The Cosmonaut is a crowdfunded feature film project that is making waves among audiences and the filmmaking community alike. The part sci-fi, part love story from Spain’s Riot Cinema tells the story of a Russian cosmonaut who transmits mysterious messages back to Earth after he disappears during a space mission. Already, the film is reaching more viewers than one-fifth of all films produced in Spain last year. Here’s the surprise: it hasn’t even been released yet. When completed, it will be released for free, online, in HD, under a Creative Commons license that allows anybody to distribute it, copy it, and remix it.
The producers’ experiments with new modes of funding, producing, and distributing the film are pretty ingenious. In addition to an unconventional storyline, the filmmakers are experimenting with a transparent creation process and a world of experiences that encourage and reward audience participation at every step of the way. From becoming a producer of the film and getting a spot in the credits, to limited edition merchandise like DVD editions, t-shirts, or a copy of the rare book that helped inspire the story, there is no shortage of cool ways to get involved or goodies to take home. Not to mention, there are numerous opportunities to have your own material make it into the premiere release version of the film.
“All of us were each fans of Creative Commons,” says director Nicolás Alcalá. “I was discovering crowd funding a year ago and started to look at projects like A Swarm of Angels and others… It was like saying, in a way, how could we ask our friends for money to make our movie? It turned out to be a good way to ask our friends, and their friends, and their friends, and use the internet to be able to rise a community around it. It ended up being bigger than we thought and the story needed to be bigger. That’s when we started putting pieces together and taking the best parts of each project, of crowdfunding, of Creative Commons. Even in this time, the seven months since we launched the project, we’ve changed a lot of things because we’ve been learning a lot and discovering how to do it better.”
The producers are also planning to tie the film in with a range of web-connected services. Bruno Teixidor, creative director, adds, “We are developing an alternate reality game (ARG) and some transmedia projects, and that should be great for community because it’s giving it life, actually.” These upcoming projects include collaborations with The Auteurs, Safe Creative, and Purefold.
The Cosmonaut shows some of the ways that artists are adapting and thriving by embracing creative business models. This approach takes advantage of the strengths of the internet: increased participation and unprecedented opportunities for low-cost distribution. It also helps make the filmmaking process more inclusive—and for the final product to be released free to the public. Moreover, in addition to support from esteemed contributors including artist Joan Fontcuberta, free software pioneer Richard Stallman, Creative Commons advocate Cory Doctorow, and retired space explorers, the team has also been fortunate to have advice from other filmmakers in an industry that takes notice of success amidst a time of uncertain transition. Breaking the mold isn’t easy, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Three members of the Cosmonaut crew: Nicolás Alcalá, Bruno Teixidor, Carola Rodríguez
“It’s very important for us to open the doors to anybody, from whatever country, if they like what we’re doing, to feel welcome and become a part of it.” says producer Gabriela Lendo. Check out Cosmonaut headquarters, consider getting involved, and stay tuned to hear more from us about The Cosmonaut and the folks behind it.
