La Última Muerte is set in the near future. The story begins when a young man, ‘Christian’ (Kuno Becker), is found injured in the woods by Dr. Jaime Alexanderson (Álvaro Guerrero). Christian has amnesia and apparently has been the subject of experimentation, possibly having to do with cloning. Once at the hospital, Christian fails to register in the global identity database. This raises a huge red flag with the authorities and Christian becomes persecuted by the feds, with Dr. Alexanderson helping him out.

Star of the movie Becker reportedly lost 20 pounds, shaved his head and eyebrows, and endured uncomfortable colored contacts that covered the white of his eyes for the role.

La Última Muerte was filmed in Mexico and Argentina. Find more information (in Spanish) and photos at the official website.

Here’s the trailer:

The 2012 web series was created and written by Julio Ponce Palmieri (born in Guatemala) and produced and directed by Palmieri and Alex Freitas (of Portuguese heritage).

The complete first season of this Canadian production is available on YouTube. I recommend not reading the descriptions because they spoil the episodes. Here’s a teaser. Be safe in 2012!

Afterglow (2009) is a science fiction short film written and directed by Andres Anglade. It is a story told by a militia officer reporting to his superiors about an incident during his alien patrol. In this world, humanity has repulsed an alien invasion, but it’s still possible part of the enemy remains on Earth. The officer’s job is to find them.

Afterglow has been shown at several film festivals and San Diego Comic-Con, and won the 2009 Director’s Choice for Short Film Category at the Rincón International Film Festival in Puerto Rico. This is director Anglade’s first professional film.

Andres Anglade is of Puerto Rican and German heritage, and currently resides in California. I had the opportunity of interviewing Anglade which was fun because he’s very much “one of us.” He loves science fiction and telling stories through a visual medium. We talked about the short, where he got his inspiration and his work on Battlestar Galactica and NBC’s Community.

Where did you get the idea for Afterglow?
The basic idea came from one simple question “What would happen if an alien invasion happened right now?” What would you do? How would you act? That’s essentially the genesis of the story behind the film. But what I really wanted to explore was how people dealt with an alien invasion after the invasion. They invaded. We won. What comes next?

So Afterglow is from a “common person” point of view instead of the major players?
Yes, exactly. I’ve always been a fan of seeing how “regular” people react to large scale events. I’m also a fan of not showing the big event, but letting people’s imaginations run wild and let them envision what may have happened.

What type of science fiction inspires you?
I’m inspired by a lot of [genre films where] there are moments that you forget they’re science fiction. One of my all time favorite sci-fi films is the original The Day The Earth Stood Still. And with that film, sure you have the classic flying saucer landing on Earth, but the exploration of people’s emotions and reactions to it is so well done. That film holds up today and I always tell people to watch it. A more recent film that explores a new world [that] way was Children Of Men. It was able to explore individual lives in and around much larger issues.
Don’t get me wrong, though, the little kid in me still loves to see the action spectacle and will go see films where stuff blows up, but the ones that inspire me also touch upon the relationships we have. The Abyss is my favorite sci-fi film, and again it has moments where you forget you’re watching a sci-fi film. But the action is spectacular and [director James] Cameron makes us really care about the characters.

Andres Anglade at the Science Fiction Museum

In Afterglow, people are highly suspicious of each other after they defeat the aliens. Is Afterglow an allegory of how we treat others in a post 9/11 world?
We do now live in a world of suspicion and that was definitely a theme I wanted to explore. But again, the most important things for me were the characters. I wasn’t trying to touch upon the issue of torture; it was more of trying to explore the most horrific way someone could just snap after a tragic event.

How did you finance Afterglow?
For financing, I saved up money, and Executive Producer Melissa Scotti helped raise around $3000, which was awesome. And all of that combined was still not enough, so the rest went on credit cards. The final budget for the film ended up being around $12,000. But I also called in a lot of favors. That’s what’s great about being around a film-loving/making community of friends. We all like to help each other out.

Does Afterglow have a future (part two)?
I wrote a few scripts for a webseries and pitched it around, but nothing ever happened. I’m glad it didn’t work out, because looking back at them, the scripts need work. I’ve tried several times to turn it into a feature, which I still want to do, but I have to find the right story to tell. There are so many to tell in that world and I want the right one. I don’t want to settle.

How was winning the Rincón award in Puerto Rico?
It was such a great festival. Doug Lantz [Festival & Programming Director] and everyone involved were so accommodating and generous. Winning the award was surprising and unexpected. Unfortunately I left the day of the awards ceremony, so they gave me an impromptu ceremony out at dinner the night before. It was great!

