PROXIMA

Infobox Film
name = PROXIMA


image_size =
caption = DVD cover
director = Carlos Atanes
producer = Marta Timón
writer = Carlos Atanes
narrator =
starring = Oriol Aubets
Anthony Blake
Manuel Solàs
Abel Folk
Joan Frank Charansonnet
Hans Richter
Karen Owens
Manuel Masera
Beatriz Urzáiz
Quim Castellà
Enric Cervera
Arantxa Peña
music = Xavier Tort and Thee Maldoror Kollective
cinematography = Joan Babiloni (A.E.C.)
editing = Carlos Atanes
distributor = FortKnox Audiovisual
released = March 3, 2007 Fantasporto
runtime = 116 min.
country = Spain
language = Spanish
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.welcometoproxima.com
amg_id = 1:466840
imdb_id = 0970187

PROXIMA is a Spanish Science Fiction movie, written and directed by Carlos Atanes, and co-produced by FORTKNOX Audiovisual and Ciberpsique Audiovisual, in collaboration with the University of Huelva and the Old Students Association of the Universidad de Huelva "3 de Marzo".

Synopsis

Tony (Oriol Aubets), who's "PROXIMA"'s main character, runs a small Sci-Fi video store bordering on bankruptcy; his relationship with Natalia (Karen Owens) is getting worse as time goes by, because of a conflict of different interests between them. One day, Tony goes to a Sci-Fi convention where a well-known writer comes to give a chat on his last work. Nevertheless, when he starts his speech, the writer makes a surprising declaration: it's worthless to keep writing SF novels for he has found a new portal; a real and simple way to reach the stars. "Listen to my new CD-book and try it yourself", it proclaims. This announcement is not really well received among his estranged fans; but Tony, touched by curiosity, buys Félix Cadecq's CD (Manuel Solàs) in order to test what he said.

From that moment and on, Tony's life will never be the same as it used to be. He feels bizarre sensations, he gets to know surprising people, who assure him they know the way to escape from the alien fleet coming to Earth. Finally, Tony starts a trip heading to the star Proxima Centauri, but what he finds there, is not exactly what he had expected.

Production

"PROXIMA" is a FortKnox Audiovisual and Ciberpsique Audiovisual co-production, in collaboration with the Universidad de Huelva and the Old Students Association of the Universidad de Huelva "3 de marzo". It's the second feature film by Carlos Atanes, as director and screenplayer of the piece, which is settled, as his opera prima "" was, in the Sci-Fi genre. He insists again on this unusual genre in the Spanish film industry.

The film was shot in digital video (HDV, coloured, 116'), as this director usually does, and counted with Joan Babiloni (A.E.C.) as the director of photography. The filming took around two months, and was located between Catalonia and Andalusia, above all in the provinces of Barcelona, Lleida and Huelva. In the first two mentioned take place Tony's (Oriol Aubets) real life scenes, like his DVD-video store's closure or his encountering with "The Messenger" (played by famous mentalist Anthony Blake) at "El Invernal" (a little hermitage in Llerida). The extraterrestrial sequences were shot in the province of Huelva. The recreation of the Planet that's orbiting Proxima star took place in Corta Atalaya, a mining area located in Riotinto, at the Aracena mountains, one of the biggest and most ancient in the world, whose main shaft, flooded by an acid lake in its deepest part and measuring 1200 meters of diameter, becomes a singular and spectacular location.

Subjects

"PROXIMA"'s plot starts through the vision of a Sci-Fi lover, by whom we're introduced into classic Sci-Fi topics: the possibility of crossing the spacetime line, the contact with an alien civilisation (and the impact that this would mean), the presence of a non encouraging future to escape from, the trip to an unknown world, the relationship between dream and reality, brainwashing, etc. In addition to all this, we can find a new perspective, which stains with a harsh realism Tony's experiences on the satellite orbiting Proxima, as close to a western as a sidereal trip.

The film (very "dick-ian" according to some American reviewers) also includes several references addressed to the experts in this sort of genre. This kind of winks are showed, for instance, in Felix Cadecq, one of the main characters, who introduces Tony to the way of achieving a more advanced civilisation and which results to be a Philip K. Dick's topic, famous Sci-Fi writer among whose works we underline "The Man in the High Castle", "The Golden Man", "The Minority Report" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" ("Blade Runner"'s plot departure). The scene where Félix Cadecq makes his announcement of quitting literature and assures having found a new portal, reminds of the real anecdote carried out by Philip K. Dick at a French Sci-Fi Congress in 1977.

