COLLECTABLE STORIES: APNEA

APNEA

Short Talk with Yolanda Duenas

Mexico / 2023 / 20‘00‘‘

BEST STUDENT FICTION FILM Category

21st IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival 2024

Synopsis: Renata has a secret relationship with Liliana, her swimming coach. The game of power in which the couple dwells can transform the love and passion they profess for each other into the same force that destroys them.

Biography: Natalia Bermudez is a director, photographer and writer born in Tijuana, Baja California. She studied photography at the Escuela Activa de Fotografía and a bachelor's degree in filmmaking at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), both in Mexico City. She has directed and written fiction and documentary short films such as “Golden Malibu” (official selection FICM, GIFF, Palm Springs; winner at Kinoforum Sao Paulo and Houston Latino Filmfest), “Apnea,” “Entre las 8 y las 9” and “Calendario de reconstrucción.” Fortelevision, she has participated as a director and writer in programs such as “Stories of a Generation” (Netflix), “Erotica” (Pantaya), “Mariachi Camargo” (Channel 14) and as the director of photography in “Villamiseria.” She currently works as a writer for the production company El Estudio, and as a studio photographer for Netflix, Disney and Amazon.

Natalia Bermudez, director

Raya Hristova: Tell us about the concept of the forbidden romance, the huge age difference, how is this relationship working in the movie?
 
Yolanda Duenas: We did not wanted to portray it as a story of abuse, with literal victim. Of course, it is still abuse even if the victim has some participation in it, but the director of the film wanted to tell the story of a relationship with that age difference and power the coach had over the girl. And still the victim does not feel like a victim, neither to be so innocent. 

 
 
Raya Hristova: Their relationship is not typical, it is really dynamic and the ending was really unexpected.
 
Yolanda Duenas: The film has kind of an open ending, the director likes the idea of not giving everything to the audience and letting the viewer digest it himself. For her the ending is actually that they end up in that never ending abusive relationship. However Natalia (the director) is good with people having their own interpretations for the story. It could also be an afterlife thing.

 
 
Raya Hristova: What was the idea behind the set: the pool and the swimming? How did you come up with that background?
 
Yolanda Duenas: It is about aesthetics. Natalia wanted to work with something uncomfortable for her, she wanted to work with very specific aesthetics, but also to focus on the form, while making it uncomfortable for the actors, for herself and for the photographer. It was about making this whole story and acting in it, but with very specific boundaries. The director also wanted to explore women's bodies, especially with the contrast of this beautiful setting and horrible relationship and the things that are happening.

Author's view (Petar Penev):

Intimate yet tragic and destructive is how the cyclical nature of power dynamics is presented in the short film ‘Apnea’ – the graduation project by film student and Mexican director Natalia Bermúdez. 
 
The film acts as a way of self-therapy as the author has poured in her own experience having ‘suffered abuse from teachers blinded by admiration for them’. This deeply personal approach is evident by the gentle cinematography and sound work present. This approach only accentuate the more sinister sides of the story towards the back end when we explore how far is one willing to go in order to gain control over someone (or rather regain control over themselves).
 
Whether love can exists on its own is up for debate but what I get from this film is the idea that violence cannot – as love is what we all need and violence may be just a tool to be used in moments of desperation. The question really becomes when the trade off may be worth it and when has a line been irreversibly crossed.