Director Statement

I have been influenced by the work of Guatemalan writer Agusto Monterroso since I was a child. Many of his short stories have inspired me to make movies, however Diogenes and P made a lasting impression on me that I couldn't ignore. The surrealism of the story, the shifts of reality and the narration combine to tell the story of P's life.

Initially I was very interested P's strong survival instinct. In the face of an abusive father and a depressed mother P managed to escape his reality by taking refuge in different places and people that provided him with attention and love. I was also fascinated by the way the streets, the market place and the Cathedral of Guatemala City became characters in the story.I could visualize the action taking place in the old part of the city, following P thru the streets and into the market in a documentary style to depict the life these places have. When P is outside his home he engages with the world and feels complete, but when he enters his home the style changes to surreal and bizarre realities are created.

The process of adapting a short story to a short film entailed giving life to characters on film that previously existed only through Monterroso's descriptions on paper. To do this I developed some of the secondary characters in the story and also added some additional ones of my own. For example I created a more meaningful relationship between P and his teacher, who ultimately has a more profound influence on P's life than in Monterroso's story by exposing him to the world of poetry. While Monterroso describes P's wanderings in the park and the Cathedral, I added to this by creating the character of Dona Rosario, who becomes a sort of grandmother-figure to P. I also added more detail to the scenes when P is in the Cathedral, such as the statues of the saints with no arms and legs that fascinate P, and the old ladies who come to light candles. For the character Delfina, P's mother, I used her obsession with crocheting, which Monterroso describes only peripherally, to give the character profundity. Delfina's crocheting is her own escape from a painful life; her somber, repetitive actions reveal her boredom and depression.

My screenplay mixes different styles and genres, from the documentary style of the streets and the market place, to stylized photography and mise en scene in the house and the cathedral, to more visual experimental transitions mixed with poetry. All these styles combine to create a magical-realistic portrait of a troubled young boy.