“So, like right now, for example the Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all, ‘What about the strain on our resources?’ Well it’s like when I had this garden party for my father’s birthday, right? I put R.S.V.P. ’cause it was a sit down dinner. But some people came that like did not R.S.V.P. I was like totally buggin’. I had to haul ass to the kitchen, redistribute the food, and squish in an extra place setting. But by the end of the day it was, like, the more the merrier. And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion may I please remind you it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty. Thank you very much.”

That was actually Cher from Clueless, but producer Javier Delgado has a lot in common with her. Many of us producers do, I guess. Last year, one of our professors likened physical production to triage surgery; it’s a lot about crisis management and putting out fires. No matter how much effort we put into pre-production on any film, there’s always going to be some surprises to deal with.

Javi is one of fourteen second-year graduate producers at Columbia. Originally from Argentina—where he had a pet rooster named Paco—he moved to Chicago at a young age and grew up on Chicago’s north west side. To date, most of his work has been in children’s theater, but two years ago, along with fourteen others, he was accepted into the Creative Producing MFA at Columbia College Chicago. Now that we near the end of our time here, it’s high season for thesis film production. “I was so caught up in the excitement that I had no idea what was in store for me. Two fruitful years of academia and producing followed later, I’ve recently wrapped principal photography on my thesis film.”

The Vain Illusionist is a story about a peculiar young girl that has been undermined by her mother and overshadowed by her picture perfect little sister all her life. Javi crafted the story with director Emily Railsback, and one of the main inspirations was the sibling rivalry of Cain and Abel. “Our contemporary take is set in the world of beauty pageants, where our protagonist performs an extraordinary magic act that leaves the audience speechless, and finally gives her her moment in the spotlight.” 

“For years I’ve been awe-inspired by the movies of Tim Burton and David Lynch, and we set out to make a film that was as visually stimulating. For that old school feel and to pay homage to filmmakers past, we shot on 35mm film, using Columbia’s Panavision camera.”

“Admittedly, at times, filmmaking feels endless, but there is such fulfillment when everyone turns up on set and works so hard together to make something beautiful. Most of our films are now in post-production, as we begin to screen rough cuts for critique amongst our classmates and professors, there is a tremendous sense of unity, as if we’ve all just come back from war. These films are like medals that we proudly wear because they are labors of love that at one point not so long ago were mere ideas on paper, and now we get to share them with the world.”