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El Soldado De Marbach (Loteria Anthology)


Target Audience: BIPOC, Mexican-American


Tagline: A revolutionary message set in the mosh pit of 2020


Logline: A Hispanic combat veteran that returns to America, makes his way home across a fantastical America grounded in horrifying realities of racism, and plays a game of chess with Death.


Synopsis: Returning from Afghanistan to a land that has forsaken him is Infantry Specialist Antonio Bloquera. A soldier who plays games with Death because that is the only time is able to hang out with his brothers who died in battle. After finding Esperanza, or hope, in a loveless apartment alleyway, The Soldier learns new ways to communicate with others instead of playing games with Death and changes the outcome of everyone's life forever.


Treatment:

2021 Military Script Showcase - Official Selection Fresh Voices 2020-2021, Semi-Finalist and Spotlight Award Nominee

Filmmatic Drama Screenplay Awards Season 6, Quarterfinalist 2021 American Screenwriting Conference - Official Selection 2021 Sacramento International Film Festival - Official Selection 2021 MACRO Feature Screenwriter Incubator - 2nd Round




The first eighteen pages were written in August 2019 and after revisiting this work in June 2020 soon after graduation. Reviewing the visions I wrote in 2019 and horrified by the parallels to reality, I finished the work in a frenzy after two weeks. Submitting this for copyright in Sept 2020, I also sent this screenplay out to film festivals and screenwriting contests for review in starting in October 2020, months before the insurrection I envisioned within the first eighteen pages.


A story about soldier searching for more than just missing soldiers on American soil makes a decision that affects the course of history, I didn't want to directly deal with my own military sexual trauma that occurred during my time of service and did so through this screenplay. Finally having the strength to advocate for those no longer with us, I am now able to confront my attacker by filing a police report and seeking justice. No longer am I playing games with death now that I've found healthy forms of communication to cope with impacts on my life.


This film is a part of an anthology that surrounds itself around Mexican American culture. Currently, a number of films are being developed, but the next film La Dama de Tejas, is a spin off and is action packed. El Soldado de Marbach is a film that shows the importance of self agency and teaching this to people, La Dama de Tejas dives deeper into communal agency and the power people hold en masse. A study to El Borracho was already produced as a study and is entitled BLACKOUT (Art Mireles, 2019). This anthology is only a portion of work currently slated for development. Although El Valiente was a feature length script that was written under a different title, the Loteria series will feature cinema that depicts our people with dignity.

Theme, Format, Structure, Style and Point of View:

Using inspiration from a character in Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1977),the metaphoric resonance of the same Infantry Blue Cord and Combat Infantry Badge is just as important as a BIPOC lead. These themes of service to our nation are important perspectives to capture as hispanic veterans or soldiers in American cinema is virtually non existent. Following Alexandre Austruc's method of La Camerá Stylo by adding elements of cinema that I adore, like Herbert Bieberman's Salt of the Earth (1954), the format of this picture follows closely on the aspect of inspiration and collaboration through music. Much like Wes Craven's Premiere Film The Last House on the Left (1972) putting an American twist to Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring (1960), the structure El Soldado de Marbach follows Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957), but is set in 2020, where lynchings still occur on American roadsides. Using neo-realism for the style will not only bring more authenticity with the roles, but it will make for a lower budget film to produce. The point of view of El Soldado de Marbach follows the Mexican American experience through the perspective of a combat veteran and a librarian.


Appropriateness for Television:

Viewer Discretion Advised - Violence, Gore, Adult situations, and Language


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