Kiddos

Quique wants to fit in with his high school's problematic soccer team, but this jeopardizes his bond with his best friend Benny, who is constantly harassed by them, and Benny's sister Lucy, who is persistently objectified.

The initial idea was born from a particular memory, quite buried in my mind, that came to me one day. It's from when I was about 12 or 13 years old. Arriving at a practice, I saw older boys looking at intimate photos of an elementary school girl on their phone. Everyone was laughing as if it were a joke, and the most surprising thing was that among those jokes, participating as if he were just one of the group, was the coach as well. The incident involving those photos was a major issue at my school; the boy involved in obtaining the video faced no serious consequences because he was also a minor, and over time, everything was forgotten. Furthermore, there was never any discussion about the team coach having seen the photos or the boys on the team possessing them. Remembering this sparked an interest in certain themes: how these things happen while the world acts indifferently, sometimes even the responsible adults, and above all, the fact of having witnessed it and doing nothing. I may have been young and not fully aware of the seriousness of what was happening, but one questions oneself: What was I so afraid of? Did I feel I owed the team some form of "protection"? While discussing this with the team, we realized how common these anecdotes are among our generations in the digital era. Soccer seemed like a great analogy for this "boys' club" or status quo, and I've always been interested in exploring it from the perspective I know: that of hyper-masculine circles. "Los niños" (Kiddos) is the result of exploring these themes within our culture, which lead boys to become lonely men who harm those around them, primarily women, because of their ego. The intention is to have a non-distracting cinematic language, adhering to realism both in its camerawork and sound. The use of handheld camera and natural lighting, along with a varied cast primarily composed of non-actors or those with little experience, and improvisation, are resources we used to create this emotional tr