Tecnical Info

Title: Respiración Artificial

Title in English: Breathing Machine

Duration: 110 min

Shooting Format: 16mm & Digital

Colour: Colour & Black and white

Lenguage: Spanish

Country: Mexico

Logline

Rojo, a nomad, travels through the ruins of a Mexico buried in a dystopian future. While
crossing a volcanic landscape, the inside of a whale and the deep jungle, he is witness
to this land’s technology, fragmented memories, and remnants of narcoculture. After
meeting humans and creatures, he’s invaded by a sense of permanence, creating
symbiosis with the landscape.

Synopsis

Today's Mexico is buried in a dystopian future. Among the ruins and remnants, are
traces of narcoculture, fragmented memories, echoes of the relationship with
technology, interspecies communication, and artificial intelligence.

Rojo is a nomad who has traveled for a long time through different territories with a
scanner that allows him to know the conditions and latitudes of his surroundings. While
crossing a volcanic landscape in northern Chihuahua, he arrives at some ruins where
the only being that inhabits them is a sphere that contains the artificial intelligence of a
girl. After a dream with an anthropomorphic creature, he meets Élan, an androgynous
teenager who builds a virtual jungle landscape. Élan dreams of joining a gang of
outlaws who cross the desert in tuned cars. She sees in Rojo the opportunity of finding
them and decides to join his journey. Along the way, Rojo and Élan witness the vestiges
of the history of this territory: people who have lived tormented, who have gone
missing, idolizing non-existent gods. They meet Rei, an old deaf mute who gives them
the last clue to find a territory that doesn’t appear on the scanner. Looming on the
horizon, a group of tuned cars approach, they surround them and take Élan.

Rojo, all alone, scans a lake from a canoe and falls into deep waters. He wakes up
inside of Gumma, a giant cetacean that has lived for generations. Slightly bewildered,
he begins to discover the space he’s in. He observes organs surrounding him and
realizes he’s inside something alive. Gumma engages in a conversation with Rojo and
tells him about a prior time when hunters tried capturing her, about her economic
representation for these people, and her thoughts generated in the abyss. The Icchan
volcano explodes on the surface while Gumma and Rojo are underwater. Sometime
after the explosion, Gumma lets Rojo out of her interior as she begins to sing a song
that is heard in the entire depths of the water.

Rojo comes out of a hole in the ground that connects to the Mexican jungle in southern
Chiapas. The jungle is similar to the virtual landscape that Élan built. Amongst the
vegetation Mun appears, an incandescent creature that guides him to a cabin. Sai is
inside, he’s a sick teenager who breathes artificially, connected to a machine. Rojo
observes Mun’s rituals of care towards Sai, and in this silence he’s invaded by a feeling
of permanence. Nature surrounds the cabin, the sounds and density of the jungle are
always present. One night, Mun wanders deep into the jungle, Rojo follows her until
they reach a clearing. Both of them begin to make a series of movements that gradually
become a synchronized dance. Deep in the jungle, there are glimpses of light rays that
produce shadows in the territory.

 TREATMENT

The feeling of complete darkness and absence remains for some time. A noise increases
very slowly, like a reverberation stirring within the black space. It seems that this noise
gives depth to the darkness. The feeling continues, getting longer and longer, until several
white dots start to appear very slowly. Some appear in the depth of this space, small, and
look like stars. They fill in the entire frame.

Some of the white dots in the darkness begin to accumulate. It seems that they are
forming a human figure, the volume of a body is appreciated by the points that conform it.
The small particles make a slight movement to the right. It gives the feeling that the entire
space is moving. In the depths of this place, the white particles increase and decrease in
intensity, a constant variation of luminosity. The body seems to be suspended in the
middle of the darkness. Its movements are very slow.

The reverb continues. The particles begin to disappear, only the dots that conform the
volume of a human 3D shape can be seen now. This body also seems to disappear very
slowly.

Part 1

In an uncertain future in the volcanic dystopian landscape in northern Mexico, is Rojo, a

58-year-old man with a puzzled face. He stares at a specific place, seemingly surprised.
The years can be tracked down in the cracks of his face and his messy beard. He wears a
thick worn out robe that protects him.

Rojo is sitting on some rocks with a still gaze, as if something from the landscape
absorbed his attention. Next to him are some parts of destroyed machines and cables.
The noise of some drones in the distance approaches until they pass on top of him and
create a shadow over the place they cross. When the shadow crosses him, Rojo looks
away, he looks towards the ground and remains pensive.

The volcanic landscape stretches through the scenery, the horizon line seems very far
away. The light of the place is diminishing as the night comes closer. Far in the distance
there is a group of people walking in line, one after the other. They all wear large robes
that drag on the ground and walk in the same direction. Rojo keeps a distance from them
and walks alone. Towering mountains fill the landscape.

Rojo walks in the middle of an uninhabited place. There are clothes and objects, scraps of
machines and mega structures, some corroded motors and cables. Broken wooden
structures, vestiges of some houses. In one of the structures, there is a room from which
comes a light that blinks slowly, emitting a low hypnotic sound. Rojo walks towards it at a
slow pace. Upon entering the room, his face is illuminated by the light emitted by a
sphere that is floating in the middle of the room. His eyes are fixed on the material of the
object. After some time, the sphere speaks to him, it contains the artificial intelligence of a
girl who asks him to reconnect her. Rojo does not flinch and leaves the room. Before the
last light of the day disappears, he fixes his gaze on a mountain.

Rojo climbs a hill in complete darkness, little by little he approaches a concave structure
on the mountain, some kind of cave. He feels agitated and stops for a moment to look at
the horizon. He puts some clothes on the rocks so he can lie down.

Rojo is lying on the rock formations in the middle of the cave, he tries to fall asleep
without success. His gaze is lost and stays for a long time with his eyes open. The night
sounds begin to be present, some animals are heard in the distance and the wind blows.
Slowly his eyelids begin to close.

In an apparition, Kin, an anthropomorphic creature, walks around Rojo. She has small
paintings on her eyelids, they seem to be words written around her eyes. She emanates a
constant irradiation that moves on her skin as she walks, dots of light embedded in her
body. Floating beside her is a small light that accompanies her. Kin asks Rojo about his
trip, but he doesn't want to talk about it. Kin watches him closely, as if trying to decipher
him, but Rojo gets uncomfortable, telling her that he doesn't know where he is going yet.
Kin seems amused and tells him to go find a teenage girl in the phalanstery and to
continue the journey with her. Kin and her floating light begin to fade.

