Spain: Cryptozoology Meets Movie Making

Source: Cryptozoologos.blogspot.com
Date: 13 December 2010

Spain: Basajaun, the Motion Picture
By Javier Resines

Basajaun, the Basque Lord of the Forest, is featured in a new short-subject film. Creator Sergio Morillo Echavarri is currently involved in the post-production phase of Basajaun y las lindes de los bosques (Basajaun and the borders of the forests), his first motion picture project.

In order to narrate the story of this eldritch creature, halfway between cryptozoology and legend, Morillo has chosen three dimensional special effects and characters to be merged with the presence of human actors. Exteriors were shot in Urbasa, and the chromakey technique has been employed for interiors - actors film their scenes before a green screen which can later be worked upon digitally.

The plot, according to the director, “tells the story of how this mythological creature refuses his fate, which is to vanish, and will find himself swept into confrontations with humans, the miscreants who chop and destroy without any concern for the woods loves and protects, and that are his home.”

The short-subject film, which received 15,000 euros in funding from the government of Navarre through the Instituto Navarro de las Artes Audiovisuales y la Cinematografía (INAAC) was presented at the Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes de Temática Social de Berriozar (FICBE) on October 16, 2010.

A three-minute demo on the composition of some of the film’s scenes was presented, and it can be seen at http://criptozoologos.blogspot.com/

We would like to congratulate Sergio Morillo for having successfully carried out his project and for having chosen such an interesting subject as the cornerstone of his work. Anyone interested can follow the day-to-day progress on Basajaun y las lindes de los bosques on Facebook, where the director narrates all current events regarding the film.

(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales, IHU)