Tag Archives: crowdfunding

December 15, 2015 · 8:00 pm

Bárcenas, la película.

Hace una semana finalmente pude ver “B, la película”, que es la adaptación al cine de una obra de teatro del mismo nombre sobre el interrogatorio que el juez Pablo Ruz hizo al extesorero y exgerente del Partido Popular Luis Bárcenas el 15 de julio de 2013.

La película, dirigida por David Ilundain y protagonizada por Pedro Casablanc (Bárcenas) y Manolo Soto (Ruz), dura aproximadamente 1 hora y 20 minutos y está basada en hechos reales, la transcripción del propio interrogatorio. En ese interrogatorio Bárcenas se retracta de sus anteriores declaraciones y confiesa que los famosos “papeles de Bárcenas” publicados por El País y El Mundo son verídicos, se corresponden a apuntes contables suyos durante 20 años como tesorero y gerente del partido, reflejan los movimientos de la caja B del partido, la continua financiación ilegal del mismo, el pago ilegal de sobresueldos a los cargos del partido (incluyendo Mariano Rajoy), etc. Corrupción, corrupción, corrupción.

“B, la película” fue financiada a través de crowdfunding, vía con la que consiguieron obtener 56.000 €. Se puede ver en algunos cines, aunque tampoco ha tenido mucho éxito en cuanto a la proyección en salas (imagino el por qué), y a través de internet. Yo la “alquilé” para un visionado durante 48 horas por tan solo 3 euros en Vimeo a través de un enlace de la página web de la película (aquí).

Toda la película se desarrolla en la sala donde el interrogatorio tiene lugar (como si fuese “Doce hombres sin piedad”). No tiene desperdicio la interpretación de Casablanc (Bárcenas): su firmeza en el cambio de versión de la declaración, el lujo de detalles y memoria privilegiada para el recuerdo de algunas cifras, fechas y leyes de financiación de partidos, y el vago recuerdo en otras, su dignidad en el trato y descripción de algunos personajes y repugnancia hacia Maria Dolores de Cospedal. También Soto (Ruz) tiene una interpretación encomiable, en este caso su cara de estupefacción en varios momentos por lo que oye del acusado. Imagino que las caras que pondría el propio Ruz no serían muy diferentes.

Además de recomendar el ver la película, os dejo aquí debajo el tráiler de la misma:

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November 26, 2012 · 8:00 am

The Cosmonaut: date of release and update

I became an investor (for 100€) and producer (by buying a T-shirt) of the movie “El Cosmonauta“ (“The Cosmonaut”) about a year ago. I wrote then a post (in Spanish) about it as I had done when I first learnt about the movie in a TEDx conference two years ago.

Last week a received an update of the project via email. The team confirmed that the movie will be released in April 2013 and what it’s more important, it showed the update of “The Plan“ [PDF, 3.9 MB, in Spanish], a revision of the budget and the cash-flows to date. The Plan is 50-page document where the team explains the strategy for the product, which in this case is not just a movie.

My brother uses to remind me “it will only be success if the movie is good, no matter how fancy or novel the project behind is”. It might be true. But the project behind is indeed fancy and novel.

Reading the update of The Plan, one can see the variety of activities that have gone and go with the movie, the breadth of contents, formats, etc., to name a few:

  • The use of crowdfunding: to raise up to nearly 400k€ from over 4,500 investors (equity, almost 500 of them) and producers (buyers of merchandising prior to movie release).
  • Creation of a community: having organized several meet-ups and parties with investors. Planning to organize a big event with them for the release of the movie.
  • The use of Creative Commons: releasing the movie free for the viewer under Creative Commons licence.
  • One single release of the movie: which will be available at the same time in cinemas, TVs, free online, DVD…
  • Awareness: having appeared in dozens of media, hundreds of blogs and several festivals.
  • Case of study: in universities, business schools, subject of PhDs…
  • Prizes: having won several prizes for its innovation, entrepreneurial side, etc.
  • 4 classes of content: free to use, creative commons, under subscription, branded.
  • Webisodes: the movie will be accompanied by 37 short episodes showing secondary pieces, which will not be part of the main movie.
  • Documentaries: about the process of filming the movie from the perspective of a hummingbird and a crude making off.
  • Facebook profiles of the movie characters which will interact with fans at the time of the movie release.
  • Poetry book about cosmonauts.
  • Educational materials: developed for cinema schools and students.
  • Workbook manual of cinema.
  • …

If you want to know more, take a look at The Plan :-).

The project is really fresh and captivating, I wish the movie matches it. I leave you for now with the trailer of the movie:

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October 31, 2012 · 8:00 am

Crowdfunding science

I have written sometimes in the blog about crowdfunding. How I started funding loans for small entrepreneurs in developing countries via Kiva, or how I invested a small amount in the movie project “El Cosmonauta”, and more generally I have shared yearly contributions to other non-profits.

I heard for the first time about crowdfunding science some time ago, but didn’t keep track of it. Thus, when I read the last week in The Economist an article featuring some platforms where to crowdfund science I decided to take a look at those and to post about it in the blog. The purpose of the post is twofold: raise awareness about an initiative that I support (even if not yet with money) and to let myself keep track of them from now on.

The article mentions 4 platforms. Two of the platforms look more science-focussed and the other two more generalist:

  • Petridish: “Petridish lets you fund promising research projects and join first hand in new discoveries.”
  • Microryza: “We’re researchers and scientists. We live and breathe this stuff. We know that too many important research ideas go unfunded. So we created Microryza. We believe that the discoveries made through research help make the world better, that researchers should keep 100% ownership of the research and results, and that a community of people who care about science is all that’s needed to help seed fund new ideas.”
  • Rockethub: “RocketHub is the world’s funding machine. RocketHub is an international and open community that has helped thousands of artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists raise millions of dollars. We offer an innovative way to raise money (Crowdfunding) and tangible opportunities to take creative products and endeavors to next level (LaunchPad Opportunities).”
  • Indiegogo: “Everyone should have the opportunity to raise money. Now everyone does. People all over the world use our industry-leading platform to raise millions of dollars for all types of campaigns. No matter what you are raising money for, you can start right now with no fee or application process.”

I will let you know the moment I opt to engage with a particular scientific research :-).

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Note: I leave aside the debate of whether budget for science should be ensured by the states.

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October 19, 2010 · 1:00 am

Venture Capital & Crowdfunding

I started giving loans through Kiva almost two years ago. About at the same time, after gathering some savings, I started investing again in the stock market.

Last month, I attended TEDxMadrid, where Nicolás Alcalá explained how a movie he and his team are working on (“El Cosmonauta”) will be financed through crowdfunding. I then discussed with a friend that precisely I was looking for a similar approach, but applied to general businesses: a kind of Kiva for for-profit start-ups.

Subsequently, I first found Kickstarter about a month ago through Fred Wilson (@fredwilson). However, in Kickstarter the funders of projects are not entitled to equity in the venture nor a share of the future profits. The funders get some merchandising or recognition for the helping hand they have given, depending on the amount they have invested.

Then I found GrowVC.

From what I gathered, this is more or less what I was looking for: a way to invest some small amount of cash (~1,000$ a year) together with other funders into a larger pool that will act as a Venture Capital operation, sharing the future profits of the business that was funded.

With this post I wanted to share these initiatives with you and also to explain what I was looking for. Now, let me throw an open question to readers: anyone knows a similar concept that I may be interested in? If so, please, let me know.

(Bear in mind that I haven’t got, yet, hundreds of thousands of Euros to invest following this approach… the larger part is invested in a much more Graham-like defensive approach)

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