I don't think you're ever too old to hear "Starring... your name." I've had “cameos” in one of my films before, but the leading role of the nameless Painter in MONOLOGUE (2027)—carrying a 2.5-hour one-actor crime drama with an epic-length soliloquy—isn't something anyone plans. As a former journalist who interviewed actors and filmmakers worldwide, I may start a series asking myself the questions I once asked movie icons. It'll be another adventure in this surreal universe I've immersed myself in again. #acting #indiefilm #avantgarde #cinematicart

Epic A cinematic poem No multitudes or spectacles, nothing extravagant or monumental. Your vision holds colors and dark neon mystery lighting. Give the ambience mystique. Something in the face tells me I see what I don’t understand and believe what I wish to know. It is a longing that seeks understanding and often fails. What do we grasp of the epics? The win, the mass is the multitude, the horses, the expansions. It needs no castles atop hills—only that sky, always the sky, blazing with epic colors, majestic golden-orange and pink as the sun rises in a sentence by the beaches and the sands with their golden imprint, filled by waves and film of water. Beyond the horizon I see horses, soldiers, armies, a trio of angels ascending and descending in the sunlight. The colorless speak; the darkness full of words. There is no music. It is unnecessary. The shape of the light is a language of its own. I stammer, repeat, repeat and repeat loop incoherently. I say nothing. I vent, ramble that I know thousands, that I know millions. There is only one, but one who experienced much sorrow, suffering so much pain, and can tell it now, can speak of it like a thriller. Only one face before the camera against the darkness, interrupted by an unexpected call. If he doesn’t answer, are you calling for prayer? Glory. Hush, the movie is about to begin. Begin that epic of the face. Sadness so deep within I don’t know who he is or she or them. I trust nothing they promised—things, promises—but words are a massive delusion of words that mean nothing and say what only the wind can say. I am invisible. Call me the epic. There is only one of me and many others I loved. The great walls of the world in my lifetime so far endlessly eternal. Hush, the film has started and the first one who speaks about love knowing nothing but secrets. I’m sure of that. Doesn’t it itch—the sand fish scented on skin, crepe skin? Particles of sea water and dust. The epic story of salt and vinegar, that I am the painter. —C Cotayo #poetry

✨MAKING THE MIAMI PREMIERE DCP✨ 📽🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞🎞️ A Digital Cinema Package (DCP) comprises the digital files of a film for theatrical presentation, including video, audio, subtitles, and all data needed for projection. It is a highly sophisticated, complex system. ✨ Creating a DCP requires precise calibration so the projected image matches the filmmaker’s vision exactly. It is a marvelous, time-consuming process. ✨🌟✨ I am now generating the DCP for the theatrical presentation of MONOLOGUE: THE CRYPTO SOLILOQUY OF AN OIL PASTEL PAINTER in Miami next year, after its world premiere. The film is under consideration by festivals for a possible 2027 world premiere; I do not yet know the location. ✨ This phase is enormously exciting, as the premiere could be in the United States, Europe, or elsewhere. I consider this film a divine commission—not with presumption, but as what I feel, since I never planned to produce it yet did. Everything in the movie connects as though predesigned or predestined. Although I planned many things as producer, it was impossible to preordain every detail, yet everything synchronizes almost supernaturally. It exceeded all my expectations technically and artistically. I did not expect to star in it, but the movie selected me. ✨🌟✨ I am honoured that those who saw the film as a WIP during post-production think highly of my performance as the authentic, believable result of extremely challenging work. One goal was to create every scene in the movie as a painting or artwork in different styles: impressionistic, abstract, expressionist, and digital art. ✨ During post-production I submitted the film to a few festivals but withdrew it from all because it was a work in progress and they could not envision the final quality and beauty. Viewing only minutes of a 2.5-hour production was unacceptable. It is their loss, as it is an excellent movie many will recognize upon release.✨🌟✨ #DCP #filmmaking #worldpremiere The verification of the DCP is also essential: NO ERRORS FOUND. Hallelujah!

SENSUALITY AND THE FRENCH NEW WAVE I’ve been watching the lengthy, excellent French New Wave classic “La Maman et la Putain” (1973; “The Mother and the Whore”), directed by Jean Eustache, with its black-and-white close-ups and dialogue-driven discourses on the angst of would-be (chain-smoking) lovers. Jean-Pierre Léaud’s quasi-lovelorn character Alexandre inspires me to read “Remembrance of Things Past” by Marcel Proust. La vie does “imitate” the arts sometimes. Oui, merci, mon ami.

THE POETIC ART OF MODERN AGING Is it just me or is there some basis in reality that the older we’re getting, the younger we’re looking compared to previous generations?