During the day, Rojo walks through the landscape. He stops for a moment and takes a
small artifact out of his pocket, some kind of dark sphere. He holds it and after waiting for
a while, a light comes out quickly scanning the place. He looks down at the sphere to
read the information. It is through this scanner that he can guide himself and find places
in the territory.

In the vestiges of a phalanstery, a group of sleeping teenagers are lying on the ground in
an asterisk shape, all their heads attached to the center. Fausto, a 13-year-old,
approaches them and tickles them to wake up, but none of them do. It’s as if they were in
a profound sleep.

The place is semi empty, some teenagers are in front of a monitor, some are simply
leaning against the walls, others just sleep. The structure is made of concrete and looks
old, there are broken window panes and other artifacts scattered on the floor. The corridor
is long, with some broken walls that reveal the volcanic landscape outside, some puddles
of water are scattered on the ground.

Élan, a 14-year-old, is in the middle of a room in front of a dismantled computer screen.

She builds shapes and 3D models within a virtual space. Her body is slim and long, with
brown skin and short hair. Her appearance is completely androgynous. She moves her
fingers nimbly while continuing to build spaces, she is the architect of a virtual world. In
the room there are pictures of the natural kingdom, some of flowers and plants, full of
moisture and with the edges broken. In front of Élan's screen is an old painting that
describes the phases of the moon.

Within a virtual space, the landscape is completely full of vegetation, the are some large
structures, giant stones and buildings. Cables run from the top of the structures
connecting one to the other. The place seems cloudy and the weather changes quite fast
as does the position of the sun due to the shadows it produces. Élan changes the shape
and size of the large 3D-modeled structures into a circular piece of stone where she
places more vegetation. Plants invade the structure quickly like bacteria until it is
completely covered. Different types of plants are observed as they change shape and
grow rapidly.

Fausto, now beside Élan, builds 3D structures on another dismantled screen. Élan
receives a message that interrupts the program. “STAY WITH US, WE ARE CLOSE.
WALK.” Élan gets excited and shows the message to Fausto. Élan quickly writes a
message on the screen. "I'M WAITING FOR YOU" and sends the message.

Rojo observes the teens from one of the entrances. Élan and Fausto after a while in
silence have the feeling that someone is watching them. Together they turn their gaze to
where Rojo is. Their eyes meet. Élan looks at Rojo from top to bottom and notices the
scanner that hangs on his waist. Élan stands up and walks slowly towards him. The two
remain motionless facing each other.

Across the hall there is a room with more people sleeping bare-chested, some have their
eyes wide open. There are several fans in the room that rotate from one side to the other.
The noise from the fans seems to come together and become louder.

Élan and Rojo have left the room, Fausto continues completing his virtual world. He is
creating a character that has a dislocated body, with long arms and protruding shoulder
blades. Fausto moves his hands nimbly and the sound of his fingers is perceived as he
moves.

A storm seems to be coming. The volcanic landscape begins to fill with mist. The depth
of the space is barely noticeable. Élan and Rojo walk slowly through the haze. Élan wears
a bandana over her mouth and large goggles that cover her eyes from the dense air. A
little further back, Rojo stops for a moment and takes the scanner out of his pocket. After
waiting for a while the light comes out of the device. Rojo waves to her to go in another
direction. They continue walking as the night begins to fall.

In the last light of day, Élan stops in the middle of a mound of what appears to be a
mossy stone. She squats down and watches it closely. Slowly, she reaches out to touch
the rock and rips a small leaf from the moss. She draws it to her nose and smells it, then
to her mouth to taste it, and finally she eats it. After a while the mossy stone changes
shape slightly and a few small strands grow from the floor. Élan stares surprised. Rojo
approaches her and tells her that the territory is always changing. After crossing a few
words, Rojo says, “Don't you feel like there’s a lot of things pulling you down? What if
what is below this earth is deeper than what is above?” Élan laughs and her body begins
to move strangely, from one side to the other. She continues laughing and falls to the
ground, she tries to get up but it seems that her body does not respond to her will. Élan,
seems to be intoxicated and cheerful, she tells him that she wants a scanner like his so
she can scan and model anything on her screen device. She says with the scanner she
could finally find the group of outlaw Drifters she wants to join. She tells him that they are
looking for her. Élan begins to squint her eyes while she talks until she falls asleep on the
floor. Rojo places Élan on a kind of blanket that he begins to drag. In this way they
continue their journey. Small lights are seen along the way, tiny dots on some rocks. Rojo
seems tired.

Next to a large rock there is a transparent structure, it looks like a capsule. Rojo
introduces Élan into the structure. They can see the outside from inside. There are some
objects from another time, such as photos of a family in which people dress differently
and pots and pans to prepare food. Rojo places Élan in the middle of the capsule, sits
next to her and begins to close his eyes from exhaustion. Élan is sound asleep. The stars
in the sky blink slowly, a sound is heard from the darkness, as if time was slowly bending.

Élan wakes up in the middle of the night and stares blankly up at the sky. Slowly she
begins to move her hand to touch the ground. First the tip of her fingers touch the
ground, it seems that there is a reverberation in that place. She puts her entire hand and
stares at it thinking about what lies beneath this earth. It vibrates. She takes out her
screen device and stares at Rojo sleeping for a moment. She approaches him very
carefully and removes the scanner from him. Élan tries to connect the scanner to the
computer but it doesn’t turn on. Rojo opens his eyes and looks at Élan sleepily, she stares
at him worried, they both look at each other for a moment that seems very long. Rojo
dozes off and Élan pulls herself together, connects the scanner once more. This time it
turns on and she begins to visualize other 3D modeled territories. At a distance, a light
comes out from time to time inside the capsule. Élan's fingers can be heard programming
on her computer.

A small sphere floating in the volcanic landscape floats through the place. It passes
through the ruins, landscapes and structures that have been seen before and some new
ones. The spaces completely empty and uninhabited. As the sphere continues to
advance, a light from inside of it blinks. It passes through fields and mounds with
vegetation. Abandoned spaces where it seems that there was life at some point, fully-
served dining tables, some screens or video games on without anyone to observe them,
drones lying on the ground. It looks like the ghost town of a post-human world.

