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2025 SFFILM Festival

The Devil Smokes

Directed by Ernesto Martínez Bucio

Mexico | Fiction | 97

18 Apr
Fri, Apr 18 at 8:45 pm PT

Description

Telling the story of five siblings fending for themselves in the wake of parental abandonment, this tender, well-crafted film won Berlinale’s inaugural Perspectives Award for fiction debut. It’s 1990 and Mexico eagerly awaits the second visit of Pope John Paul II while the Palacios López family wrangles with a different visitation, real or imagined. When the quintet’s mom disappears and five pairs of shoes appear out of nowhere, imaginative youngster Victor claims, “The Devil brought them.” Their unstable grandmother Romana, left behind as caretaker when the kids’ father goes to find his wife, encourages the thought that something malevolent is at work. In a tale replete with generational mental health issues, superstition, and religious belief, director Ernesto Martínez Bucio employs an impressively diverse style with home movie footage that fills in important backstory information and tight close-ups that reflect the increasingly claustrophobic tension in the household. Stellar performances from a very young cast of non-professionals further buoys the narrative. —Rod Armstrong

Director Ernesto Martínez Bucio

Ernesto Martínez Bucio is a writer, director, and editor who studied communication at the Jesuit University of Guadalajara, and cinematography at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico City. Among his short films are Benjamin (2007), Cenizas (2011), Las razones del mundo (2015), T. Rex (2015), and El Futuro (2018). His debut feature, The Devil Smokes, won the Perspective Award for Best First Feature at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Film Details

LanguageSpanish

Original Language TitleEl diablo fuma

Year2025

Runtime97

CountryMexico

DirectorErnesto Martínez Bucio

ProducerCarlos Hernández Vázquez, Gabriela Gavica Marrufo, Alejandro Durán

Executive ProducerCarlos Hernández Vázquez, Gabriela Gavica Marrufo, Alejandro Durán

EditorErnesto Martínez Bucio, Odei Zabaleta, Karen Plata

CinematographerOdei Zabaleta

CastMariapau Bravo Aviña, Rafael Nieto Martínez, Regina Alejandra

Closed CaptionsClosed Captions are not currently confirmed for this film

Audio DescriptionAudio Descriptions are not currently confirmed for this film

American Sign Language (ASL) InterpretationAmerican Sign Language Interpretation is not currently scheduled for this film