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El Diablo Fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja)

The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box)
Perspectives 2025
© Odei Zabaleta
Before Mum and Dad disappeared, the Devil came and left the five siblings new shoes. Mum never wrote a farewell letter to Elsa, Marisol, Tomás and the others, she just left. Dad went to look for her and never came back, either. Grandma stayed with the children. She told them the Devil is like the flies – they settle on you when your flesh is rotting and no matter how many times you swat them away, they always come back. Grandma ripped out the doorbell, barricaded the doors with furniture and covered the windows with plastic sheets. Playing outside is now forbidden. Mum used to film the children, and would ask them from behind the camera, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and eight-year-old Elsa still wants to be a ballerina or the Pope who raises his hand on television, makes the sign of the cross and fixes everything. Eventually, the police show up, followed by social services, with the news that the children are going to get a new home. Grandma prepares a last supper and Marisol suggests that everyone burn something they love to make a wish. The fire gets bigger and the smoke rises, blurring and gradually dissolving the boundary between reality and imagination. Soon the children will be gone – or maybe not.
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by Ernesto Martínez Bucio (Director, Screenplay), Karen Plata (Screenplay)
with Mariapau Bravo Aviña, Rafael Nieto Martínez, Regina Alejandra, Donovan Said, Laura Uribe Rojas, Carmen Ramos, Bernardo Gamboa, Micaela Gramajo Mexico 2025 Spanish 97' Colour World premiere | Debut film

With

  • Mariapau Bravo Aviña (Elsa)
  • Rafael Nieto Martínez (Tomás)
  • Regina Alejandra (Marisol)
  • Donovan Said (Víctor)
  • Laura Uribe Rojas (Vanessa)
  • Carmen Ramos (Romana)
  • Bernardo Gamboa (Emiliano)
  • Micaela Gramajo (Judith)

Crew

Director Ernesto Martínez Bucio
Screenplay Karen Plata, Ernesto Martínez Bucio
Cinematography Odei Zabaleta
Editing Ernesto Martínez Bucio
Music Emilio Hinojosa
Sound Design José Miguel Enríquez
Production Design Ana J. Bellido
Casting Michelle Betancourt
Producers Carlos Hernández Vázquez, Gabriela Gavica Marrufo, Alejandro Durán

Produced by

Mandarina Cine

World Sales

Bendita Film Sales

Photos

Ernesto Martínez Bucio

© Michelle Betancourt

The director, screenwriter and editor was born in Uruapan, Mexico in 1983. He studied communication sciences followed by film at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico and has a master’s degree in filmmaking from the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in San Sebastián, Spain. His short films have premiered at high-profile festivals including Cannes, Cairo, San Sebastián and Rotterdam. He participated in Berlinale Talents in 2016.

Filmography

2011 Cenizas (Ashes); short film 2012 La Madre (The Mother); short film 2015 Las Razones del Mundo (The Reasons in the World); short film 2018 El Futuro (The Future); short film 2025 El Diablo Fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja) (The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box))

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025