The sphere continues to float, reaching a room where Élan and Rojo are. They are in one
of those abandoned dining rooms. Time has passed, the two of them look a little different.
Rojo seems to have cut his beard a bit and his hair looks different. Élan is slightly more
grown up and wears other clothing. They have traveled quite a few territories together.
The two eat in silence and the only sound that is heard is the spoons scraping on the
plates. The two of them turn to where the sphere is, which gradually loses its light and its
shape until it disappears. Élan asks Rojo "How is the territory today?" They talk about the
place they want to get to, a place they can't find on the map, that can't be found with the
scanner. Élan, after being silent for a while, begins to sing a narcocorrido, a smile appears
on her face. Élan approaches Rojo and asks him to join her in a dance, Rojo is reluctant at
first, but she insists until she manages to get him to his feet. Together, in a somewhat
awkward way, they perform a characteristic dance of northern Mexican music. Rojo can't
help but smile a little.

While they dance, Élan sings: “Out of curiosity I gave it a puff / And the worst of the case
was that I liked it / And now I don't want to go down / They will always see me up high / I
am the kid that at the age of 14 got entangled in the mafia/ I crowned my first pull / And
they released me to fill a truck / And I began to score goals to the gringos / To the
government I went unnoticed / Everything is under control / I always live on point and
laid-back / I move stuff in the Tijuana Border / Through San Diego and Culiacán / They
will see me very often / The packages are clear / Not even the dogs are going to be able
to sniff / I was gaining respect among the people / Those who did not give a single dime
now give twenty / We are a common breed / At the rhythm of trap I feel like burning / My
pulse accelerates from speed / The jane must not be missing / Give me Kush to roll… ”

Élan and Rojo cross the volcanic landscape, they observe in the distance a group of
people with dark robes that are walking in a caravan through the desert. They approach a
desert ruin far from the others. Before entering the structure, Rojo scans the place. Inside
is Rei, a rather tall and thin old woman, her limbs look giant. Her corporality looks a little
hunched and her skin is marked by age. She turns to see them, and without flinching
walks towards the depths of the ruins. Rojo and Élan follow her.

They arrive at what appears to be her home. Rei asks them to show her their artifacts.
Rojo shows her the scanner, Élan brings her screen device closer, and shows her some
objects that she built in her virtual world. The place where Rei lives looks like an old mega
structure, it is full of cables scattered on the ground, some machines that seem inert and
others that flicker. There are metal bowls scattered all over the floor with some food
scraps. Rei in sign language begins to say something: "I want her to build me a mountain
in my virtual landscape." Rojo remains serious and thoughtful. He turns to see Élan and
he translates for her. Élan tells him to translate for Rei this: "I'll build it for you, help me
send a message."

Rei slowly begins to search for something among a mountain of objects and spare parts.
Between the tumult she takes out a kind of board with a circle in the middle, it seems
quite old and contains some drawings and lines carved on the wood. She places it on a
table and in sign language tells Rojo to tell Élan that she can write her message using the
letters on the board. Élan approaches incredulous after Rojo translates and she begins to
put together a sentence with letters and some numbers, it seems that what she writes are
also the coordinates of some place. After carefully moving and searching among the old
letters on the board, she stares silent at what she just wrote. Rei tries to speak and with
her voice she barely manages to say anything. Rojo and Élan look at her.

As night falls, after spending more time inside Rei's place, Élan begins to build the
mountain little by little in a virtual way, her fingers are heard on the keyboard and the light
of the screen covers her face. She thoroughly models each part of the mountain, places
some plants and vegetation on top of the rocks, creates tiny plants. The landscape is a
jungle and she places some dense fog. Night falls. Rojo and Rei sleep while Élan
continues working. The night grows long, the stars shine in the sky.

During dawn Élan goes out for air. In the silence, one can only hear her breathing and the
last sounds of the night giving way to light. On the horizon a cloud of dust is observed.
Élan watches closely as the dust rises above the horizon line, the cloud gets bigger and
bigger and seems to be getting closer. The figures look abstract until they get closer to
where Élan is. Rojo emerges from the ruins and stares at the horizon with Élan. The
engines of the cars begin to be perceived. Élan realizes that the ones coming from the
horizon are the group of Drifters she has been looking for. Élan screams euphorically and
begins to laugh and scream in the air.

The group of seven tuned cars are approaching at full speed, their headlights on,
illuminating the darkness at dawn. They have their faces covered, and around three
people are inside each car. The balaclavas they wear do not let them see their faces, only
their gaze fixed on the horizon. One of the cars is skidding in the desert, the dust cloud is
getting bigger and bigger. The cars are old Japanese models, Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7,
Mazda MX-5 Miata, Subaru Impreza 22B, Honda Civic, Honda Integra Type R. They are
illuminated inside and the light inside the cars contrasts with the darkness that remains at
dawn. Their clothes look like those of ancient narcos, they wear vests and have all kinds
of bags hanging from their bodies. The Drifters shift smoothly and the car speedometers
mark the changes.

When the Drifters arrive by Élan, they surround both of them, the thundering engines are
more present as they surround them. A cloud of dust rises and it grows more intensely as
the cars continue to envelop Rojo and Élan. The lights of the cars seem to fight the dust
cloud. Élan climbs into one of the cars, her face peeks out of the car window and she
starts screaming. Her face glows with immense happiness and a sinister smile appears,
she continues screaming, but her face begins to turn different. She passes from joy to
crying, her face is slightly deformed and she cannot contain the crying, it seems like she
is still laughing but crying inconsolably. The cars keep turning. The other Drifters also start
screaming in the dust. Rojo tries to follow her with his eyes. The Drifters after circling Rojo
turn in another direction and continue on their way. Élan sticks her head out of the car
trying to look at Rojo.

Part 2

Rojo walks alone in the desert dawn, in the distance there are some clouds of dust that
the Drifters left on their way. His face is uncertain, he seems happy, but at the same time
part of his trip is gone with Élan. As if the sun resisted to rise, the dawn continues while
Rojo walks in silence. He reaches a lagoon that is in the middle of the desert between the
hills and volcanoes that make up the landscape. On the shore some canoes are tied to a
stick buried in the ground. Very slowly Rojo approaches one of them, and tiresome, he
climbs into a canoe that has a paddle inside. Slowly, he paddles towards the center of the
lagoon.

After cruising for a while on the water, he sits motionless, as if he was expecting
something. He listens to some insects from the lagoon and the sound of the current
hitting the wooden canoe. Suddenly he swings his body, turns the canoe over and falls
into the water.

