Drama / 19 minutes / 4K / Color / Spanish with English subtitles / México / 2025
Synopsis
Carlos is approaching midlife trapped in a personal crisis that has gone on for far too long. His mother, Rosa, endures disabling pain, which is alleviated only by the warm waters of hydrotherapy. One night, she offers to make the ultimate sacrifice so they can both move toward a better future. A short film about love, hope, and the relief we all long for.
CAST
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Luisa Huertas
Luisa Huertas graduated from the INBA School of Theater Arts and the University Theater Center, CUT-UNAM, where she has also taught classes. She is co-founder and General Director of the Center for Studies for the Use of the Voice (CEUVOZ). She received the award from the Association of Theater Journalists and the Metro award, both for best actress for El Diccionario. She received the Ariel award for her role in Mentiras Piadosas by Arturo Ripstein. She is a founding member of the Mexican Academy of Theater Arts, A.C. and is part of the stable cast of the National Theater Company. In 2020, she was named by Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, Living Cultural Heritage of Mexico City, celebrating 50 years of artistic career.
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Óliver Cantú
Oliver Cantú Lozano studied Dramatic Arts at CEDART Alfonso Reyes and at the University of Greensboro in North Carolina. His first feature film Asi, by Jesús Mario Lozano adn produced by Juan Manuel González, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. It was followed by Cumbia Callera, with Celso Piña, winner of the Best First Film at the Moscow International Film Festival. He also starred in the series Morir en Martes and Hoy Soy Nadie by VIXplus. In theatre, he has participated in productions such as Brokeback Mountain by Hernán Galindo and The Merchant of Venice with Emanuel Anguiano. He recently represented Mexico at the Talent Campus Acting Studio at the Berlinale and was awarded Best Actor at the Indie Festival in Japan for his performance in Perenne by Roberto Garo. He can be seen on HBO MAX in Sierra Madre as a regular in the series, and soon in El Paraíso en Pugna and the film Pérdida total by Enrique Begné.
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Roberto Cázares
Roberto Cázares has a degree in Theater Arts from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and a Master's Degree in Film Acting from the Rey Juan Carlos University. He has more than 20 years of experience in theater, film, and television. His most recent roles are in “Versalles” by Andrés Clariond Rangel and “La libertad” by Alejandra Marquez Abella, both in post-production. In 2022, he also participated in the series “Sierra Madre” produced by HBO in Monterrey.
About Reliefs
The audiovisual experience is essential in sharing and discussing our perspectives on life, our natural and social environment, and how we imagine the possibility of transcendence. Since childhood, cinema has been an amazing and deeply meaningful space for me. I am convinced that a film is a window that opens from the particular vision of a team of filmmakers to stimulate this dialogue.
On a personal level, Alivios is a short film that is close to me. As a son, I am confronted directly and more and more frequently with the situations that come with my own aging and that of my parents, who are already in their eighth decade. The monthly medical visits, the common domestic incidents, the uncertainty of what may come, are mixed with the pain of not being able to help them put aside the fear they feel, my personal impossibility of always being there, the distance that the different lives we lead impose on us. Feelings of evasion and guilt are tinged with anxiety and pain. In this sense, Reliefs is a form of relief through the bonds of empathy that can be formed with audiences.
Water, as a great symbol of the story, represents an enveloping embrace, a metaphor for immersion, which calms and comforts. But submersion also speaks of baptism and even a return to the mother's womb. Thus, it is a symbol of the possibility of a transformation, a rebirth to new possibilities, a portal to another moment of life. The location also adds to the symbolic approach of the story. A rehabilitation center, associated with health and the improvement of vitality, becomes an ironic background for a story about life, death, and the delicate balance between the two.
Reliefs is a story that is commonplace in many parts of the world. An aging parent, and a middle-aged son or daughter are bound by their ties of love and need, as well as their socio-economic status. Most families cannot afford a nurse or caregiver, or by tradition expect one of their children to stay and take care of them.
In the case of Reliefs, the son, who is the main caretaker and provider for the home and his mother, is also going through a personal crisis that makes him feel even more trapped by the situation. The mother, as mothers do, can read through his silence and understands that he needs to be let go of his commitment to her, so that he may enjoy the rest of his life.
The film is a negotiation of sorts. As the mother sees it, her son is sacrificing some of the best years of his life to take care of her, a choice that can only be undone by another, more profound sacrifice: her own life. The son, who believes that he has already lost all opportunities of a good life, has himself tacitly accepted to sacrifice however many years he has to take care of his mother.
Reliefs proposes that there is indeed a third way, a way in which acceptance and complicity rather than sacrifice are the option to a better, shared place.
