Short of the Week

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Horror Patricio Plaza

Carne de Dios (Flesh of God)

During Mexico's colonial period, an ailing Spanish priest will have to endure in his own body the native rituals that he has been hunting down.

Play
Horror Patricio Plaza

Carne de Dios (Flesh of God)

During Mexico's colonial period, an ailing Spanish priest will have to endure in his own body the native rituals that he has been hunting down.
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Carne de Dios (Flesh of God)

Horror about Religion in Animation
Directed By Patricio Plaza
Produced By Patricio Plaza & Rosario Carlino & Lucia Cavalchini & Gustavo Alonso
Made In Argentina

Halloween is not yet here, but already we have a short film set to crawl under your skin and haunt your dreams. Patricio Plaza’s Annecy-selected animation Carne de Dios (Flesh of God) is a nightmarish vision which transports its viewers back to Mexico’s colonial period as a Spanish priest’s failing health means he has to turn to the local healing methods he’s been trying to eradicate. He’ll certainly be a changed man afterwards.

Carne de Dios starts dark, as we witness a sequence where a priest strikes a girl for stealing mushrooms. However, that opening scene is no indicator of just how twisted things will get over the next 20-minutes or so. With the same priest now stricken with a mysterious illness, he must turn to the Mexican natives and their remedies – those same mushrooms – for salvation. As the effects of the psychedelics and the ritual take hold, it’s fair to say that the religious man’s healing process will be a very testing one.

Patricio Plaza Cerne de Dios

The Spanish priest has to turn to the Mexican locals to recover from an illness.

Inspired by the texts written by Spanish friars during a period of evangelism in Mexico, Plaza describes his film as both a “political horror” and a “South American queer film” in how it examines themes of persecution and repression. Exploring the topics of colonialism, historical abuse, religion, sexuality and more, Carne de Dios is a complex and ambitious piece, with its surprising storyline and striking aesthetic making it a short you won’t forget any time soon.

A co-production between Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, Plaza put a lot of focus into the pre-production of his short, spending four years researching the persecution of local cultures in Mexico, even finding ancient documents confirming such actions in the nation’s National Archive. With the narrative in place, production then took another three years, during the COVID pandemic, with around 100 artists employed to work on the film’s 2D animation.

Patricio Plaza Cerne de Dios

Rivers of blood start to flow as things get darker in the second half of Plaza’s film.

It was a long journey to bring the story of Carne de Dios to the screen, but Plaza’s dedication to his film and its subjects are clearly evident when viewing. His film is undoubtedly a piece of fiction, but with its foundations in reality it really lands a reverberating blow and the director hopes his short will inspire some further discussion on some “taboo topics” and that it can serve as “a tool for political imagination”.

Powerful words about a powerful film!

Part of the Miyu catalogue, Carne de Dios won awards at Guadalajara, Mar del Plata and Chilemenos, making it a contender for the upcoming Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.