Slowly he begins to descend into the depths of the lagoon, his body slowly rocks as he
falls into the void. His eyes are closed and the sound of bubbles coming out of his body
are heard. The scarce light from the surface begins to fade. Only bubbles and the
reflection of his body disappearing deep can be seen.

In the middle of the darkness and after being silent for a while a series of creatures begin
to appear in the water, they are translucent animals and creatures. They don’t emit or
absorb light, but light passes through them, revealing their inner colors, family of
cranchiidae, enypniastes and colored fish, of all ranges. At first they seem to be very few,
but after some time, dozens begin to appear in the dark. They all have a colored and
transparent barrier that surrounds their body. They look fragile but very beautiful. As more
appear, they unite in some groups and begin to have similar movements, as if they were
one being that dances in the water. There are others who swim alone, lost in the
darkness. A noise comes out for the insides of these creatures, like bells that mix with the
sound of water. The sound of the water increases, as if all the water in this place fell into a
hole, the noise becomes thunderous.

Everything is dark. Rojo’s breath is heard in the middle of that darkness, the sound is no
longer aquatic, but it becomes concave. The sound of live organs is heard, as if some
liquid were running down the walls. Rojo takes out his scanner and after a moment a light
comes out that scans the place. That fraction of a second reveals the interior of this place
for the first time. Rojo is inside something alive. The space isn’t small but not too large,
the walls are made of live organs that move slowly, there is a kind of throbbing and
breathing within the place. It looks like a compartment created artificially and organically.

Rojo presses a series of buttons on his scanner until a constant light comes out of it and
he places it on the organic ground. The light reveals the living walls, full of a series of
scars and embedded objects, some objects scattered on the water covered ground.
There are some devices and remains of clothing, pieces of wood and some harpoons that
belonged to another time.

In the depths of the lagoon, a giant body is observed, an enormous texture with a blue-
gray color and a series of protuberances throughout the body. It is Gumma, a cetacean
that has lived for generations. Her body continues to swim slowly through the water. Her
eyes have a series of formations around them. The thickness of her skin is evident,
revealing the many years that she has lived.

Inside Gumma, her incredibly deep voice is heard, she speaks to Rojo: "What are you
doing here?" Her voice resonates throughout her interior and exterior. She speaks slowly
but her words are clear. Rojo replies: "I don't know, this place is not on the scanner."
Gumma says: “There are places that don't exist, there are places that are not on the map,
the best places never are. You are not the first or the last to be here.” Red responds: "Do
you speak other languages?" Gumma: "Of course, I know almost all of them. Do we learn
more from the language of machines than from our mothers?" They continue talking and
introduce themselves to each other.

Rojo moves through her insides as they speak. At times there is silence and only the
breathing of both is heard. Gumma laughs and everything inside her sways, making Rojo
amused. Gumma has a peculiar personality, she is quite entertaining but carries an
impressive wisdom. She does not have any definite sex, she is only a creature.

Gumma and Rojo continue talking. From the outside, translucent creatures follow them in
the water. Gumma's body moves slowly, floating, as if her weight of a giant cetacean
propelled her. The sounds of the abyss and the immensity of water are heard, like a
reverberation that inhabits the space. Her tail moves slowly, it is also covered in scars.

They continue talking, time seems as if it didn’t exist. Gumma talks to Rojo: “A human is
moving through the territory. This doesn't mean anything except that, like a harpoon,
once thrown, it will arrive.” Puzzled, Rojo asks: “What are you made of?” Gumma replies:
“Everything is an abstraction, it is just the matter in things.” Gumma tells stories of
cetaceans, of a city full of pieces of whales, with humans running from one side to the
other in gold suits and shiny teeth. She tells him how the whales pulled boats to the
depths of the water to show them the world below. Gumma continues: “The humans
embarked and sought immortality by chasing us, but when they found us they found
nothing, they just fell into the deep and their bodies became oysters, their open eyes
looked towards the surface of the sea, and became another meal that fed the deep
waters" .

Rojo listens attentively and slowly begins to look tired. He is falling asleep and lies down
on the inside of the cetacean. He rests calmly, Gumma continues swimming through the
seascape, the darkness of the abyss makes almost everything imperceptible, only her
body is heard moving through the waters, and the sound that she emits every so often.

After continuing for a while on the water, a noise is heard on the surface. The noise is
deafening and everything inside the cetacean and in the water trembles. The vibration
remains constant, and after a short time another burst like this is heard. The sound seems
hollow because it comes from the surface, but the vibrations go through all the bodies
under water. Rojo wakes up and Gumma is motionless. Gumma tells him: "It is the
eruption of the volcano, which sets it all on fire and confuses everything." The two remain
silent as the show continues, some lights can be seen through the surface of the water.
The sound of the volcano eruption continues. Rojo wonders how it would feel like to be a
volcano or be inside one.

After waiting a long time in silence, Gumma asks Rojo if he can take something from
inside of her to an old friend. Rojo nods, Gumma tells him: "It's in the back of my interior,
as deep as you can get, it will be there. It is a rock that has its own light, you will not
confuse it when you see it.” Rojo begins to walk towards the back of Gumma, the further
in he goes, the darker it gets. There are some objects scattered on the organic ground. In
the dim light, there is a little sparkle of light that jingles out of one of the organ walls. He
approaches and takes it with his hand, covers it with a handkerchief and puts it inside his
dark robe.

He returns to the widest part of Gumma. He crosses some words with her and she opens
her mouth, where suddenly everything darkens, and the water enters. Rojo is submerged
again by the water and very slowly begins to float towards the outside, he can not control
his body and little by little he heads towards the surface. Gumma laughs angrily at the
strangeness of Rojo’s tiny body.

As Rojo rises very slowly, Gumma with her rumbling voice begins to sing a song in a
different language, resonating throughout the depths. Gumma seems melancholic.

Part 3

Gumma’s song continues as Rojo's body slowly rises to the surface. The song is heard
further and further away. The sound mixes with that of a recording, like if someone is
testing an audio recorder. It is Élan’s voice that is heard in a voice over.

