Casacoima Mauricio Odreman
After six years of work, the film Casacoima is ready for international distribution. Its director, the Venezuelan filmmaker Mauricio Odreman, finished the historical production made using digital watercolor, which is about one of the first delusions of Liberator Simón Bolívar.
“While Bolívar was the president of the third republic and commander in chief, he took over Margarita, Cumaná, Barcelona and from there he went to the Orinoco with a strategy set to be pursued. Going to Casacoima, a group loses a battle, one of the greatest civil losses of independence. Bolívar hides for nine hours in the lagoon, leaves with a 40 degrees fever, and announces the liberating route. That is the first delirium,” explained Odreman.
The film is made in English and has a clear intention to appeal to the American public. Music was composed by a Venezuelan-Californian musician with rock rhythms. “It has been said that Bolívar was an enemy of the US, however, he bought the weapons in Baltimore and had a metal chest that was sent by a US president. With this film, I am returning Bolivar to his American friends.”
It took Odreman two years to color the film using digital watercolor. “Each frame is a painting. Achieving the tones took me a long time. It is a moving painting. ” Echelon Studios is in charge of the distribution outside Venezuela and, Odreman, considers the film an interesting piece for its catalog.
Casacoima was shot with non-professional actors and with the support of students from a film training workshop organized during filming. In those scenes, Odreman painted the movie. The texts are part of the letters, proclamations, and decrees of the Latin American hero. “The film was written by Bolívar.”
