The seventh day of the 27th Festival de Málaga premiered in the ZonaZine section with the screening of ‘Lumbrensueño’, a story of grief and loss of friendship. The film was directed by the Mexican José Pablo Escamilla, and stars Diego Solís and Imix Lamak.
 
The film tells the story of Lucas, an aimless boy who works making hamburgers and spends his afternoons hanging out with Oscar, his otaku friend and co-worker, who asks him to keep a mysterious box before setting off on a faraway journey. His friend's forgotten treasure will reveal the path he followed and cause Lucas to find a new way of seeing the world.
 
After the screening of the film in Hall 3 of the Cine Albéniz, there was a press conference, attended by one of the main actors, Imix Lamak.
 
Lamak told a press conference how the director asked him to watch certain anime to prepare for his character: ‘Anime plays a big part in the story as one of the main characters is an otaku. Although there were some that I had already watched, like ‘Evangelion’, he recommended me to watch ‘Akira’, since Oscar is based on one of its characters, Tetsuo. Like him, Oscar is very self-destructive’.
 
Regarding the film's references, the main one would be the ‘Poem of Gilgamesh’, but it also has references to the film ‘Children of Men’ (2006) by the Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón.
 
Finally, the actor thanked the Festival, the director and the production company Colectivo Colmena: ‘I had never left Mexico until now. I am living a dream with this film. Thanks to José Pablo, to the production company Colectivo Colmena and, of course, to the Festival for choosing us’.
 
José Pablo Escamilla is a Mexican director, editor and screenwriter born in 1988. He has directed the short films ‘El dolor fantasma’ (2013) and ‘Libélula’. His first feature film, ‘Mostro’, had its world premiere at the 74th Locarno Film Festival, winning the Boccalino D'oro. It was also included in the Zonazine section of the 25th Festival de Málaga. 'Lumbrensueño' is his second feature film, premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival, winning the Bisato D'Oro. He is currently in the process of financing ‘Adiós a Satán’, his third feature film.
 
'Lumbrensueño' had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and was later presented at the Chicago Film Festival. The film's premiere in commercial cinemas has not yet been scheduled.