From a hole in the middle of the earth of the jungle in the south of Chiapas, Mexico,
Rojo's body begins to appear, gradually pushing out against the earth and mud, as if he
were crossing from one place to another. Little by little his body comes out completely
from the hole and he stands in the middle of the deep jungle. He remains motionless
looking at his surroundings. The sound of the jungle is dense, insects can be heard. The
rain begins to fall. Rojo's body remains motionless as the rain falls on his body, he raises
his face a little so that the rain also falls on his face.

Rojo remains still. Meanwhile, Élan's audio in voice over begins. "... I hope you can hear
this ... I came to the territory that didn’t appear in your scanner, when I left with them I felt
incredibly alive, now I have a car that I would like to show you someday ... the desert has
been my home and now I feel that little by little I know this place more, I suppose you
heard that the Icchan Volcano exploded, it was an impressive spectacle…”

As Élan's audio continues, Rojo pulls out a few things from his long dark robe and tucks
them into his pockets. He leaves his garment under a ceiba pentandra and begins to walk
through the jungle as the night begins to fall.

Élan continues speaking through the sound recorder, her voice-over is heard: “… I found
other ways to trace the territories, and it is true, what is buried in this earth is deeper than
what there is towards the sky. I feel very fragile, I feel a small hole in my stomach, another
in my arm and the other I can't find, as if all the liquid inside me is leaving. I need a mirror,
something where I can reflect… ” Élan continues narrating, she describes the place she
arrived at and the shapes of the creatures that were in the place, she narrates how she
got her car and briefly describes the operation of the engine. Rojo enters the middle of
the jungle, his face becomes tiresome. He takes slow steps, his body can be seen now
without the robe, he is slim and strong, the years marked on his flesh. Élan's narration
starts fading into the jungle. He continues walking in the middle of the jungle, there are
sounds of animals of all kinds, some seem to run nimbly beside him and disappear.

After a while walking in the darkness of the jungle, he hears the sound of a vase filling
with water. Curious, he changes direction searching for the sound. Slowly and taking care
of each step he takes, he reaches the place where the sound comes from. At a distance,
he observes Mun, an anthropomorphic creature with completely dark skin who seems to
radiate a yellow light around his naked body, like a small aura that covers him. The light is
constantly flickering, sometimes it is more intense than other times. Mun holds a clay
vase with some inscriptions and painted drawings. The vase slowly fills with the water
coming from one of the rocks. Mun is tall and slowly moves his body from side to side
while waiting for the vase to finish filling up.

Mun begins to walk away slowly and takes calculated steps with the full vase. He slowly
enters the jungle. Rojo stares at him in amazement and doesn't take his eyes off him,
trying not to make any noise. He begins to follow Mun. The two walk stealthily through the
middle of the deep jungle, and the moonlight illuminates their path. Mun is like a candle
that lights the depths of a cave with his warm aura-like irradiation. Mun stops for a
moment and slowly turns his entire body to look back, he stares silently for a moment, his
breathing is heard and he lets out a sigh. He continues walking, while Rojo continues to
follow him stealthily.

Along the path, there is a cabin in the distance. Little by little Mun gets closer to that
place. His bare feet touch the ground and the vegetation. Rojo looks at him curiously.
Mun slowly enters the cabin in the middle of the jungle. Some lights can be seen from
inside of it. The cabin looks like a capsule made of acrylic, metal, and wood. Rojo after
waiting a while outside in silence, decides to enter the capsule.

The place seems very dark, the silhouettes of the bodies are hardly marked. Rojo looks
around. After waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he begins to observe the
objects inside. In the middle of the room is Sai, a teenager lying on a bed. Rojo slowly
approaches him, and observes that the teenager is connected to a series of machines
that allow him to breathe. The machine covers the entire room and supports Sai's delicate
body.

The room begins to light up as Mun approaches from the other side. Rojo looks at him
attentive and Mun reaches where Sai is. In a small container he gives him water to drink.
Sai doesn't open his eyes, it seems like he's not there. Rojo slowly asks Mun what does
he have. Mun responds without taking his eyes off the teenager and tells him about the
different organisms that exist in the jungle. He speaks slowly and with long silences in
between each phrase. He says that some organisms exist in tiny forms and have different
needs, some find other bodies to inhabit. The Agami organism is the one inside of Sai.
Rojo watches the adolescent's naked body, it has a series of inscriptions, like bites made
by a creature covered in ink all over his skin, including his face. Mun says that the Agami
have put Sai's body in a trance, that he is now neither in this world nor in any other. He
tells Rojo that they must wait for the body to want to inhabit another space.

Silence invades the room and only the machine is heard, Sai's breathing. Mun slowly
pours water onto a handkerchief. Gently he begins to clean Sai's body, the inscriptions
and ink bites are not erased as he wipes the body with the handkerchief. He does it with
patience and Mun’s movements are full of affection. Rojo stares attentively, his face turns
a little different, as if suddenly a revelation crossed his mind. Mun continues to clean the
languishing body of the teenager. Mun asks Rojo if he came to help him. Rojo does not
respond. Mun immediately asks Rojo to bring more water from the stone where he first
saw him. Rojo tries to hide his surprise, he thought that the creature had not seen him. He
takes one of the vases and leaves the cabin.

He enters the jungle again, his face seems distorted. He looks at the sky and seems a bit
calmer. When he reaches the rock where water comes out, he notices there are several
glass containers around a kind of stream. Rojo approaches the water on the ground and
watches a few small fish swimming fast. He takes one of the glass containers and
immerses it in the water trying to catch some of the fish. He makes several attempts until
he succeeds, catches a pair of Rocio cf octofasciata and a tiny Mexican Poecilia. He
takes the glass container with both hands and observes the fish as they move. He fills
the vase in the little spring that comes out of the rock and heads back to the capsule.

When he returns he sees that Mun is outside on the ground with a device. Mun places his
ear against the ground, as if trying to hear something coming from within. Rojo asks
about the artifact and Mun tells him that it is an underground scanner which he can use to
measure inwards, but the numbers it gives are always uncertain, because "The interior
here cannot be measured." Mun places a series of metal extensions at various points in
the terrain around the cabin. Rojo helps to connect them. While they work, Mun talks to
him about the jungle. He tells him that this is the place of resistance, where there were no
ruins, the place where they were always afraid to come, "Here organisms are not
autonomous, there is another relationship with death.” Rojo asks about Sai: “Is there a
cure?” Mun is silent and then tells him a brief story about the place, about the Humans
who coexisted with the Agami. There was a human who could see the tiny organisms,
until one day they inhabited his body and little by little the Agami ate his tissues and his
entire body disappeared. Rojo slowly approaches Mun, takes a piece of cloth from one of
his pockets, opens reveals the stone form inside the cetacean. Mun smiles slightly and
says "Gumma" in a deep voice.