Tell us about the work you did for the Battlestar Galactica shorts and NBC’s Community. Were you a fan of these shows before you worked on them?
I worked at a company that did all the special features for the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of BSG. Those two special features [Cylons - The Twelve and The Journey] were something that was kind of thrown at me by the producer with an impossible schedule. We managed to turn those in and because of the hard work I put in I was given producer credit on it. It was rough, but I got to know the company editor on it really well, Brian Kelley, and he ended up doing the color correction for Afterglow.
I did watch BSG. It was amazing. I do have to admit, though, a friend tried to get me to watch it way back and I couldn’t get through the mini-series. A few years later I gave it another shot and once I saw [season one, episode one] ‘33’… once you see that, you’re in. I actually got some of my non sci-fi friends into that show.
I’m currently the post coordinator for the show Community. I work with the post department and I love it. I was a fan of the show before I got the job and everyone I work with is really cool. I couldn’t ask for a better crew.

What’s next for you?
Right now I’m in pre-production for my next short that I plan on shooting in Puerto Rico next summer. The script is done, we’re raising money, location scouting, prepping VFX [visual effects] and all the fun stuff.

Watch Afterglow below or here and check out its Facebook page for behind the scenes photos!

[Skip this paragraph to avoid spoilers] So what’s it about? Well so far, a group of individuals with advanced physiology and technology are kept prisoner in an Alaskan facility at Mount Inostranka (meaning foreigner/alien in Russian). After 60 years, the U.S. President learns of these people (let’s call them the Inostranka Group). He tries to get them out but events in the first two episodes change his mind. The Inostranka Group has people outside, and, tired of waiting, are poised to react, possibly violently. Usually these stories have an average character who gets thrust into the middle of things- someone to root for. In this case it’s Sean Walker (Jason Ritter), a guy who just wants to propose to his girlfriend but all this conspiracy stuff gets in the way.

The Event features a U.S. President of Cuban descent, President Elias Martinez (Blair Underwood), the First Lady Christina Martinez also of Cuban heritage (Lisa Vidal, Puerto Rican) and their son, David (Sayeed Shahidi). There is  another Latino actor in the series besides Vidal- Gonzalo Menendez (of Cuban heritage). He plays an Air Marshal called Dan Taylor- a minor character listed in 4 episodes on IMDB. Not sure what is up with his accent but I wanted to mention him since he’s had small parts in at least three other genre works- 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Island, and Sliders. All we know about this character is his job, his weird accent, and that he wears a wedding ring. At least he has a name, so who knows? We may see more of him in the series.

Apparently there’s been some controversy about Blair Underwood playing a Latino character of such stature (major character, primetime network TV). I admit I would have preferred a Latino actor because of the shortage of good roles that are custom-made for a Latino. But Underwood is doing a good job so far, and he definitely looks the part. Sure when he speaks Spanish he’s probably going to have a terrible accent that will make me cringe, but so do many second generation Latinos raised in the United States. Plus, the character is a bona fide Afro-Latino which is super rare on TV. Most Latinos on television or in movies are white or light skinned, and that goes for Latin American productions too.

Out of curiosity, I looked up other fictional Latino U.S. presidents. Here they are:

• Jimmy Smits (Puerto Rican) as President Matthew Santos (Mexican American) in The West Wing
• John D’Aquino (Italian American) as President Richard Martinez in Cory in the House

In written works (now added to my reading list!):

• President Juanita Alvarez in Sunstorm by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter (President in 2037)
• President Joseph Armando in Mars by Ben Bova (first Hispanic president, elected sometime in the early 21st century)
• President Maria Juarez in: The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter (First female President of the United States, for at least one term (2037-2041))

So according to this brief research, President Elias Martinez is the first U.S. President of Latino heritage on a science fiction TV show. But if you’re thinking sci-fi movies, then look no further than President Camacho of Idiocracy:

Yeah, that's right

They had previously held this contest in their province, and this year it will extend to all schools in Argentina. The goal of the contest is to develop students’ interest in science, science fiction, and creative writing. The winners, to be announced in December, will get their short story published, three books (one for their school) and other prizes. The contest is open to schoolchildren ages 10-18. Can you imagine being a published kid recognized nationally? And in sci-fi? Way to go Argentina! More of this please.

Not a Latino bartender manual

Cosmos Latinos: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and Spain
Edited By Andrea L. Bell & Yolanda Molina-Gavilán
Wesleyan University Press, 2003

There are many Science Fiction authors that write in Spanish, but unfortunately few are translated into English (especially short stories) so Cosmos Latinos was a surprising find. Besides 27 short stories, it contains an interesting introduction about the development of science fiction literature in Latin America. I’ll sum up the intro here since it has some interesting points and in the next post I’ll review the actual stories.

