On 28 August, Capture the Flag arrives in cinemas, a new animated film directed by Enrique Gato, the creator of Tadeo Jones. It will be the first Spanish animated film distributed worldwide. The exhibition in Espacio Fundación Telefónica will give a unique insight into the ‘making of’ an animated film and as well as taking visitors on a journey through the history of space exploration.

How do characters from an animated film come alive? What resources are used? What technical and professional skills are involved? The exhibition Capture the Flag, put together in collaboration with Telefónica Studios, takes us into the world of digital animation films, from the original idea to the premiere. It also features the objects and visual material that the film’s producers used as learning tools and give a greater insight into the history of the space race, the Apollo space programme and the Moon landing. In addition, it features some of the highlights of the film which is released on 28 August: from the trailer to interviews and audio-visual records of the creative process.

Capture the Flag is the second project from the creators of Tad, the Lost Explorer (Las Aventuras de Tadeo Jones), the biggest box-office hit in history for a Spanish animated feature film. This film is also directed by Enrique Gato and will be the first Spanish animated feature film to be distributed worldwide.

The exhibition serves as a ‘making of’ a digital animated film and shows how five years of teamwork is transformed into ninety-seven minutes of footage. It was curated by María Santoyo in collaboration with Fernando Muñoz and can be seen on the second floor of Espacio Fundación Telefónica from 11 July, 2015.

Manufacturing a dream 

Visitors will get to know the animated characters in the lead roles of Capture the Flag through life-size cut-outs and can have pictures taken with them. This section features a large mural showing all the development stages of an animated film in fifteen steps. Here you can see the profiles of the crew who made the film (director, scriptwriters, 2D and 3D designers, animators, visual effects technicians, etc.), unusual facts about the editing, the duration of the shoot and the resources used right up to the premiere.

Believe in the Moon 

The exhibition also guides us through the history of the Apollo space programme through the facilities NASA developed to reach the Moon and the construction of the colossal Saturn V rocket and the launch phases. It includes extracts from a documentary telling the story of Enrique Gato’s visit to NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre and features the testimonies of the astronaut Michael López-Alegría and Jordi Gasull, the scriptwriter and winner of a Goya award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Tad, the Lost Explorer and one of the leading collectors of lunar and space objects.

This section is rounded off by a quote from the astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan about the space race: “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us: there is a tingling in the spine (…). We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.”

The film: will surfer Mike save the future of Planet Earth?

Capture the Flag is a fantasy about the return of man to the Moon and a story of family reconciliation, from the director of the box office hit Tad, the Lost Explorer. Of his new project, Enrique Gato says: “As soon as I read the script I knew that we had something really important. It is alive as it came from the absolute passion for what the space race meant in the sixties”.
The film tells the story of Mike Goldwing, a brave and determined 12-year-old boy, son and grandson of astronauts, who has always dreamt of winning the childhood game of ‘capture the flag’. In order to reconcile his family, he must capture one of the most important flags in history: the one the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission planted on the Moon. With the help of his friends Amy, Marty and Igor (a crazy, funny chameleon) and his stubborn grandfather Frank, he aims to stop Richard Carson, a flamboyant millionaire whose evil plan is to erase from history the feat of the space missions with a view to colonising the Moon.
Jordi Gasull, creator and co-writer of Capture the Flag, argues that the film “hopes that the generations of yesterday and today can relive the space dream of the first man on the Moon and travel with us to the Moon and beyond in search of adventure, excitement and fun.”

Capture the Flag is a production of TELECINCO CINEMA, TELEFÓNICA STUDIOS, 4 CATS and LOS ROCKETS AIE with the cooperation of MEDIASET ESPAÑA, CANAL+ and MOVISTAR TV. The animation services are provided by LIGHTBOX ANIMATION STUDIOS and the film is distributed by PARAMOUNT PICTURES SPAIN. This alliance with Paramount is a milestone for Spanish cinema, being the first time that a Hollywood studio has agreed to distribute two Spanish films worldwide.
In collaboration with Telefónica Studios.