writingWriting 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).
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.
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.
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 I Dragones Gigantes (2001, US) unpublished, was used in stage works.
— POEMS
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]
— POEMS
“Selected writing includes (8) filmmaking, (2) visual theater, (4) poetry, (2) drama books, and PhD dissertation. FILMMAKING: Documentary feature films are transmedia projects: You Are Mythical connects daily life and classic myths; New York Spin is a story of New Yorkers lives and dreams. VISUAL THEATER explores technology on stage as in Monster’s Decalogue a girl teaches language to a monster, and in Flying Fish Over Mexico Gondwana and Laurasia continents split up. 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, Giant Dragons is inspired by fantastic tales from Medieval China. More recent is The Book of B exploring new narratives.” —PV
Writing is First
Screenwriting with focus on transmedia storytelling. I Documentary feature films You Are Mythical won awards in two film festivals in L.A. and New York Spin seven awards in 40+ festivals. Multiple Portraits video installation trilogy has screened internationally.
FILMMAKING
Visual theater and technology. I Flying Fish Over Mexico works with Butoh dance, video art, and poetic writing. It premiered at Tecnológico de Monterrey and National Center for the Arts, Mexico City. Monster’s Decalogue was pre-selected by Sala Cuarta Pared, Madrid.
VISUAL THEATER
Poetic writing experimenting with language and genre. I The Book of B takes the form of a children’s book. Giant Dragons collects Memories of Uruguay, The Numbers of Earth, and Giant Dragons. Selected texts used for Flying Fish Over Mexico, and Poetry Performance in Mexico.
POETRY
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, 64min, 87min) 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
FILMS
SHORTS
INSTALLATIONS
SELECTED FILMMAKING
Transmedia Storytelling
You Are Mythical I New York Spin
You Are Mythical I New York Spin I Two 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, arguably, is an early practice on transmedia storytelling: 87:00 feature film for movie theaters; 63:00 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. I You Are Mythical I New York Spin
Monster’s Decalogue
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
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
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
SELECTED VISUAL THEATER
Multimedia Meets
Butoh
Flying Fish Over Mexico
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
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.
SELECTED POETRY
Extraordinary Tales from Medieval China
Giant Dragons
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. I “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 [SPANISH] “Los cuentos del Soushenji tratan materia fantástica y de terror de forma cotidiana, tal vez como antecedente remoto del realismo mágico; están muy ligados a la tradición de la literatura popular europea, y a través de ella americana, como relatos muy parecidos a los que circularon por Europa en la Edad Media, creando el sustrato de la narrativa popular fantástica.” Casa del Libro I Artwork: © Soushenji by Anna Podlipentseva
There is a Boy Inside a Box
The Book of B
The Book of B was written in Amman, Jordan, in times of Gaza war. I [SPANISH] "En un mundo lleno de caminos, de la A a la Z, muchos confunden la B con la V. En la nueva comunicación virtual, la B mayúscula se queda en una simple b. Y una pequeña confusión te podría desviar de la ruta. Aunque hay ciudades como Barcelona o Vancouver que suelen tener mejor suerte. Así llegamos a la historia de un niño que se hace hombre en busca de B. Y una B en busca de sí misma. Una aventura que los llevará a recorrer palabras que descubren en un juego secreto: Bárbaro, beber. Blanca, besar. Bravo, buscar. Bitácora, boxear. Belleza, bailar. Burbuja, brindar. Babel, batallar. Brújula, bifurcar. Bestiario, bendecir. Brutal, B. Se dejan fuera muchas otras cosas que llaman su atención como bacalao, bahía, bicicleta, binario, bikini, boca, bosque, brillo, brinco y burla. La vida no es justa; de hecho, no se escribe con b. Entre tantas palabras, en tantas lenguas, no entraban aquí todas las B del mundo. Ni siquiera las más inspiradoras de cuentos fabulosos. Lo que sí podemos afirmar es que el viaje del niño, y de quienes lo rodean, es extraordinario. Encuentran desde libros escondidos hasta criaturas fantásticas. Desde caminos que se bifurcan hasta desiertos vacíos. Aparecen figuras como Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, Spiderman y los Reyes Magos. Creadores como Pablo Picasso, Arthur Rimbaud, André Breton, Kazuo Ohno, Robert Wilson y Björk. También la película futurista Blade Runner, el icono flamenco Camarón de la Isla y la ballena Moby Dick. Espacios icónicos como el Muro de Berlín y realidades paralelas en el multiverso. Salen un bestiario de inspiración medieval y peces voladores en Chinatown de Nueva York. También eventos felices como una boda gitana y trágicos como las guerras. Se habla del destino del ser humano y los misterios del Universo. Hay una brújula, un faro y un artilugio. Giros inesperados. Alegrías, tristezas. Y mucho amor.” I Photo: © CERN I Artwork: © Lucy Campbell
BEHANCE Light the Universe is a digital collage with elements from Monster’s Decalogue (visual theater) and The Book of B (poetry), distant in time, sharing the presence of monsters and the power of language.
BEHANCE Digital work connected with Giant Dragons trilogy: Folding Chair for Memories of Uruguay, Iron Worker for The Numbers of Earth, Iron Horse for Giant Dragons. I Lightning 01 and Lightning 02 are connected with Giant Dragons including a Horse by Leonardo da Vinci and a Dragon (both figures in Chinese astrology) and the word horse in Oriental characters.