But there are also references to great Sci-Fi directors such as Georges Méliès or Segundo de Chomón, whose films Tony specially admires. We cannot either forget the risen controversy between the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek"'s fans, who discuss about Sci-Fi real bases.

Cast

"PROXIMA"'s cast is enormous, for more than two hundred extras participated in its shooting, as we can see in the Planet scenes and those that take place in the Sci-Fi Convention. We can find, between the most important characters, the following:

* Oriol Aubets - "Tony"
* Anthony Blake - "The Messenger"
* Manuel Solàs - "Felix Cadecq"
* Abel Folk - "Nestor"
* Hans Richter - "Gabriel"
* Joan Frank Charansonnet - "Lucas"
* Karen Owens - "Natalia"
* Manuel Masera - "Goknur"
* Beatriz Urzáiz – "Ío"
* Quim Castellà - "Teo"
* Arantxa Peña – "Susi"
* Enric Cervera – "Ricardo"
* Alfonso Merelo – "Head of the Congress"
* Ernest Mascort – "DVD-Video store client"
* Antonio Aroca – "DVD-Video store client"
* Paloma Merchan - "DVD-Video store client"

Soundtrack

Xavier Tort, Barcelonian composer, and Three Maldoror Kollective, lyrical-industrial rock band from Turin, were in charge of the composition and the interpretation of "PROXIMA"’s music. Manolo Tena, is added to the original soundtrack, with his song "El único habitante de la Luna" ("The only inhabitant of the Moon") for the film's final credits "PROXIMA"'s soundtrack stands out for the unique style that its composers stamped on.

In a certain way, from an aesthetic and sensorial point of view, we can observe that (in its density and instrumental treatment) music runs in parallel with the film. So, in the first part, the sonority of the metallic percussion instruments -such as, vibrating battery or iron bars- and different "patch" instruments (in the orchestrations for strings, bronzes, distorted guitars, synthesizers...) takes presence over others, giving us a "worldly" feeling. As the films advances and the main character gets involved in a sidereal world, music gets more and more weightless, thanks to strings and the lyrical voices of mezzo and soprano singers.

Halfway through 2007, Foreshadow Productions, record company, published "Themes from PROXIMA", a CD including the six pieces (in its full version), composed and interpreted by Three Maldoror Kollective for the film.

Reception

As it had happened with ', and in general, with the entire previous director's filmography, "PROXIMA"’s reception in festivals and the critics has been more enthusiastic abroad than in Spain. "PROXIMAs première was out of contest at the Oporto International Film Festival (Fantasporto 2007), the day before its special screening at the Casa Colón in Huelva. Afterwards, "PROXIMA" has been selected to participate in different Sci-Fi film festivals, like:

* Sci-Fi-London (London, International Festival of Sci-Fi and Fantastic Film)
* Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre, International Fantastic Film Festival
* ICON International Film Festival (nominated for the Icon Award)
* Montevideo Fantástico (Uruguay)
* Hispacón, Spanish Sci-Fi Convention, Spain (nominated for the Ignotus Award to the Best Film 2008, Spanish Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Association)
* Eurocon, European Sci-Fi Convention, Copenhagen, Denmark
* Planet Ant Film & Video Festival, "Detroit's Independent Film Festival"

Since June, 30th 2008, and expecting to be distributed trough different platforms in the U.S., the film DVD, subtitled in French and English, is available through "PROXIMA"'s web page, in a special edition that includes the documentary "Made in PROXIMA", two extras, and trailers of Carlos Atanes' filmography.

Documentaries

"Made in PROXIMA" ("a Sci-Fi filming") is a making off documentary filled with the experiences, comments and opinions of part of the cast (Oriol Aubets, Karen Owens, Manuel Solàs, Joan Frank Charansonnet, Manuel Masera, Arantxa Peña) and crew (director, producers and the musician Xavier Tort) in the independent shooting of the film. It's a 52', digital video documentary, available in Spanish, with English and French subtitles.