Rojo enters the cabin and places the glass container with the fish on a piece of furniture
in front of Sai. The fish move lightly, as if trying to know the dimensions of their new
space. Rojo watches them from afar. Sai's breathing invades the entire room. Rojo thinks
for a moment, staring at the fish. He approaches the teenager, brings his face close to
Sai’s body. With his fingertips he touches one part of his arm and slides his fingers until
he reaches Sai’s face. Outside, Mun finishes placing the metal extensions on the ground
and walks off to the jungle. Rojo observes this and follows him.

Rojo and Mun walk for a long time side by side in silence. The sound of their steps and
the leaves they break are heard, the sounds of the jungle and insects accompany them.
They continue walking until they reach a clearing, Rojo stops at that moment and Mun
approaches the center of the place. Mun remains motionless in the center and slowly
begins to move his body, he slowly does a series of steps and movements. He moves his
arms from one side to the other while doing a leg extension. Rojo doesn’t understand
what is happening and slowly approaches the center of the clearing. Standing in front of
Mun, hesitant, he begins to imitate the same movements, little by little he raises his arms
and moves around the clearing. It seems as if the two go into a trance, in sync. Both
move their arms and bodies from one side to the other slowly. As they continue the
dance, they look into each other's eyes for a second and continue with the routine. Their
bodies, like a mirror, imitate each other’s movements precisely. The two dance in the
middle of the jungle and the sound of nature surrounds them.

Deep in the jungle the sun's rays fight to touch the surface. The light produces shadows
throughout the territory, an endless number of trees and darkness mix in the landscape.
Animals and small organisms inhabit the place, trees are covered with different forms of
vegetation. The wind and sound of the jungles increases, it seems as if everything is
contained within this space.

THE END
Director’s biography and filmography

Clemente Castor (Mexico City, 1994)

He received a grant from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts
(FONCA) of Mexico to study at the Sarajevo Film Academy in Bosnia
Herzegovina, founded by Hungarian director Béla Tarr. He studied
Latin American Literature at the Iberoamericana University (UIA, in
Spanish). Also, he participated in the Mantarraya film workshop, in
Mexico City. He is currently studying a master's degree in contemporary art at SOMA,
Mexico. He was selected for the Berlinale Talents-Guadalajara 2019. His feature film
“Prince of Peace” received the award for best Mexican movie at FICUNAM and had its
International premier at FidMarseille 2019 where it obtained the special mention of the
international competition and special mention of the Centre National des Artes Plastiques
(CNAP). As well, the film was presented at the Lincoln Center in NY as part of the
Neighboring Scenes 2020 program and was part of Tate Modern 2020 Cinema
Programme . It was also in the official competition at festivals like Viennale, Mar del Plata
Film Festival, Márgenes and others. He has directed several short films, which have
participated in national and international film festivals. Also, he works as a contemporary
artist and has presented his installations in some independent spaces and in
contemporary art museums like Biquini Wax EPS, Queretaro Art Museum, Baxter St NY,
Soma, Queens L.A and others.

- Silencio (Silence), Short Film (2016)

- Resplandece (Glow), Short Film (2017)

- Príncipe de Paz (Prince of Peace), Feature Film (2019)

- Fantasma, animal (Ghost, Animal), Short Film (2020)

https://clementecastor.com/
Director’s Note

I’ve been an otaku ever since I can remember. Through anime and manga I’ve been able
to approach different genres such as science fiction. This genre has allowed me to travel
to other worlds, accompany certain concerns and ask questions about the relationship
with other creatures and spaces.

In this sense, I see science fiction as the possibility of thinking and speculating about
other types of scenarios, interactions and representations, different kinds of orders and
catastrophes. There are always other questions that you can ask to appeal to the
imagination. It allows us to observe problems from another point of view. Science fiction
has become the genre of the crisis.

Especially in a country like Mexico in which a collective imaginary about violence has
been created. There’s a latent terror in the territory, in open spaces. A country framed by
uncertainty and despair. Where forced disappearances break the social fabric.
Fragmented memories, bodies that are no longer here, which leave a physical and internal
empty space. It’s a constant image war, an internal colonialism. The time’s spirit is fear.

I am interested in creating a science fiction that does not belong to an axis of domination
or contains some discourse of power and knowledge. I want to create one that allows the
overflow of meaning and creates a disturbance zone. I like the idea of Latin American
science fiction, baroque and low-budget, like the films and works of Adirley Queiros,
Tsutomu Nihei, Georgi Daneliya, and Cécile B. Evans. Logics of science fiction that do not
appeal to the most advanced technology, but appeal to their own means and needs. A
science fiction in resistance.

The film takes place in the northern and southern parts of the country. I am interested in
the Mexican landscape, especially the territories outside the city due to the burden they
carry. Like the volcanic and desert landscape in the north, in Chihuahua, and the deep
jungle in the south, in Chiapas. The idea of creating a dystopian future, where everything
we know today, where all our history and terror is now buried in this place of fiction. The
remains of our culture become fossils of history. We belong to a landscape and not a
country. The future is made with the scraps and fragments of the modern city that was
never actually accomplished, but was a dream that became a nightmare.

Due to the film’s nature of speculation, there is a continuous play with technology, artificial
intelligence, the creation of virtual worlds, 3D modeling and images. There is a very
beautiful hypothesis by Hito Steyerl, where she says: “What would happen if all the
images revolt and at that moment an uprising occurs and at that moment all images are
transformed into dead objects? Aerial and stock market surveillance screens explode
while images shake off the servitude of significance, iphones and directed telescopes
become dead rocks. At this point, it is not about the images of the bodies that are
transformed into stone, resin or plastic, but of the image itself, its carrier, which acquires a
body, an extension and a volume. It is not about spreading what she shows, but her own
material substance.”

This is how I conceive technology in this fiction, as autonomous bodies that transform
and maintain another type of relationship with humans. The technology in fiction is
dislocated from its function as prosthetics; it has transmuted and is now autonomous.

Will we be able to live in virtual worlds built by ourselves? I believe we will and our bodies
can learn from spaces, colors, time and contradictions.