🎥Filmmaking Realities🎥 Not everyone has the expertise to evaluate a movie that is a work-in-progress. Avoid showing unfinished films unless absolutely necessary, as first impressions matter and are often difficult to erase because many lack the technical training to assess a film that is not the final product. #filmmaking

🔴👐BODIES AND HANDS 👐🔴 A film review After locking the final cut of Monologue: The Crypto Soliloquy of an Oil Pastel Painter (2027), I have more time to watch films for enlightenment and enjoyment. I recently reviewed Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain (1973) and have since seen two more of his films: El Topo (1970), a surreal western and epic journey through a bizarre, violent wilderness of esoterica, and the impressive, beguiling Santa Sangre (1989), even bloodier, more violent and surreal, yet visually astonishing. Jodorowsky is not a director who relies on abundant close-ups, unlike myself. He photographs the “body,” and in Santa Sangre his treatment of human anatomy becomes another esoteric voyage of obsession, possession and movement. A boy becomes his mother’s severed arms as a young man and a killer on a vengeance spree, turning extreme body horror into grotesque art needing no explanation. The world is an epic circus of Fellini-esque splendours, excesses and chaos. Grand Guignol crimson flows again in extreme Jodorowsky cinematic fashion. That he makes so much horror so extravagantly beautiful is part of his myth-making prowess as a poetic genius of symbolic mutilation and operatic gore. It’s an astounding masterpiece. Can one love something so beautifully horrific as Santa Sangre? Each viewer must decide, as this is not standard commercial cinema—and that makes it spectacular. It is high-calibre filmmaking: a phantasmagoric, erotic, acrobatic and ultimately ecstatic landmark. It is not default entertainment but splendiferously satisfying. The pantomime with the hands is glorious.

⚫️🟦The Power of Voice and Art🟩🟣 I compare the human voice, spiritually, to the Big Bang and the voice of God within us. We use it to convey our deepest desires, emotions, thoughts, and feelings. The painter’s voice in MONOLOGUE (2027) has the qualities of an orchestra. Surrounded by spheres and light, he is the music of the spheres, building suspense through his monologue about tough experiences. The more he speaks, the more we enter this universe of colour, mystery, lighting, and shapes. The monologue is neither a sermon, lecture, nor political speech, yet feels direct, fascinating, and real. Stutters, pauses, repetitions, and mispronunciations keep it human. The film feels complete; nothing is missing. Its images deliver color, movement, and impact equal to scenes with thousands of extras, crashes, effects, and disasters. MONOLOGUE redefines modern sophisticated cinema—like a commercial thriller, here a crime drama. As art, it endures beyond fleeting entertainment.🟥🔴

THE CINEMATIC ACCOMPLISHMENT 🏆✨A Producer’s Prophecy✨🏆 I made the movie audiences and the industry need but aren’t yet aware of—until it premieres, gains the recognition it deserves, and connects with audiences everywhere. The prerequisite is a loving heart. This is a movie for anyone who can love. That is the core of MONOLOGUE (2027), and it will triumph beyond all expectations. It is already a technical, artistic, and aesthetic achievement that engages every aspect of our being.

HOLY VOLCANO! A film review Alejandro Jodorowsky’s English-language feature The Holy Mountain (1973) is an epic eruption of esoteric light, colour, and symbolism. Its gore and grotesqueries form part of a bizarre knowledge-seeking journey best deciphered by students of that exotic philosophy. As surreal cinema bordering on the Grand Guignol, it’s a fascinating ride uphill to the fringes of earth and heaven. Getting there is what the movie is and isn’t about. Halfway through, I stopped trying to figure it out and absorbed the imagery, reminiscent of Lovecraft, Cocteau, Dalí, and kindred artists whose works brim with body fluids, ichor, and cosmological phenomena. The film is ugly, beautiful, and mesmeric—cult cinema few make as hypnotically. Think Kenneth Anger meets Kerchner meets Kandinsky meets Buñuel by way of post-El Topo (1970) and pre-Santa Sangre (1989) Jodorowsky. Occult cinema is a rare subgenre—but of what genre? Religious symbolism and tarot-inspired art blend into a kaleidoscopic soup-du-jour narrative that makes you wonder if you want to see (taste?) the world as it is here: beautiful, horrible, mysterious, terrifying, bloody, and magical. The Holy Mountain defies (challenges?) logic because logic has nothing to do with it. Enjoy!

🌟STARRING… CHARLIE COTAYO🌟 My performance as the Painter in MONOLOGUE (2027) doesn't look like acting because I wasn't “acting.” I knew the character so profoundly I didn't need the script; the dialogue became my own, and every stammer and emotion on screen is real. I kept everything controlled without going over the top because I operated the cameras myself. It was tough, grueling, and painful, but I knew I'd thank myself later and audiences would connect with the completed film. It’s a movie for the people. 🌟✨🌟✨🌟✨🌟✨🌟✨🌟✨🌟 [In my home studio rendering a cut of the film. 🎞️ I’m not quite used to hearing that I “star” in the movie—my own film—I’ve never thought in those terms and still don’t. It’s work—difficult work—but the story needed to be told.]