Berlinal title ‘The Devil Smokes’ picked up by Bendita Film Sales

Leading Spanish arthouse sales outfit Bendita Film Sales has been designed on the international sales rights of Ernesto Martínez Bucios “The Devil Smokes” prior to his world premiere on the new Perspectives sidebar of Berlinale.

Partly written with Karen Plata, Martínez’s debut function in brother or sister relationships and how fears are passed on from one generation to the other.

‘The Devil Smokes’ takes place in Mexico City while they fight to survive, the line between reality and slightly darker begins. The grandmother, chased by creepy visions and in -depth fears, gets away further, while the grip of the children starts unraveling. After a collision with their neighbors, the brothers and sisters move even further into insulation and cut away from the outside world.

Said Bendita Film Sales CEO, Luis Renart: “We were fascinated by Ernesto Martínez Bucio’s deep personal vision of ‘The Devil Smokes’.

“His debut function portrays youth fears and family ties with rare intimacy and poetic nuance. We believe that it will make strong contact with the audience of Arthouse and find meaningful opportunities at the festival circuit, “he added.

The shorts of Martínez Bucio premiered at top festivals, including Cannes, San Sebastian and Rotterdam.

“The Devil Smokes” is Produced by Carlos Hernández Vázquez, Gabriela Gavica, and Alejandro Durán at Mandarina Cine (Mexico), With the Support of the Mexican Film Institute (Imcine), The State of Guancoa, The State of Gueroaa Filmfonds, the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola and Eafe Puentes.

With its latest acquisition, Bendita Film Sales underlines his dedication to remarkable arthouse cinema, with pickups such as Costa Rica’s Oscar collection ‘Memories of a Burning Body’, Chili’s ‘The Hyperboreans’ and Lois Patiños ‘Samsara’, to name a few .

In an exclusive interview with Variety, Martínez Bucio pushed down to making his feature debut:

It is said that working with children and animals is the most challenging for directors. What was your experience in directing them?

Directing the children was my greatest fear before he started the film. I knew it would be a challenge and I wasn’t sure if I could do well. I was enthusiastic about the scenes during the writing process, but I kept wondering: “How will I direct five children?” I knew I needed help, so we brought in actress Michelle Betancourt as a casting director. We spent two months with casting, then an acting workshop with the children for two months. She coached Michelle while filming, and I was involved in every step, did exercises, playing and filming with them. I learned a lot, enjoyed it and also faced challenges. Working with children is not difficult, but it is energy turning. Every child has a different personality and age, so you can’t approach them in the same way.

The workshop was the key. We did not rehearse film scenes, but were aimed at building trust and relationships. By the time we were on the set, the children had already tied and had the tools to switch between reality and acting.

Did they have an earlier acting experience?

Donovan, the oldest, had the most experience. Laura had been in a short film and took a few acting workshops. The three youngest – Alejandra, Mariapau and Rafael – had no acting experience at all.

What did you want to achieve with the use of different cameras?

All scenes are filmed with only one camera at the same time; We never used two at the same time. The Arri Alexamini records the present moment, the here and now. The Handycam Hi-8, on the other hand, plays with time. Sometimes it feels like memories, but it can also be later recordings. The texture of the handycam gives roughness to the image, which represents both the era and the emotional condition of the children. The recordings are also manipulated and adds another layer of meaning – there is someone behind the camera. Who is it? At some point we considered using the handycam for everything, gaps, to create mistakes – similar to how memory works.

Is the story based on personal experiences or stories you have heard?

Much of it comes from Karen – she has a great poetry book, so definitely watch it. Part of it comes from my own experiences. It is a mix of both. Memory is not pure; It is formed by imagination. We remember our concepts, not the exact details. If we remembered everything exactly as it happened, we would be like “Funes the Memorious” and be unable to live. We would need a whole day to experience one again. It is necessary to remember, regardless of how much that sounds like an Arjona number. So we approached it like this: remember, delete, take with you, invent, reinterpret. Fiction is not the same as lying; In fact, it is the opposite.

Explain the first scene with the nurse, who sets the tone for the rest of the film.

I don’t try to trust metaphors, but to materialize things. The first scene shows hands to glue broken family photos on paper and draw what is missing – someone tries to repair, reconnect. From the start there is an implicit desire. The sound of colored pencils leads to the next shot: the nurse, who leaves a car, looks somewhat sad or melancholic – we don’t know for sure. She is someone who leaves. She looks in the distance and then removes her cap as the sound of a surface and the pencils overlap. Two timelines merge and intertwined.

What themes are you interested in exploring your work?

I don’t like to approach a film with a fixed theme. We are currently working on a story about two teenage cigarette smugglers in the Basque Country in the 1980s, with friendship probably as the central theme.

But here is something that Karen wrote Plata that could better explain our approach:

‘Mother is dead, Dad has Alzheimer’s, a friend disappeared last week and they found his body this week. The world is chaos: people kill, bombs go off, crashing planes, lives are determined by where you were born, cities burn, floods swallow everything.

I always looked for someone to blame, but I’m tired of it. Debt does not understand. Understanding comes from observing, questioning our place in the world. I know this sounds big, but it’s what I believe. Our film asks if it is possible to make something beautiful out of chaos.

I hope it is. That the journey of the characters can help them see the world differently. That it is possible to recover broken things and create something new. I’m almost sure. ‘