Cultural References

* Félix Cadecq's book titles "The second lie" and "The time of Venus" are related to Philip K. Dick's novels: "The Penultimate Truth" and "Martian Time-Slip".
* Cadecq's sequence at the Sci-Fi convention is freely inspired in the scandalous appearance of Philip K. Dick at the Metz Convention, France, in September 24th, 1977.
* WARP factor is the unity for Curvature Speed used in the "Star Trek"'s fictional world, where WARP 1 factor equals light speed and 9,975 WARP factor, means 902.519 times light speed. Supposedly, WARP 10 is unattainable, and that's the main argument between the Sci-Fi lovers at the DVD-Video store sequence.
* "It's a pity he cannot live, but who does?" is a quotation from "Blade Runner".
* Tony's conversation with "The Messenger" about the invisible suit is a clear reference to Hans Christian Andersen's tale "The Emperor's New Clothes".
* Tony's commentary about the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, developed by Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz, refers to the known motor VASIMIR, invented by a homonymous American astronaut and which was capable of surpassing today's spacecrafts speed.
* Tony and Néstor, the psychiatrist, mention quite a few times brainwashing, a mental control technique, frequently used by XXth Century totalitarian regimes and applied on numerous occasions (and, usually, in an illegal way) to the reprogramation for liberated patients of coercive sects.
* On his second outer space trip, Tony sets ashore Io, one of the four biggest satellites of Jupiter. Io, gives name to one Zeus' lover in Greek mythology and to a mysterious alien character from "PROXIMA", too.
* Komarov, the old Russian astronaut, is based on Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov, an Air Soviet Colonel who died inside the capsule Soyuz 1 when it crashed on Earth, due to an error in the parachute opening system.
* Goknur, the Cappadocian, practices the dervishes' turning, characteristic in Mevlevis', or Whirling Turkish Dervishes, who use this physical method in order to get in trance and reach religious ecstasy.
* Tony shows Goknur an autographed picture of Jean-Luc Picard, captain in the series "", interpreted by the British actor Patrick Stewart.
* The musical theme in the final credits had been composed and played by Manolo Tena before the film was even conceived, but it had remained unpublished until then. Tena loaned the song to the producers when he saw that the lyrics perfectly matched with "PROXIMA"'s argument.

References

* Barahona, Carmen. "La UHU estrena mañana ‘Próxima’, su primera producción cinematográfica", El Mundo (edición Andalucía), March 2, 2007.
* Font, Dolors. "Carlos Atanes presentó ‘Próxima’, una película de ciencia-ficción", Diari de Terrassa, July 17, 2007, pg. 33.
* Font, Dolors. "No le haría ascos a rodar una superproducción", Diari de Terrassa, July 18, 2007.
* Rodríguez, Ana. “La Universidad, escenario de ciencia-ficción”, Huelva Información, May 24, 2006, pg. 25.
* Martín, Antonio. “Próxima, ciencia-ficción onubense”. Odiel Información, December 10, 2006, pg. 45.
* Martín, Antonio. "Preestreno de ‘Próxima’ en la Casa Colón", Odiel Información, March 2, 2007.
* Merelo, Alfonso. "‘Próxima’. El segundo largometraje de Carlos Atanes comparte muchos referentes de la ciencia ficción clásica", SciFi.es, núm. April 11, 2007, pg. 34.
* Pons, Albert. "M’uneixen molts vincles emocionals i cinematogràfics amb la ciutat de Terrassa", Diari Més Terrassa, July 13, 2007, pg. 5.
* Serrano Cueto, José Manuel. "’Próxima’ (2007), de Carlos Atanes > ¿Una película? ¿Un sueño?", Freek! Magazine, May 6, 2008.
* Witt, Federico G. "Entrevista a Marta Timón y Manuel Masera, productores de ‘PROXIMA’", Portal de Ciencia Ficción, February 19, de 2007.

External links

* [http://www.welcometoproxima.com PROXIMA]
* [http://www.carlosatanes.com carlos Atanes]
* [http://www.badlit.com/?p=1010 Proxima nominated for Best Film!]
* [http://sffmedia.com/content/view/151/37/ SFF Media Review]
* [http://www.moria.co.nz/sf/proxima.htm The SF, Horror & Fantasy film Review]
* [http://www.shockingimages.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=956 Film Fanaddict Review]
* [http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/04/reviews-from-horror-chamber-cloverfield.html Film Arcade Review]
* [http://www.badlit.com/?p=839 Bad Lit Review]
* [http://www.searchmytrash.com/cgi-bin/creditsb.pl?proxima(2007) (re)Search my Trash Review]