writing

Writing for film (You Are Mythical, New York Spin), visual theater (Flying Fish Over Mexico, Monster’s Decalogue), and poetry (Giant Dragons trilogy, The Book of B). I Filmmaking I Visual Theater I Poetry

ARTWORK

Flying Fish
Over Mexico

*Flying Fish Over Mexico* is visual theater, Butoh dance, and poetic writing on the origins of humans and Mexican culture through the cycle of birth, life, and death. I *Peces voladores sobre México* (2004, Spain/Mexico, 60min) Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico State 2004, National Center for the Arts, Mexico City 2005.
— VISUAL THEATER-DANCE

Monster’s Decalogue

*Monster’s Decalogue* is the story of a girl who teaches a monster how to speak on a mountain of sand under a sky of images and dreams. Their journey takes them from *Love* to *Terrorism*, and everything in between. I *El decálogo del monstruo* (1994, Spain) was pre-selected by Sala Cuarta Pared, Madrid.
— VISUAL THEATER

Giant Dragons

*Giant Dragons* trilogy gathers *Memories of Uruguay, The Numbers of Earth,* and *Giant Dragons.* It was written in New York while making *New York Spin* film, and *282 Broadway* art installation. I *Dragones Gigantes* (2001, US) unpublished, was used in stage works.
— POETRY

The Book of B

*The Book of B* tells the story of a boy who lives with his head inside a box. In the form of children’s book, it blends fiction, non-fiction, and poetic writing. I *El libro de B* (2024, Spain) upcoming. [Photo: CERN]
— POETRY

“Selected writing includes filmmaking, visual theater, poetry, drama books, and a PhD dissertation. FILMMAKING with focus on new narratives. Documentary feature films You Are Mythical connects daily life and classic myths, won awards in two film festivals in L.A.; New York Spin is a story of New Yorkers lives and dreams, received seven awards in 40+ festivals, and Multiple Portraits is a video installation trilogy screened internationally. VISUAL THEATER explores technology on stage. In Flying Fish Over Mexico Gondwana and Laurasia continents split up; premiered at Tecnológico de Monterrey and National Center for the Arts, Mexico City. In Monster’s Decalogue a girl teaches language to a monster; pre-selected by Sala Cuarta Pared, Madrid. POETRY feeds all work. In Giant Dragons trilogy, Memories of Uruguay is a love story, The Numbers of Earth travels through a life time and 20th century history, All inspired by fantastic tales from Medieval China. A more recent book, The Book of B takes the form of a children’s book.” —PV I Photo: Life Drawing

Writing is First

FILMMAKING

You Are Mythical (2018, Spain, 80min) documentary feature film connects daily life and myths. “Penelope is in search of love. Antigone dissolves into herself. Jason fights his dream as a Dragon. Siren listens to the call. Oedipus escapes his fate. Narcissus looks at the mirror. Ulysses is an untiring traveler.” —PV

Documentary Feature Film

New York Spin (2002, Spain, US, 87min, 63min) documentary feature film tells a multicultural story of New Yorkers lives and dreams. “New York Spin is an ecology of souls. A poetic tale of humans in a unique mirror of the world. The film follows characters for two years. A celebration of diversity.” —PV

Documentary Feature Film

Multiple Portraits (2024, Spain, Mexico, Jordan) video installation trilogy: Tarahumara Project, Humans in the Desert, Penelope is Waiting. “Deserts, physical and mental, where life happens. Classic film language is deconstructed as action is fragmented on simultaneous screens.” —PV

Video Installations

The House of My Dreams (2016, Mexico/Spain, 19min) fiction short film at Tecnológico de Monterrey as a “magical tale of a man that never lived in his house. Beautiful and disturbing presences appear in his dreams.” [IMDb]

Fiction Short Film

Crossing Europe (2015, Spain, 30min) documentary short film that follows for two years Crossing Stages UC3M European project, aired on Canal 22 Mexico as a “multicultural portrait of Europe today.” [IMDb]

Documentary Short Film

Crossing Stages (2013-2015, Spain) web series produced by Crossing Stages: In Search of the Myth theater; Whisperers urban action; About Innocence dance; Les Sept Dormants dance; Mythical Visions, UniEscena Festival events. [IMDb]

Web Series

Documentary feature films are transmedia projects. You Are Mythical sets the audience free to follow their own path. It is a road map. You can watch the film (80:00), stories (10:00), visual poems (3:00), and/or animations (1:00). MYTH is the opening segment for each character/Greek myth. LIFE is the center segment where each person develops why he/she feels connected with the chosen Greek myth. VISUAL POEM is the last segment. It links Myth and Life showing how people feel as characters. I New York Spin is an early practice on transmedia storytelling: 87min feature film for movie theaters; 63min film for TV; six short films and eighteen stories for digital networks. A cutting-edge site was built in 2002 including interactive content/navigation. Structure follows opposites: First/Last, Win/Lose, Up/Down, In/Out. Segments are connected, some characters appear in several stories, and the last character is seen in all of them.