I am very interested in the idea of passing through places, of always walking through
territory, of constant transit. In Mexico there are an endless number of people in
continued displacement, whether from Central America to reach the United States, from
within the country trying to escape the violence, or those who move to the city searching
for other opportunities: migration. It’s a land where there are people in constant transit, it
has become a heterotopic territory. We live within a network of relationships that outline
places that are irreducible to each other. We’re in transit for different reasons, intentions,
economies and needs.

In the last part of the movie I’d like to talk about what a body means. What it means to
inhabit a body and the permanent loss of it, whether it’s due to illness or violence. In this
case there is a story where a sick teenager is cared for by a creature, there is a love / care
relationship between these two species. A bond through company is created in this
hypothesis of ‘the end’. There is also a sense of interconnectivity and symbiosis with the
surroundings. These thoughts take into account the kind of relationships that Donna
Haraway poses and those that communities have in southern Mexico, in the jungle of
Chiapas. These are relationships of care and coexistence with the nature that surrounds
them. To think of creature and human as hybrids; as creatures of social reality and fiction.
By moving the human being away from the center of all things, criticisms such as the
Anthropocene, after called Capitalocene and its subsequent sub forms, help to formulate
the questions and discern the meaning of this last part, where communication with other
kinds of species and environments begin to occur gradually until a kind of symbiosis is
created.

My job as director will be to guide the characters through spaces, thus creating this
fictional environment where the plot unfolds. This while going into the history of each
territory and tearing apart the projections created of the future or its nightmares. The
structure of the film is divided into three parts, playing with the notion of territoriality,
virtual space and landscape. There is a rupture in regards to the linear idea of space /
time and a mixture of representation between the natural and the lively.

We have to go back to the territory, go through it and from there, sow a new narrative,
and reconstruct a new story.

Director's visual concept and artistic approach

This film is full of different formats and aesthetic approaches, every moment is clearly
separated in three parts of fiction. Each part corresponds to a territory where the
characters are currently traveling. There is a constant game between the organic and the
artificial part of the fiction, the camera is looking for plastic stuff, the materiality of objects
to transform these territories into dystopian landscapes of contemporary Mexico. The aim
is to create a setting where the science fiction landscape is justified and that despite the
fact that the territories are very different from each other, there is a spirit that unites them.

The first part of the film will be shot in northern Mexico, specifically in the volcanic
landscape of Chihuahua’s desert. It will be shot in 16mm doing a blow up in 35mm in
post production. The intention with this is to create a strange and atemporal landscape.
Shooting in film will help achieve different textures and shadows that are not possible to
get with a digital camera. In this desert there are ruins and remnants of obsolete
technology; this is one of the major challenges of the art department. We want to create
the images of collapsed technology, drone pieces and scattered cables, like cyberpunk
ruins buried in the desert’s past.

The clothes of the characters are from another time. Rojo, the protagonist, is a nomad
that travels through the desert with a dark robe that covers him from the cold nights and
hot days. There are several people in this world that wear similar clothes. Élan is the
teenager that follows Rojo in the first part of the film, she looks different than the other
inhabitants of the desert. She dresses with lighter and ripped clothes, details that remind
us of teenage characters in anime’s science fiction. Some of the clothing will have
touches of Mexican culture, a kind of syncretism in the wardrobe. To create these pieces
of clothing and locations, we will make a concept art of the entire world that the fiction
takes place in.

The film always plays with animation. Some characters have a small translucent particle
or sphere that follows them around; Élan also has the ability to create 3D structures. All of
these will be produced by VFX artists who have been advising us with the best way to film
these scenes to achieve the best quality animation. Putting as an example the animation
of one of the spheres (the one that has the artificial intelligence of a little girl inside it), the
aim is to achieve an organic animation, the aesthetic we look for is far from hyper-
technology, instead we are looking for a hybrid looking sphere, a mixture between organic
and virtual. It is also important to mention that we are not aiming for the animation to look
realistic or to try to imitate the CGI from Hollywood. We want to create this baroque
science fiction world assuming the post production risks it takes, we don’t want to imitate
pre-established models. In my last pieces of work as an artist, I’ve played with animation
and textures and have had the opportunity to connect with different contemporary
animation artists. I want to do the same with this project.
The second part of the film will be shot digitally and it takes place inside a whale. The
challenge here is to create a set that looks like the interior of the whale, aiming for an
organic look, it will seem as if the set is alive. We will work with endless types of textures
and materials to create the big walls of the insides of a whale. The cetacean will be
animated virtually from the outside, playing again with the virtual and the real world.

The third and last part of the film will be shot in the jungle of Chiapas in southern Mexico.
An anthropomorphic creature will appear there. The creation of these characters is very
important because in these science fiction world there are interspecies relationships. We
want to make them as endemic characters, once again playing with the artificial and the
organic. We want to show different types of bodies and appearances.

Through out the film the camera will be very static, but at some moments it will follow the
characters closely inside their territories. We will shoot with angular lenses that’ll allow us
to observe carefully the actions in the scene. Also, it’ll wander through the spaces as a
subjective point of view. The lighting we are looking for is one that allows us to look into
the darkness, to see the shapes that are behind the shadows.

The sound design will help tie up the fiction. We will focus on the sounds of the jungle and
the nights at the desert. It will give voice to Gumma, the giant whale, and it will
encapsulate the silent moments of the film and the organic sounds of machines and
creatures.
Porducer’s biography and filmography

Producer

Jaime Francisco Romandía Creel (Mexico, 1969)

He founded Mantarraya Producciones in 1998, which serves as a

platform for the new generations of filmmakers. In 2005 he was
named one of the “10 producers to look for” in Variety magazine.
Jaime Romandía has produced more than 35 films in almost 20
years, 16 of which have been first feature films.

Romandía has more than 130 international awards. Seven of his productions have been
released in the "Official Selection" at the Cannes Film Festival, receiving the following
awards at the festival: Special Mention for the Golden Chamber (2002) with Japón, the
FIPRESCI Award (2005) with Sangre, the Jury Prize (2007) with Silent Light and the Best
Director Award in two consecutive years (2012 and 2013) with Post Tenebras Lux and
Heli (by Carlos Reygadas and Amat Escalante). The Untamed (Escalante) won the Silver
Lion at the 2016 Venice International Film Festival.

Two of his productions have been chosen by the Mexican Film Academy to represent
the country in the Academy Awards: Silent Light and Heli.

