Bruno Santamaria Razo’s debut feature, which premieres at Critics’ Week in Cannes, explores how having to cope with a father’s illness and growing feelings for a best friend alter an innocent childhood.
Six months in a pink and blue building (This is what the Edificio Rosa con Azuto). The title alone might excite you enough to watch Mexican director Bruno Santamaría Razo’s debut feature, which will have its world premiere at this year’s edition of Critics’ Week in Cannes on Tuesday, May 19.
If you want to know more, here’s the synopsis: “Bruno, a precocious 11-year-old growing up in 1990s Mexico City, must deal with adult responsibilities after the life-altering news of his father’s HIV diagnosis. This news changes his innocent childhood as he must navigate his feelings not only about his father’s illness and its impact on his entire family, but also his growing feelings for his best friend Vladimir.”
Mirroring the salsa songs, the family tries to sing and dance away their pain. But 30 years later, Bruno feels the desire to photograph and reimagine a memory of what he could not fully grasp as a child. The film’s description concludes: “Through the lens of familial love and joyful celebration, the director processes the pain of, and ultimately makes sense of, this turbulent time in his childhood.”
The cast consists of Jade Reyes, Sofia Espinosa, Lazaro Gabino, Eduardo Ayala, Valeria Vanegas, Anwar Vera, Teresa Sanchez, Valentina Cohen, Nara Carrera, and Demec Lopez.
Santamaria Razo, whose films explore memory, secrets and childhood, has worked as a cinematographer and documentary director. His 2020 documentary That’s why nothing happens It won the Golden Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Grand Prix at BAFICI.
He wrote and directed Six months in a pink and blue building He edited it with Andrea Rabasa Giuffre. Fernando Hernandez García handled the cinematography for the film, which was produced by Carlos Quinonez and Bruna Haddad. Luxbox is responsible for sales. The film was produced by Mexican company Ojo de Vaca Productora in a co-production with Brazilian company Desvia Films and Danish company Snowglobe.
“During filming, something very powerful happened,” the director shares in press notes about the film. “For example, there was a moment where one of the actors said a very ordinary sentence, something simple, and one of my family members heard it and recognized themselves immediately. Even if they didn’t remember saying it at all, they recognized themselves. They saw themselves there. And that was very important to me. Because I felt like the imagination was able to connect with something very real.”
THR A clip can now be exclusively revealed for Six months in a pink and blue building. It allows you to first get a sense of the cinematic tone and vibe of the film as it transports us to Mexico City in the 1990s. Get ready to move and dance – and catch a glimpse of Bruno and his surroundings. But don’t forget: inhale! Exhale!
Watch the exclusive clip from Six months in a pink and blue building less.
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