HNIFF 2023
Water Circles Under Cotton Clouds
Directed by Roberto F. Canuto, Xiaoxi Xu · Spain · 24 min · long short · narrative
In a dystopian future, with a social context influenced by various pandemics and with a political upheaval triggering reactionary governments, various young people hide on the outskirts of a city after looting a batch of vaccines. While the leaders of the group seek to sell them on the black market, the subjugated try to get their distribution among the marginal population who, like them, are deprived of vaccination. Tensions and discrimination based on sexuality or ethnicity soon arise in the group, reminiscent of past times, and that are the reflection of a society that has regressed. Desire and melancholy will mark characters stunned by a reality that is as fickle as unpredictable. ------- It is a choral short film, with characters only outlined to show their essence and with a complex intra-story. The plot focuses on the relationships between the characters: their traumas, hidden desires and dreams to fulfill, love and heartbreak, within that struggle for survival. A story with great emotional intensity that in some aspects, such as living under repression or having to hide one's social orientation, may seem from another era, but as society is evolving, it may be something that is becoming more and more present, as can be seen by the increase in attacks on the LGTBIQ+ collective today.
This film's screening window has ended.
From the director
"Our main mission is to provide emotion and feeling to the story and characters, so that the viewers later transform that feeling into reflection." The germ of the story: “The initial idea arose after observing how one of the consequences of the pandemic was the polarization of society, an aspect that is favoring retrograde political parties to come to power or achieve important advances, something that will negatively affect the most vulnerable groups, such as the LGBTIQ+ community or the immigrants population. Wars, and the need for agreements to maintain power, result in these political groups being legitimized and their discriminatory, homophobic, sexist and xenophobic ideas being validated, as we see today with the policies of various European governments and are also beginning to be perceived in Spain. In this context, we imagine a social situation with those political parties consolidated in power, which will lead to social discrimination against groups, such as the LGBTIQ+, once again being something endorsed by the institutions. It seems important to us to show today's youth that we are not so far from returning to the denigrating situation of vulnerable groups experienced by previous generations”. The narration: “It is a choral short film, with characters only outlined to show their essence and with a complex intra-story. We develop only two opposing plot axes, which focus on one hand on the complexity of relationships due to hidden desires due to social pressure, and on the other on love in its purest essence, with a touch of nostalgia. The story aspires to expand into a longer project to fully develop its narrative potential. In general, the plot focuses on the relationships between the characters: their traumas, hidden desires and dreams to fulfill, love and heartbreak, within that struggle for survival. A story with great emotional intensity that in some aspects, such as living under repression or having to hide one's social orientation, may seem from another era, but as society is evolving, it may be something that is becoming more and more present, as can be seen by the increase in attacks on the LGTBIQ+ collective today.
