Violentas mariposas

What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?

While continuing the festival circuit with my film Violentas Mariposas, I’m developing a magical realism script focused on the figure of a nahual. I’m interested in exploring the mysticism, transformation, and symbolic power of Mexican myths and legends, which are deeply embedded in our culture. 

What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on them?

With Violentas Mariposas I learned to trust intuition more than formula. To understand that a script is not just structure, but the soul of a film, and that the creative process requires patience, silence, and absolute faith in your own vision. 

What words, ideas or emotions were going through your head?

I think about identity and roots. About the urgency of telling stories from who we are. I’m drawn to cinema with a Mexican soul, with mystique, with history; cinema that doesn’t copy foreign languages, but instead discovers its own territory.

Were there any conversations, movies, music, or books that made their way into that work?

The script I’m writing now is deeply influenced by the literature of Juan Rulfo and the magic of Carlos Castaneda. Pedro Páramo and Las enseñanzas de Don Juan intertwine as presences that define the tone and atmosphere of the story. Both works inspire me with the way they explore the invisible, the spiritual, and the Mexican essence from a poetic depth that transcends borders.

What's been the most difficult thing you've faced recently in your creative process?

The hardest part has been finding collaborators who share an auteur vision of cinema. Today, there seems to be a general leaning toward purely entertaining projects, while exploratory and risky cinema has lost space. I would love to meet bolder producers, willing to step out of their comfort zones and invest in stories rooted in our culture, with identity and depth.

What is your favorite restaurant and what do you recommend we order?

I love Contramar in Mexico City; I recommend the pescado a la talla and the tuna tostadas. 

If your life were a movie this month, what would it be called and who would write the soundtrack?

Between the desert and the sea, with music by Brian Eno. 

Recommend one or more artists you follow who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.

I was deeply moved by Bird, directed by Andrea Arnold, for its narrative sensitivity and the way it integrates music as a vital part of the story. That film also led me to discover the Irish band Fontaines D.C., whose intensity and lyricism reminded me that music continues to be one of my main sources of inspiration. Since filming Violentas Mariposas I’ve reconnected with punk, and bands like Idles fascinate me with their power, fury, and authenticity.