I came back few days ago from my travel to Colombia where I was invited as special guest at the first anime convention in that country: SOFA 2009. Here it a brief report of what has been a great experience to me together with the new promises of cosplay in Colombia.
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May 24th 2009
Another time yet I'm flying over the ocean towards Latin America for a manga, anime and cosplay convention, I've been invited as guest for the first edition of the very new SOFA 2009 convention in Bogotà, Colombia. Like any other time me and Paolo are leaving from our city of Florence, direction: Bogotà. 14 hours of flight after, we are walking on colombian soil, but unfortunately for me, my first two days weren't so good because I felt sick by the altitude and spent most of the time on my bed with headache and nausea trying to sleep but they were not going away... U__U
The first convention day was on friday and I got the chance to go around the booths buying something to get home, taking some photo with the first attenders and lately me and Paolo had a press conference, with all colombian media asking us lots of questions about our work that we were really glad to answer because it's always good to see so many people interested and appreciating us for what we have and are doing.
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May 25th 2009
The second day was a littlebit more action for us: we arrived at the convention just after lunch and I prepared a manga cover version of Misa Amane for the occasion (finished three days before leaving). Misa Misa? Definitely my favourite character and I don't deny that I'd like to make the other 2 versions i miss in my collection of costumes! ^_^
We were just arrived and people was already pushing in front of the entrance: so many fans and so much curiosity from the audience, that was the first time an event like this was taking place in Colombia, with so many foreigner guests. Between hundreds of photos taken we were reaching the stage on the upper floor where me and Paolo again were protagonists in a long conference with the crowd. They asked us many questions, to me about my cosplayer and net model profession and what's going to happen in my future, while Paolo was answering mostly about photography curiosities. After that a presentation to the audience of the DVD"DNA Of Angel, Soul Of Devil - Francesca Dani, 10 Years On Top". Our long conference was over (and I, always moved for anything emotional they tell me, can't avoid my voice to shiver... U_U) so we announced the cosplay contest finalists that were going to compete on the day after and then we reached the booth for usual meet and greet session and DVDs and posters sale (posters were sold out on the first day!). After the booth rush hour, where I was literally overwhelmed by photos and autographs requests it was time to go back to the hotel for a well deserved rest and waiting for the next day with the cosplay contest to judge! Cheers! :)
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May 26th 2009
And so we are on the last convention day, when all the audience was waiting to see the contest finalists and me and Paolo were overwhelmed by a crowd of journalists from every part of Colombia ready with tons of questions for magazines and websites and we had to dedicate all our time and attention to them so that contest time arrived in a heartbeat and we were sitting on the jury sofa (con's name wasn't chosen by chance ;P ) to look at all the performances and give at the end our final virdict: who's gonna win? The coveted award, of the first ever colombian convention official cosplay contest wasn't just glory but, also a travel to Mexico City for the famous "TNT EXPO".
And so after the contest we gave advices to all the participants and finally unanimously choosed the winner:
Cosplayer win:CARLOS ALBERTO ESPITIA Costume:VIVI / CHOCOBO [FINAL FANTASY]
Congratulations to Carlos Alberto Espitia that besides the prize took home also pride to have posed for an official Cosplay.com shooting made by Paolo!
Between applauses and cheers from the audience towards the well deserved winner I sneak to my booth where I was glad to shake hands and sign autographs to my colombian fans for the last time... Quickly it was time to go back to the hotel, convention was closing gates and the crowd was leaving, my work (and great pleasure) was finished here. That was the very first time a convention like that was held in Colombia: it was a great honour for me to be chosen as guest for the first edition. I tryed to make everybody happy, to satisfy audience's curiosity, now I only can wish good luck to all the guys that organized it to make an even bigger success on the next editions. And considering how well organized it was I have no doubt they will, and that cosplay will become a big deal in Colombia too! :)
May 29th 2009
And so even this big adventure in Colombia was over. Another stamp on my passport and many precious memories to bring back home, I get on the plane to Italy, but I'm gonna stay there for a short time: we are leaving again in less than one month to the opposite side of the world, destination Santiago, Chile (Anime Expo Evolution II). Also this time a suitcase full of costumes and so much will to know another corner of the world and cosplayers that are part of it! :)
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Thanks to: Zantiago, Constanza and Nickolas for organizing everything excellent and giving me the great opportunity to live this amazing experience in Colombia; Paolo for his huge help as usual managing everything with media, photography, video, and translation in spanish and english; Ramon for all the help he gave us at the convention and making me dream telling me stories about his travel; Masaki for helping me dressing costumes and his support, without forgetting his video shootings; and finaly a huge thanks to everybody that came to SOFA 2009 even just to shake my hand: thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you and who knows, maybe I'll come back one day!?! :)
