Dios y la cumbia del diablo

Direction
Carlos Lenin
Country
Mexico
Format
Feature film
Type
Fiction
Original title
Dios y la cumbia del diablo
Film presented in Toulouse

La Paloma y el lobo, Official competition

Scenario
Carlos Lenin

Carlos Lenin

Filmography

La paloma y el lobo, Fiction
24o 51’ North Latitude, Short film
Inverso 3 y media vueltas en posición C , Short film

Note of intent

We believe in God because we are the Devil. That’s why I want to try to speak with the evil that belongs to us, with our rebel prayers and there, before the contemplation of the wounded monster that we are, to ask the Devil for everything God has denied us. We were born angry and bloody. We dance cumbia as an eternal claim to the sadness that burns us. We deserve to be reborn and be free. Maybe for that, we need to contemplate, taste our sweat and dance among the blood that drowns us until God is uncomfortable. We are the devil.

Synopsis

Between decadent industrial sites, shootings and decapitated bodies, dancers known as Soldiers of the Virgin (Matachines) dedicate their performances to God and to his eternal promise of abundance. Celso’s one of them. He dances cumbia and plays the accordion. He understands that there’s no future but dreams of being a musician. One night, on the verge of death with nothing else to offer, Celso sells his soul to the Devil. A hitman who loves cumbia. Thus it’s written in blood: while Celso’s alive he will be a musician but each melody will be born from the horror that embraces him. He’s alive, but from this privilege, an insatiable desire for power and the fear of losing it will be born. Celso sings to pain and betrayal. The horror is his sentence. Meanwhile, cumbia sounds powerful in the neighborhood and everyone laughs hopelessly. Thus, together with Celso, God and the Devil dance.

Visual concept

The poetization of the natural crumbling of our everyday world. I look for images, textures and times to exist as a single being, as a single dream basted thanks to the plastic unit. Each shot will try to articulate emotional, throbbing units that allow us to feel the weight of time transforming the image and our perception of the story. The edition will build each emotional process by contemplating the internal, dancing rhythm that articulates the dramatic progression, the inner hell of the neighborhood, of my characters.

Objectives sought in Films in Development

Mentoring and financing for writting the script. Co-production.

Shooting planned date

December 2020

Planned shooting location

Mexico city (Mexico)

Project's development phase

Screenwriting

Production
Huasteca Casa Cinematográfica
Producer's biography

Paloma Petra is a producer and actress. Berlinale Talents alumni generation 2020. She’s the executive producer of the short film 24o 51′ North Latitude and line producer of Carlos Lenin’s first feature film La Paloma y el lobo. She’s currently in post-production of the short film The longest dream that i remember, winner of PROMOCINE’s grant and producer of the feminist docu web-series Conversa.