Synopsis:
What if you were selected as a champion for all humanity… but didn’t want the job?

The war against the Outsiders is three years old, but the people of Earth have just found out about it six months ago. The Outsider Trees have systematically destroyed every settlement and outpost of humans as they invade the Solar System. Among suicides of politicians and corruption outcries against the State Church, the people of Earth are banding together and commercial groups and pilots form a haphazard fleet to fight the invaders from beyond our sun. Crucial in detecting the enemy's motions are the scouts, keeping lonely vigils in minimal ships beyond the safe but dwindling borders of Human Space.
But Humans and Outsiders are evenly matched. This is a war that will destroy both races and this region of the galaxy with it.
Higher order beings that dwell in space, fostering new sapient races, object to this. The conflicting races can mutually destroy but the galaxy must be spared their ravages. One contender will be erased by the Gardeners -- but which one? A solution is found. A champion is elected from each fleet and a contest to death set between them. The Outsider champion is a fully armed cyborg.

Our champion is a weaponless, pregnant, woman.

This is the story of their duel.

Best Science Fiction Film: Heart of England International Film Festival (June, 2008)
Selection: International Film Festival South Africa (October, 2008)

NOTE: “The Outsider” is a strange mix – emphasis on strange. The story can be a bit hard to follow -- although it is a very simple plot. Our hero spends half of the movie trying to figure out how to break a stick -- which is (unintentionally) laugh-out-loud funny. She is nearly incapacitated by a small cut on her leg. And the animation is a mix between ultra no-budget & pretty damn (how’d they do that) good. One thing is certain: this film is a trip. It can single-handedly end the use of drugs. There is no longer any need. Just watch this film instead. So kick back with a soda & a popcorn & please don’t worry about small things such as comprehending the plot. And, remember, In Space (& In Your Living Room), No One Can Hear You Laugh.

Format: Animation & Digital Video
Copyright: 2008
Country: USA
Language: English (somewhat)
Spanish subtitled version available

Joaquin (Kino) Gil: Animator, Art Director, Cinematographer/DP, Digital Effects, Director, Executive Producer, Picture Editor, Print Return, Print Shipper, Producer, Publicist, Sound Editor, Writer

Director’s Statement
This is a reflection on what makes us human and how much of that involves war.

Science Fiction has been called a critical genre and we embrace the power of thought, imagination and the higher aspirations of humans everywhere.

The Outsider is a fable of creation against destruction, passion against indifference, mercy against cruelty.
There was not a lot of budget but the story flies allright. Mainly because of the power of friendship.

This is a story to entertain and perhaps reflect on what we humans do, afterwards.

Director’s Bio
Joaquin Gil has been in or around film most of his life. His first film experience, when he was selected to play the lead in a bittersweet, Chaplinesque film by Italian director Luccio Ranucci: “Il Circo”, went on to garner awards in Italy, France and Spain. Mr. Gil was seven years old. Later came complex puppets, electronic music, stage plays and video. He directed, edited and sometimes even scored the music for more than 150 documentaries on Artisans, Ecology, Traditions, the Arts and Mythology.

Kino pursued graduate studies as a Fulbright Scholar at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts, or “CalArts”, the school founded by Walt Disney in order to foster the visual, technical and artistic talents and techniques of tomorrow. Kino’s love for electronic imagery and music, filmmaking and storytelling found fertile ground for growth and challenge. After his Master’s in Film and Video, he worked in a series of pioneering CGI projects. creating CGI animation for clients like Sony, Fuji, Televisa and Martin Marietta/N.A.S.A. eventually designing complete digital imagery facilities in South America, Mexico and the U.S.

At Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Los Angeles facility, contributed effects for the Hollywood films of the company, among them Oscar laureate As Good As It Gets, Oscar-nominated Contact, cult favorite Starship Troopers, and mega hits Godzilla, Sphere, City of Angels and Stuart Little besides a pilot, “Off the Wall”, a mixture of hand animation and computer compositing.

The experience proved rewarding, and allowed Mr. Gil the practice and knowledge to create effects and imagery today from his own, custom-designed facility, for documentary work, advertising and independent films. Mr. Gil continues his work on cost-effective creation of wholly digital SD/HDTV and feature films. His keeping abreast of digital film technology is balanced by attention in the human crafting of his stories, drawing lessons and counterpoints from rich mythological sources.