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

Road map to love: Pagina 12 coverage

We had another huge break through with Latin America this week, again, with Pagina 12 picking up the story of Julio Cortazar, Carol Dunlop, and the documentary exploring their love, deaths and the famous book they'd write at the end.

They did a great job highlighting the quest here. The truth is this all started with us asking the question: what the hell is love? Why can't everyone have what these two had in their book, Autonauts of the Cosmoroute? What is so wild and different about their connection, and why is it so powerful?

A Pagina12 story with co-director Tobin Dalrymple of the new Julio Cortazar movie.

Read the full article and find out more about the origins of the new Cortazar documentary, here.

Argentina loves Cortazar: More media coverage of Julio & Carol

Last week was a huge one for Julio & Carol. With it being Julio Cortazar's anniversary AND Valentines day, we did our best to spread the word about this fantastic love story in Cortazar's home country: Argentina.

Even though you don't need to know who Cortazar is to enjoy this documentary we are making, it always helps to have a little background. And in Argentina, Cortazar is perhaps the biggest writer bar none. He's Hemingway. He's Shakespeare. Everyone owns at least one copy of Hopscotch… maybe two.

No wonder then that lots of local and international Spanish media are picking up this story. So far we've been on a few major dailies and glossy magazines. This week we are expecting a few more big pieces in Latin America.

Not to mention the +1500 Facebook fans we collected in just a few days!

It's always great to see when making a movie that there's people out there who already love what you are doing … Now, it's just a matter of taking over the *rest* of the world!

Here's the link to the story above: http://bit.ly/1jLqOQ9

^ 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.