two-day music festival. The festival, named "CosmoNauts", was announced in The Cosmonaut blog in June the 9th, 2009. It was organized as a mass event to promote the film; during two days (June the 29th and June the 30th), nine bands belonging to the indie scene of MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
played in front of an audience that, according to the organization, reached 400 hundred people between the two days, with the emerging filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo
Nacho Vigalondo
Ignacio "Nacho" Vigalondo is a Spanish filmmaker.-Movie career:In addition to receiving an Academy Award nomination and a Best Short Film Award nomination at the European Film Awards, Vigalondo's 2003 short film 7:35 de la Mañana received the Bronze Moon of Valencia at the Cinema Jove – Valencia...
as the master of ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
. The concert, held in Madrid in the Sala Heineken, wasn't able to fill the seating capacity of the concert hall, mainly due to schedule hardships (the concert was held in the middle of a working week, and at the end of the month), and the organization's inexperience. While it was a mild economic failure, the organizers and responsibles of the concert ascribe the subsequent promotional success of the movie and the posterior peak of sales in the online store to the festival, and, therefore, consider it a success.