Written and Directed by Stefan Koski
Starring (in order of appearance) Sean Link, Michael Schenkel, Luke Clunan, Mitch Bilodeau, Michael Anderson, Eric Milne
Voice-Over by Sean Link
Length: 10 minutes, 8 seconds (English)--11 minutes, 19 seconds (Spanish)
English Version Click to watch it on Google Video Spanish Version Click to watch it on Google Video Synopsis and Director's Notes Click to watch it on Google Video A program hosted by Patrick Silverstein (Sean Link) that tells the story of the prophet Miguel del Fuego (Michael Schenkel) and his four disciples, Paco the Gambler (Luke Clunan), Pablo the Drunkard (Mitch Bilodeau), Pedro the Retarded (Michael Anderson), and Raul the Douche(bag) (Eric Milne), who join together to spread the word of the Paternal Instigator of Majestic Power--the great PIMP.
This was the Spanish project to end all other projects. All we had to do was create a new religion from the ground up - prophets, deities, priest hierarchy, liturgies, chants, prayers, beliefs, sacred writings, the whole bit. The video we wound up creating kinda skipped over most of the project assignments. We included them in a separate written portion, which allowed us to keep the video interesting.
From my point of view, if you're going to make up a fake religious cult, you might as well create the most ridiculous, idiotic system of beliefs that you can possibly think of. In this case, that would include a bunch of societal low-lifes (and you can't get any crazier story of an individual than Miguel de Vega) who get drunk and burn things. I wrote the story in English, and Sean Link translated it into Spanish.
We filmed Sean Link doing the introduction and closing first, and then recorded the voice over English and Spanish tracks the same day. The other stuff we filmed on what was possibly the rainiest and wettest day in April. We kept an umbrella over the camera at all times and passed another one around as needed. I also kept spare towels for whenever anyone had to sit down or whenever someone got too wet. That was all pointless of course because these guys never had any intentions of keeping dry. Mitch went down a playground slide (which wasn't exactly dry, per se) and Mike (Anderson) did a full bellyslide down a hill. Oh, and there was a little thing we attempted called "walking on water." Nobody was dry at the end of the day.
But after two hours of working with Sean and another two filming in the rain (rain that didn't let up until we were finished), we had all the shots we needed. Edited together, plus soundtracking, and you have The Compassion of Miguel del Fuego.
Music in this Film: Pretending--Samurai Champloo Soundtrack
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen--Charlotte Church
Untitled--Interpol
Bittersweet Symphony--The Verve