According to Cosmos, the three dominating characteristics of Latin American science fiction literature are:

• Its slant towards the “soft” sciences- psychology, ecology, and sociopolitical topics including social criticism and international relations;
• The use of Christian symbols, other Western mythology, along with the opposition of faith vs. reason/technology; and
• Its use of allegory, satire and humor in topics ranging from the serious- like the colonization of the Americas, to lighter fare featuring heroes on some sort of quest in comic-book style.

Other noteworthy points discussed in the introduction, some of which I didn’t know:

• Latin American sci-fi’s beginnings were greatly influenced by Anglophone and other foreign authors to a certain extent, but since the 1960s the main influence of science fiction writers comes from within; that is, writers in Spanish and Portuguese “cross-pollinate” and the scifi community supports itself with magazines, awards, and conventions. Prior to 1960, there were very few writers committed to the genre and it was the isolated author who used it for promoting a particular agenda, like providing a social critique.
• Unfortunately sci-fi faced the sociopolitical and economic climate of the 1970s and 80s and production diminished in Latin America and Spain. Publishers needed to make money and turned to more mainstream titles to avoid government suspicion. Artists and intellectuals in general stopped writing or emigrated. It was only until the late 1980s with the broadening of political freedoms and the institution of literary prizes that the genre picked up again.
• The countries with the most recognized sci-fi authors are Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain, although every Latin American country has active writers and organized fan activity. Publishers outside the region have expressed an interest in local authors, although that has often meant that writers feel pressured to imitate their Anglophone counterparts to be marketable.
• Genre writings are not confined to magical realism, a myth perpetuated by what little gets translated into English and made into Hollywood movies (see 100 Years of Solitude, Like Water for Chocolate) but it is an important subgenre that helped legitimize the fantastic among social literary circles. Even now mainstream regional bookstores tend to focus on magical realism; other subgenres of scifi are mostly translations from well known authors, considered a safer investment for publishers.
• The Internet has done a lot for Latin American scifi, solidifying regional ties.  Several websites of published magazines, fan forums and new authors have developed and flourished.

If you get a chance to peruse Cosmos, keep in mind that it is seven years old and that science fiction in Latin America has continued to grow since then, although most of it is still limited to Spanish speakers. One of the reasons to write this blog is to share my discovery of interesting authors in the genre so if there is one you enjoy, let me know via email or comment!

Everybody is blue on Pandora

Avatar opening weekend has finally arrived and James Cameron definitely did not disappoint! Avatar is an amazing film that grabs you immediately and doesn’t let go until well after the end credits. There are no boring parts. The 3-D is used well, not throwing things at you all the time but giving you depth perception that brings the computer generated world to life. Everywhere you look there is something new to discover; it’s almost too much to absorb on the first try.

The story in brief is about a marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who travels to the planet Pandora to join the Avatar project team. His mind is connected to a genetically compatible test tube body that is to all effects, a body of a native Na’vi. This allows him to interact with the local tribe as he becomes increasingly entwined with his new surroundings. The problem is that Jake’s human friends are on the planet to exploit it, and the Na’vi are in the way.  Yes, this type of story has been told before but it doesn’t drown in clichés like I was afraid it would and it adds unexpected twists.

Our blue Latino warriors Zoe Saldaña (as Neytiri) and Laz Alonso (as Tsu’Tey) really brought it and even though they were playing computer generated characters, the motion capture in 3-D truly made their facial expressions shine through. Also, the voices were all theirs and when they spoke the Na’vi language (a complete language created by USC professor Paul Frommer) they were absolutely believable. Kudos to the language coach (Carla Meyer appears as the dialect coach on IMDB) for giving the non-natives a noticeable accent and making the Na’vi actors appear fluent. And thank you subtitle font people for using Papyrus when Na’vi was spoken. It was as pretty as the language.

Our non-blue warrior chica Michelle Rodríguez (playing Trudy Chacón) kicked ass and was a favorite (at least in my theater) judging by the applause she got. Trudy is a helicopter pilot, part of the group of mercenaries on Pandora. She becomes an important part of the inevitable rebellion, and I’m pleased she had such a prominent role that wasn’t computer generated and an actual Latina character. Latinas on Pandora FTW!

On the science fiction side, this movie has enough creatures, glowing plants, weapons and technology to satisfy any sci-fi or fantasy fan. There is plenty to dissect here and obsess over, my fellow geeks! It is jaw-dropping gorgeous and with the 3-D even more so. Hi-tech labs, fantastic myths come to life, and heart-stopping battle scenes round out this film to make it an absolute must-see.