-Juan Manuel González
Director and screenwriter
Production Team
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Juan Manuel González
DIRECTOR
Juan Manuel González (México, 1970) is a filmmaker, academic and promoter of film culture with a career spanning three decades. As a filmmaker he has directed, photographed and produced over two dozen films and has participated in festivals such as Venice (2005, Así, Producer), Edinburgh (2008, At the End, director) and Morelia (2007, At the End, Director). He was director of the Monterrey International Film Festival for 18 years, and has taught film for over two decades. He is a graduate of Art Center College of Design’s MFA Film program. -
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Janeth Aguirre
PRODUCER
Janeth Aguirre Elizondo is a filmmaker and cultural manager with more than 20 years of experience. She served as General Director of ficmonterrey — Monterrey International Film Festival in 2023 and Executive Director from 2006 to 2022. She has advised countless short films in Monterrey. She holds a degree in Communication Sciences from the UANL with a Master's degree from the Tec de Monterrey. She is a consultant for cinematographic cultural projects and freelance creative production. She is currently a professor at the University of Monterrey, in the subjects of film production, film business and is a thesis advisor for the film production program.
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Miguel Tafich
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Born and raised in the north of Mexico, Miguel attended his undergrad program at the University of Monterrey (Mass Media). After working several years as a freelance Cinematographer in Monterrey, he moved to California in 2018 where he finished an MFA in Film Production at Chapman University.
As a cinematographer he has worked on El Infinito (In postproduction, Dir. Fabián Archondo), Smokescreens (2021, Dir. E.C. Trimmer) Forlorn (2021, Dir. Shayon Bhattacharya) Tóxico (2019, Dir. Fabián Archondo), Las Estrellas También Mueren (2020, Dir. Rodrigo Martín), Campo Santo (2016, Dir. Christopher Sánchez)
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Andrea José
ART DIRECTOR
Born in Torreón, Coahuila, she has a degree in Audiovisual Arts from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and has worked as a producer, production designer and art director. She has worked on different projects such as Vainilla (In post-production, Dir. Mayra Hermosillo), Pedazo de Carne (In post-production, Dir. Valeria Castillo) El Susurro de las Estrellas (In post-production, Dir. César Saldívar), Voces (In post-production, Dir. Carlos González García), Tauromaquia (Dir. Christopher Sánchez) and Marco y Luna (2023, Dir, Gabriel Lozano Marchando)
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Pedro Enrique Moya
EDITOR AND IMAGE POSTPRODUCTION
Born in Havana, Cuba, he is a journalist and documentary filmmaker trained at the University of Havana, the International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Baños, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industries, UNAM and UAM-Xochimilco. He has carried out various documentary and multiplatform projects such as Tierra Migrante (2021, Secretariat of Culture of Mexico), Hoy liberé una mariposa (2014, Ania Pino Young Journalism Award on Television, documentary category), Faceboom (2011, Ania Pino Young Journalism Award on Television, report category). He is co-director of Extopia Foro Muestra de Cine LGBT+ and since 2022 he has been a professor of film and television at the University of Monterrey, where he also directs the digital platform TV UDEM.
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Bernardo Flores
SOUND DESIGNER
Born in Chihuahua, México, he graduated from the Tecnológico de Monterrey in 2007 with a degree in Electronics and Communications. During his training he has obtained professional certificates in Post-Production, Musical Production, Composition and Orchestration for Film and Television, awarded by the Berklee College of Music.
Since 2009 he has worked as a sound designer and composer for various projects for film, television and other audiovisual media. Among the most notable are: the feature films SOUNDTRACK: LADO A (Disney+ 2023), LA ALBERCA DE LOS NADIES (Monterrey, 2022) UN MUNDO MEJOR (Best Mexican feature film at the 19th FIC Monterrey), CRUZ (nominated for the 2022 Ariel Award for best documentary), COMALA (documentary selected at the Toronto International Film Festival 2021), among others; as well as more than 80 short films and 15 series, both fiction and documentary. He won the “Best Sound” award at Shorts México 2016 for his work on the short film 24° 51' LATITUD NORTE by Carlos Lenin, which was nominated for the Ariel Award that same year.
In 2015, he opened the doors of Estudio B in the city of Monterrey, where he currently works in sound supervision, production, post-production, composition and mixing for audiovisual projects.
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Julián Guajardo
ORIGINAL MUSIC
Born in September 1987, Julián is a prominent Mexican composer who has managed to break into the competitive world of film music over the last decade.
Thanks to his solid training in composition, orchestration and audio engineering, Julián has participated in a wide range of audiovisual and stage projects, consolidating himself as a unique creative voice in the industry.
Julián's music for television is heard in 17 Latin American countries, reaching more than 6 million people weekly. Additionally, he has composed soundtracks for various short and feature films, displaying his constant innovation and commitment to the art of cinema.
