Paris, Marseille, and home again: shooting wraps up for the new Cortazar documentary

We've been silent on the blog front for the last two weeks because it's hard to write when you have a camera, a stack of letters and a 1970's VW in your hands!

We just wrapped up an amazingly successful shooting mission for our new Cortazar documentary all over France - from meeting ex-Cosmoroute adventures, to thousands of Cortazar fans at the Salon du Livres in Paris, to strolling the Seine and reuniting Stephane (Carol's son) with the long lost Fafner, all the way to the bottom of the Cosmoroute, where Raquel, Serre and the ghosts of the Marseille conquistadores continue to thrive… some in the strangest, oddest ways. We found dragons. We made epic 360 stedicam shots. We found a girl who looked like Carol and came on the road with us. We changed people's lives, putting the past in their hands, and seeing what happens. It was emotional. It was exhilarating. It was … exhausting!

It's damn good to be home in Toronto and gearing up for Hot Docs -- who's going to be there? We can't wait to see the Canadian talent and meet industry players from all over the world. Let's hope we are showing here next year! 

Tobin

Wrestling with eternity: Julio Cortazar and Carol Dunlop's last struggle

Julio Cortazar and Carol Dunlop created a work of timelessness and lunacy - something insane and beautiful - when they were both dying. Their book, The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, is the last thing they ever did, before their deaths. Beethoven seems to have done the same thing. When he was dying, he arranged a work of music that is controversial to this day. It's crazy. It's wild. Some parts are hard to listen to. But it's unquestionably… beautiful. Something about it. Something about knowing who wrote it, and when, adds a new dimension to it.

Maybe the book about the Cosmoroute, and maybe the composition, aren't nearly as beautiful, unless you know it's the *last thing* these artists did. That it's their last struggle with death; their last chance at living forever.

Maybe the book is not as good if you don't know that. But you do know that. That's the story. That's why I'm so hell bent on telling it. It's insane. It is the kind of plot that ends up on Page One of Reddit.

Listen to the Beethoven piece. But only after you read the headline and the post on reddit. That there, the feeling in your stomach, that's what this movie is about.

30th Anniversary of Julio Cortazar's Death

February 12, 2014 marked exactly 30 years since Julio Cortazar died in Paris. It was only a few months after he had lost Carol Dunlop, his great love, the woman he called "Osita," and traveled the world with. The woman he wrote "Autonauts of the Cosmoroute" with.

But it was Hopscotch (Rayuela) that was his most influential book. This was the book that rocked the world and changed the way we think of the modern novel.

With that, we put together this little tribute poster. 30 years later, thank you, Cronopio, for your inspiration and the work you left us.

Learn more about his last years alive, and the great love story on the road in France, in our upcomign documentary movie about Julio Cortazar and Carol Dunlop: Julio & Carol. 

CortazarMovie.com

Julio Cortazar Love Quotes: Valentines from a Cronopio

It's Valentine's, and that means you've got to send something nice to that special someone.

Well, why not let the master - Julio Cortazar - help you out?

Below we've assembled some of his more romantic, inspiring and love-filled quotes for you to send to your sweetheart on this special day.

Pick one (or six) and send it to your Amor, today :) 

Cortazar Love Story

Aside from Valentine's day - we thought this would be a good way to honour Cortazar's love, which is the focus of our new documentary, Julio & Carol (2014). 

Want to learn more and watch the teaser? Head over to igg.me/at/cortazar