Selected Filmography:

- Nuestro Tiempo (Our time) 2018. Dir. Carlos Reygadas.

- La Región Salvaje (The Untamed) 2016 Dir. Amat Escalante.

- Jauja, 2014. Dir. Lisandro Alonso.

- Heli, 2013. Dir. Amat Escalante.

- Post Tenebras Lux, 2012. Dir. Carlos Reygadas.

- Los Bastardos, 2008. Dir. Amat Escalante.

- Stellet Lich (Silent Light), 2007. Dir. Carlos Reygadas.

 Producer

Susana Bernal Uribe (Mexico, 1983)

Producer, director and photographer, a Film Direction graduate from

the University Center for Cinematographic Studies in National
Autonomous University of México (CUEC-UNAM). She has been
mentored by artists such as Antoine D’Agata, Carlos Jurado,
German Herrera, Daniel Mendoza, Eve Heller, and Naomi Uman. Was awarded the Young
Creators Program scholarship 2012-2013 and Cultural Co-investment 2014-15 by the
National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA) with her feature documentary “Nararachi”,
which premiered in Morelia Film Festival 2015. She has produced short and feature films
which have won national and international awards. Also, she produced the TV series
“Pequeños Guías” (“Young Guides”) for Channel Eleven Mexico, which won Festival Com
Kids–Prix Jeunesse  Iberoamerican in 2015. She produced the film “Panamerican
Machinery” by Joaquin del Paso which premiered in Berlinale Forum 2016 and won many
national and international awards. She was selected as alumni of Talent Campus in
Berlinale 2019. She is currently producing “Hashtag Mickey” a feature documentary by
Betzabé García and developing “Ana doesn´t want to be seen dancing” by Gabriel
Herrera, selected in the script station for Berlinale 2019 and “Breathing Machine” by
Clemente Castor. She currently lives and works in Mexico City.

Filmography:

- Hashtag Mickey. Imcine - Sundance (Post-production) 2020. Dir. Betzabé García

- The Motorcyclist’s. Short Fiction (Post-production) 2020. Dir. Gabriel Herrera

- Anna Doesn’t Want To Be Seen Dancing. Feature Fiction (In development) 2020. Dir.
Gabriel Herrera

- Panamerican Machinery. Feature fiction, 2016. Dir. Joaquin del Paso

- Narachi. Feature Documentary, 2015. Dir. Susana Bernal

Producer’s statement

I’m very interested in working with young filmmakers that propose untraditional projects
and have a refreshing and necessary voice. I have seen Clemente’s work closely ever
since he started as an alumni in our film school, where we encouraged the use of new
narratives and new ways to make cinema. He did his first feature film “Prince of Peace”,
a bold and profound piece of work that has had an amazing reception in Mexico and
internationally.

“Breathing Machine” interests me because it’s a project that’s unafraid to take risks and
to imagine new worlds. I see this movie as necessary because of the topics it touches
and how it achieves to make a statement about current problems in our country
through fiction. Using different types of media, animation and different locations,
Clemente achieves through an aesthetic statement, to describe the contemporary
Mexico and the one that’s been buried with the passing years.

As a producer I’ve had the opportunity to work in many films, and with my experience I
have developed the capacity to tell what projects have an interesting and atypical
vision. Since I first heard about “Breathing Machine”, I was able to notice the new voice
of a filmmaker and a complex science fiction story that hasn’t been told in Mexico,
that’s why I didn’t hesitate to be part of this project.



This movie is an ambitious production that develops in a Latin-American context, but
with my experience as a producer I know that it will be a film that’ll make an impact and
have a very satisfactory end result.

I completely trust Clemente’s vision as a director and I’m sure we will make an
outstanding team.

Sincerely, 



Jaime Romandía
In my work, my biggest passion is bringing to life ideas and dreams. When I saw
Clemente´s first film, “Principe de Paz” (Prince of Peace) I felt his sincere gaze and
great talent to create atmospheres and feelings. The characters in the film seem to be
drawn out of their real context and taken into another dimension where he transported
the essence of that reality. A solid first film that depicts a unique gaze in a new
generation of Mexican filmmakers. 



As a producer, I am always searching for projects that go beyond limits and challenge
the viewer with an experimental visual narrative and unimagined worldviews. I am a big
fan of anime and science fiction because it questions humanity in extreme contexts
when displacing the present. Clemente’s new project “Breathing Machine” a dystopian
science fiction about a post-apocalyptic Mexico, defies and questions the viewer
pushing the limits of fiction and reality. For me, this is a unique and daring project that
plays with the current reality that we face as Mexicans, living in a constant state of fear
and trying to humanly communicate with the others through technology in spite of the
narco-war that is happening. 



Clemente’s film is necessary in times where technology is the basis of communication
and we need to question our role as humanity to find new ways of community. Few
people have dared to make science fiction within a Mexican context and Clemente’s
film will be a millennial pioneer. I am confident about the importance of his film in this
generation.

Sincerely,

Susana Bernal
Budget for script and project development phase
Financial plan for total production

Written explanation on finance strategy

To finance this film, we’ve designed a financial strategy that involves applying to
Mexican funds, once the script is developed and finished. Applying first to FOPROCINE
secures the 30% of the budget and with this secured, we will make a strategical
partnership with European Co-producers that will allow us to apply to international
funds that have an interest for avant-garde Latin American films such as Hubert Bals
Fund, Aide aux cinema du monde, CNC, San Sebastian Co production Forum and
others. We will complete our financial scheme applying to our local EFICINE, because
we already have big companies interested in submitting with us to the Mexican tax
rebate fund.

Also all of our films from Mantarraya have worked in parternship with the post
production studio SPLENDOR OMNIA, with which we have developed a close
relationship, thus assuring our post production with them. In addition we will apply to
other post productions supports such as Doha Film Institue, and different Work in
Progress from film festivals such as FICUNAM, San Sebsatian and others.



From Mantarraya and Salon de Belleza we have good relationship with sales agents
and distributors in Europe, Latin America and Asia that will allow us to make an alliance
to distribute our film in many territories.

Development schedule
Previous audiovisual work of the director

Príncipe de de Paz (Prince of Peace)

Feature Film, 2019
https://vimeo.com/336516417
Password: Prince_2019_33

Fantasma, Animal (Ghost, Animal)

Short Film, 2020
https://vimeo.com/395297420
Password: ghost2333
Visual References Created for the Dossier