An Explosive Town Sets Itself on Fire in //Thirteen & Co Director Patrick Fileti's Short Film Inferno

Leaping head first into the flames, //Thirteen & Co writer and director Patrick Fileti's new short film Inferno delves into the heartland of Tulepec, Mexico to tell the true story of a town famous for its pyrotechnics and the unique sub culture that surrounds it.

A portrayal of the lives of artisans and their families in the lead up to the festival of San Juan de Dios, Inferno honours the spirit, tradition and passion of Tultepec's community in celebrating life, to the point of embracing death. Beginning the festival, a party sets the town aflame; roughly 300 giant wooden bulls loaded with fireworks are built for a single day of incendiary celebration. It is a ritual and a pageant that celebrates explosives for their life-giving energy in a town that lives and dies according to the laws of gunpowder and fate.

Filmed on a shoestring budget with the Alexa Mini and Lomo Anamorphic lenses across a five-day shoot, Fileti worked with a tight knit Mexican film crew on the ground, enlisting award-winning DOP, Galo Olivares - who is responsible for this year's Oscar-nominated Netflix film, Roma, which just won a BAFTA for best cinematography. The true story of the town is told through the eyes of the townspeople themselves, with additional casting of the film's lead protagonists found in Mexico City.

It was also important for Fileti to deeply engage the local community and for them to feel genuinely connected to the film.

Says Fileti: "Casting was crucial to the authenticity of the film. Our hero is also a guy whose appearance appears forbidding but which has little relation to the content of his character. Changing people's minds of what they think people should be... without it being forced, just a natural message that is conveyed through the language of film."

Fileti also spent six months developing the film's soundtrack alongside Los Angeles composer Daniel McCormick.

Drawn to social stories that confront an audience's pre-conceived notions of people and communities, Fileti's films regularly challenge perceptions. In 2017, Fileti was compelled to write and direct the award winning short film "Undercurrent" after witnessing the epidemic of forced displacement of refugees worldwide.

Inferno is set to make its debut at select film festivals.

Patrick's showreel can be viewed here.

For commercial enquiries, please contact executive producer Roy De Giorgio - roy@13co.io.