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🇲🇽 Mexico /Culture & Society

From La Quebrada to the Ariel: A documentary filmed after Otis

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • Directors Víctor Rejón and Irving Serrano will make their nominated documentary short, Las voces del despeñadero, available free for a limited time before the Ariel Awards ceremony on Oct. 3.
  • Filmed in black and white two weeks after Hurricane Otis struck Acapulco, the documentary follows La Quebrada divers, their traditions, injuries and lives beyond the three-second dives.
  • The film uses drones, an underwater camera and extreme slow motion, and will also appear at Shorts México and the upcoming German Film Festival.

A documentary about Acapulco’s famous La Quebrada divers is being opened to the public free of charge as its directors await a possible Ariel Award. Las voces del despeñadero will be available from Sunday until the ceremony on Oct. 3.

The short, directed by Víctor Rejón and Irving Serrano, has already won recognition at festivals including Guadalajara, Morelia and De las Américas. Viewers can obtain the link through the production’s Instagram account or search for the film on Vimeo. “It is about opening it up so people can watch it and comment on it,” Víctor says.

It is about opening it up so people can watch it and comment on it.

· Víctor RejónHe explains why the directors are making the nominated documentary freely available before the Ariel ceremony.

Shot in black and white and running for just over 20 minutes, the film was made two weeks after Hurricane Otis hit Acapulco. The absence of tourists gave the filmmakers greater freedom, while the documentary gathered stories of the divers’ triumphs and serious injuries. The La Quebrada divers belong to a collective with more than 90 years of history.

We wanted to learn more about a dive that lasts barely three seconds and also dispel myths, because many people think that is all they do, but they also have other jobs or study. They include older adults, adults and children.

· Irving SerranoHe describes the documentary’s aim and its portrayal of the La Quebrada divers.

The filmmakers used drones, an underwater camera and another camera capable of recording more than 1,000 frames per second, compared with the usual 24. The technique turns the dives into slow-motion images, revealing movements that the human eye cannot detect. “We wanted to learn more about a dive that lasts barely three seconds and also dispel myths,” Irving says, noting that the divers may also work or study and include older adults, adults and children. Víctor says the black-and-white style pays tribute to Mexico’s golden age of cinema and gives the film a timeless quality.

The documentary also records how divers climb the rocks, searching for handholds, and how some have fallen when they could not find support. It includes testimony from people whose injuries prevented them from diving again. Alongside its free online release, the short is screening at Shorts México and will be part of the next German Film Festival.

We agreed that we would have only 13 dives to film and had to plan them carefully. Sometimes I was above and sometimes below. When I was below and watched the others, I was afraid they would fall.

· Irving SerranoHe recalls the risks involved in filming the divers’ climbs and jumps.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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