Kenya Márquez presented Asfixia, a film in competition at the 16th FICM

Marco Mejía @MiqkelMejia y Gustavo R. Gallardo

The press screening of the movie Asfixia, which is part of the Mexican Feature Film Selection, took place at the sixteenth edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM).

The screening was attended by director Kenya Márquez, producer Iliana Reyes Chávez and actors Johana Fragoso, Azul Magaña Muñiz, Mónica del Carmen, Enrique Arreola and Raúl Briones.

Asfixia focuses on the life of Alma, an albino woman who after leaving prison, where she learned to care for the sick, intends to recover at all costs something much more important than her own freedom. To achieve this, she is forced to provide nightly care to Clemente, a hypochondriac with a compulsive obsession to avoid a sudden death. The relationship between the two goes from suspicion, fear, and compassion, to tenderness and love.

After the performance, Kenya Márquez began a conversation with the press and confessed that the story came from a note she read in the newspaper La Jornada, where it was estimated that more than 70% of the incarcerated women were there because of relationships: "It was impressive to know that several of them are left alone when they arrive in jail and sometimes the punishment is worse for women than for men. The story comes from my concern for discrimination, I always try to make my work have a social impact ".

On the other hand, Johana Fragoso, protagonist of the film, told how the director included her in the project despite having no acting experience: "The casting was very strange because I never imagined that a director would call me on a Sunday to offer me a leading role, it was a month of work, training, and filming, and since I am a psychologist, I tried to build how I wanted to shape my character's thoughts".

Asfixia’s Red Carpet

After the press screening, the film Asfixia (2018) was presented by the vice president of FICM, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel, along with the director Kenya Márquez and the producer Iliana Reyes.

"It is always a privilege to receive your work and to have you consider us for it," said Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.