VISUAL THEATER

Monster’s Decalogue - El decálogo del monstruo (unpublished) visual theater where a girl teaches a monster how to speak on a mountain of sand under a sky of images and dreams. Their journey takes them from love to terrorism, and everything in between. It’s an early practice in Madrid on multimedia theater as it explores visual storytelling. It was pre-selected by Sala Cuarta Pared, Madrid.

Visual Theater

Flying Fish Over Mexico - Peces voladores sobre México (premiered) visual theater-dance on the origins of humans through Mexican cultures and love story of continents Gondwana and Laurasia. A production by Flying Fish Work co-produced by Tecnológico de Monterrey with the support of the National Center for the Arts. Presented at Tec Mx State, and Teatro Salvador Novo, CNA.

Visual Theater

Future Roots - Raíces futuras (uncoming) visual theater and Butoh dance project exploring new narratives and technology. It may take the form of a transmedia project including film, digital media, and visual art. Work in progress by Flying Fish Work through ongoing creative research with artists in Madrid and New York.

Visual Theater

Flying Fish Over Mexico I “What is the connection between Pangea, Mexico, and Asia? Early history of continents and their migrations lays that settlers of America arrived through the Bering Strait from Asia. We imagine a fantastic world where American pueblos meet their Oriental essence. And we set freely that all these events happen in a specific moment in the Universe’s history: in times before eagles and snakes (Mexican flag images). Magical times where flying fish glided over Mexico. Founding times where Mexican people started to look at themselves dreaming of the future. Endless Lovers, Gondwana and Laurasia, rebirth through time and space into men and women who cannot stop loving each other. Wise Children, maybe Indigo, light from their blazing blue their never-ending flow of encounters and separations. White Dancers portray the cycle of birth/life/death through Butoh dance on its radical expression of the intimate self. Original Souls, senior narrators, represent pre-Hispanic visions of the genesis of Mexico and human life.” —PV

POETRY

Memories of Uruguay is a series of love poems written by someone who has never been in Uruguay.

(Unpublished books)

The Numbers of Earth collects iconic numbers of the world’s history, the 20th century history, and one person’s history.

Giant Dragons is inspired by fantastic tales written in China in times of the European Middle Ages.

The Book of B tells the story of a boy that lives with his head inside a box. In the form of children’s book, it blends fiction, non-fiction and poetic writing.

Giant Dragons trilogy was written in Williamsburg, New York, while making New York Spin film, and 282 Broadway art installation. Selected texts have been used in further theater works. The title and third book is inspired by Cuentos extraordinarios de la China medieval. Antología del Soushenji de Gan Bai published by Lengua de Trapo, Spain.

Giant Dragons

“The *Soushen ji* 搜神記 (“Annotations on searching for spirits”) is canonically considered to be the first example of the *zhiguai xiaoshuo* 志怪小說 literary strand, which comprises novels or stories about extraordinary events, characterized by the presence of spirits, ghosts, and supernatural phenomena. The *Soushen ji* has been compiled during the first half of the IV century by Gan Bao.” University of British Columbia
“The tales of Soushenji deal with fantastic and horror subjects in an everyday way, perhaps as a remote antecedent of magical realism; they are closely linked to the tradition of European popular literature, and through it American, as stories very similar to those that circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages, creating the substrate of fantastic popular narrative.” Casa del Libro I Artwork: © *Soushenji* by Anna Podlipentseva

The Book of B was written in Amman, Jordan, in times of Gaza war. I “In a world full of paths, from A to Z, many confuse B with V. In the new virtual communication, the uppercase B turns into a simple b. And a small confusion could lead you astray. Although there are cities like Barcelona or Vancouver that tend to have better luck.

Thus begins the story of a boy who becomes a man in search of B. And a B searching for itself. An adventure that will lead them to explore words they discover in a secret game: Barbarian, drink. White, kiss. Brave, seek. Logbook, box. Beauty, dance. Bubble, toast. Babel, battle. Compass, fork. Bestiary, bless. Brutal, B. Many other things also catch their attention, like cod, bay, bicycle, binary, bikini, mouth, forest, shine, leap, and mockery. Life is not fair; in fact, it isn’t written with a B. Among so many words, in so many languages, not all the B’s of the world could fit here. Not even the most inspiring ones from fabulous tales.

What we can affirm is that the boy's journey, and that of those around him, is extraordinary. They discover everything from hidden books to fantastic creatures. From paths that fork to empty deserts. Figures like Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, Spiderman, and the Three Kings appear. Creators like Pablo Picasso, Arthur Rimbaud, André Breton, Kazuo Ohno, Robert Wilson, and Björk.

Also appearing are the futuristic movie Blade Runner, the flamenco icon Camarón de la Isla, and the whale Moby Dick. Iconic spaces like the Berlin Wall and parallel realities in the multiverse. A medieval-inspired bestiary and flying fish in Chinatown, New York. There are also happy events, like a Gypsy wedding, and tragic ones, like wars. It speaks of the fate of humanity and the mysteries of the Universe. There’s a compass, a lighthouse, and a gadget. Unexpected twists. Joys, sorrows. And a lot of love.” I Photo: © CERN I Artwork: © Lucy Campbell