'Violentas mariposas' arrives at the Festival de Málaga with a portrait of social injustice in Mexico
Adolfo Dávila's first feature film reflects a story of love, struggle and repression
On Thursday 20th, the Festival de Málaga hosted the presentation of 'Violentas mariposas', Adolfo Dávila's first feature film. The film follows a graffiti artist and a punk band singer who, in a context of crisis and social discontent, use art and music as tools of resistance.
The post-screening colloquium was attended by the director, Adolfo Dávila; the actress Diana Laura Di; the production designer, Jorge Bujosevich; and Fernando Méndez-Leite as moderator.
Dávila, a filmmaker with an extensive career in audiovisual projects, explained that his film is not based on a single real event, but on a combination of situations that reflect the lack of justice in his country: "Beyond a specific real fact, there are many real facts combined and an intention to mix a series of situations around injustice in Mexico and the lack of justice in our country, the absolute lack of law of a failed state in that sense where there are no answers for citizens."
The director also underlined the normalisation of this impunity in Mexican society: "The basic story is that justice is not accessible to citizens in Mexico and that we have normalised this situation to such an extent that we live with the knowledge that justice does not exist."
For Diana Laura Di, 'Violentas mariposas' was her debut on the big screen: "I have always been a singer. It's my first film but not my first time singing, that was something that made me feel very confident, music is always the way where I find myself and I am able to interpret and transmit and connect with people."
However, the leap to cinema has been a challenge: "The hardest thing for me was performing in front of the camera with all the people looking at you and watching you when it's not the primary thing you do, that I couldn't solve it by singing, I had to do it by showing myself."
She also took the opportunity to praise Dávila's work: "The compliments I receive about my work I appreciate very much and I share them with my director because part of what I am achieving in my career as an actress is because we always had very transparent communication and great direction from Adolfo."
About the process, Jorge Bujosevich, production designer, highlighted the director's efforts: "Adolfo took 10 years to make the film, I came in the last 7 or 8 months and he already had a very well put together structure that I accompanied with a visual treatment. We didn't have the perfect locations required by the script and we had to adapt to what was available and to the shooting times."
With a background of social criticism, an aesthetic marked by punk and urban art, and a production process full of obstacles, 'Violentas mariposas' has been presented as a film that seeks to stir consciences and put impunity and the lack of justice in Mexico at the centre of the debate.
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