In a fractured future, a group of young people struggle between greed and justice,
as the past returns disguised as prejudice.
Technical Details | Water Circles Under Cotton Clouds
| Original title: | Círculos sobre agua, bajo nubes de algodón |
| International title: | Water Circles Under Cotton Clouds |
| Directed / Written by: | Roberto F. Canuto, Xu Xiaoxi |
| Produced by: | Hernán F. Joglar |
| Cinematography: | Xu Xiaoxi |
| Music by: | Andrea Centazzo |
| Cast: | Pelayo Carrizo, Senén Valera, Alejandro Barrena, Úrsula Villalta, David Soto Giganto, Lucía Llamedo, Óscar Torrecillas, Sam McNamara, Eduardo Cabrera, Abdou Karim, Mia Onungue |
Spanish English, French, Italian, Chinese, Spanish
fiction, drama, thriller LGBTQ+, human rights, dystopia
DCP · DCI 4K · 1.90:1 (full frame) · 2.0
Synopsis
In a dystopian future marked by pandemics and oppressive regimes, a group of young people steals a shipment of vaccines. While some seek profit on the black market, others risk everything to bring hope to those who have been forgotten.
As tensions rise, discrimination, underlying violence, and the ghosts of the past resurface, forcing the characters to confront their own moral contradictions.
Commentary
Water Circles Under Cotton Clouds constructs a narrative mosaic in which empathy and resistance emerge as human responses to fear and injustice. Set in a near future shaped by political control and inequality, the film reflects on the capacity of love and solidarity to survive social collapse.
The short film was conceived from the outset as a pilot project and creative laboratory for the development of a possible series, which explains its ensemble structure and the presence of multiple characters and narrative threads. Like a mosaic, the film weaves together diverse stories that explore resistance, empathy, and the human need for justice in times of fear, leaving open life paths that intersect, strain, and enter into dialogue with one another.
Through a symbolic and polyphonic structure, Roberto F. Canuto and Xu Xiaoxi connect the intimate with the collective, transforming political tension into emotional experience. Shot entirely in Asturias, the film contrasts its dystopian atmosphere with landscapes of striking natural beauty, enhanced by the music of Andrea Centazzo, which turns the short film into a visual and sonic plea for justice, identity, and hope.
Watch Water Circles Under Cotton Clouds on Vimeo on demand
Watch Water Circles Under Cotton Clouds on Vimeo on demand
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