September 12, 2026 | Filed under: News
Levi Lobo, actor, writer producer and founder of ERA Cinema, returned to Albuquerque to direct the project, “Mr. Spaceship, An Adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Novelette” at ABQ Castle Studios. The project was an opportunity to work with a new hybrid technology.
The collaboration on the project happened by luck. Lobo was talking to Castle Studios and found out that they were working with Hartbeat, Kevin Hart’s production company, on a few projects.
“There was an instant friendship with Tim Pipher from ABQ Castle Studios and we all started talking about films,” Lobo recalled. “They asked me to do one with them and it was based on this Philip K. Dick book. I’m a fan of his work and ‘Blade Runner.’ It was kind of a challenge, but also exciting.”
“Mr. Spaceship” imagines a near future in which a brilliant, grief-stricken engineer — desperate to end an unwinnable war — fuses his dying mentor’s mind into a warship and accidentally creates the first conscious artificial intelligence. When the machine wakes up free, it does the one thing no one feared: instead of destroying its makers, it sets out to save them. The result is a character-driven thriller about grief, mercy, and second chances, made for the age of artificial intelligence. The film was captured almost entirely in-camera, using virtual production and live compositing to realize its most ambitious environments — deep space, the lunar surface, and the interior of a living warship — on a single Albuquerque stage.
Lobo said he was amazed at ABQ Castle Studio space.
“The space is brilliant,” he said. “Like it's truly some fascinating technology. I liken it to like a creative playground because there's really the only limitation on what you can accomplish in there is what you can think up in your head, which is a challenge in one way because traditional filmmaking, you have to go location scout, and it's really dictated on like what location you can get. But like, if you could go anywhere, like it's a completely different world. Their technology is just really exciting for that, and that's why I think sci-fi was a good direction to head with the project we ended up doing.”
Lobo and crew finished principal photography last month and are currently in post-production in Albuquerque.
“I like to edit,” Lobo admits. "The editing process is faster for me because I directed all the shots. I can jump into the edit and get a quicker rough cut, then I pass it off to somebody to polish it after that. I’m working with them on it and with their oversight to get the cut done.”
Lobo expects the film to be released within a year.
Lobo was born in Albuquerque and raised in Tijeras. His family moved to the International District when he was 10 and they ran a ministry for 10 years. His family was featured on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” when he was 14. That was one of the moments when he fell in love with the film industry. One of his priorities is to bring jobs to New Mexico.
"I mean, honestly, that's the biggest conversation I have with people, whether they're from out of state or in state,” he said. “I moved back to New Mexico in 2020. I spent four years in LA. I worked at a film studio out there. I tried to learn as much as I could because I knew I wanted to help the industry here. I knew that if we can get key creatives growing and development here, knowing what it looks like to get through development all the way to distribution, then we could build a more sustainable industry here because we have the tools, we have the creatives, we have the resources. It's just learning how to get them in the right place at the right time. New Mexico has opened up its arms to me as a young independent filmmaker. I think that that's a testament to New Mexico. It's not just about getting these big shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ or ‘Pluribus’ or 'Ransom Canyon,’ but you also can get these like small indie films from local creatives working here, and I think again that's what can build the sustainability.”