KEYWORDS: Schizophrenia, family, childhood

Five children struggle to maintain any sense of normalcy after their mother, Judith (Micaela Gramajo), disappears one summer night. Their father, Emiliano (Bernardo Gamboa), goes off in pursuit of his missing wife, leaving the siblings with their grandmother, Romana (Carmen Ramos). It’s soon clear that Romana’s mental health challenges leave her in no condition to care for five rambunctious kids. It falls on the elder siblings Victor (Donovan Said) and Vanessa (Laura Uribe Rojas) to step up and keep the family together, even as they struggle to make sense of their current situation. Making matters worse, Romana’s foreboding ramblings intensify the children’s anxieties, suggesting the presence of an evil force in their midst.

Director Ernesto Martínez Bucio’s The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box) offers an emotionally gripping and thematically rich experience elevated by evocative cinematography and extraordinary performances from its young cast. Bucio plays stingy with certain plot details, and infuses events with spectral undertones, cultivating a cryptic and haunting atmosphere that lingers long after the credits roll.

WITH SHORT FILM ——— Semillas (Seeds)—— Esteban Powell, Francisca Rojas, Ruben Dario Chavez-Munoz | 2024 | Canada | Documentary | 11 minutes | English, Spanish

When uprooted plants may face ‘transplant shock’ where they are unable to root themselves into a new environment. Similarly, the migrant narrative is steeped by difficulty adapting to a new land. Often overlooked from this narrative is the “1.5” generation – people uprooted in their formative years who have assimilated into their new environment and maintained vigorous roots with the ‘homeland,’

Semillas is a dual-screen documentary portrait of three “1.5” generation Latine individuals (Veronica, Francisca and Josue). Through their voices, likenesses, memories, and interlaced experiences Semillas explores their stages of transplantation: ‘uprooting,’ ‘transplant shock’ and ‘seed dispersal.’ Interrogating how the ‘soil’ of home permeates one’s evolving sense of home and Latine identity.