DEAR CHICKENS: A moving short Film takes aim for the Oscars.

DEAR CHICKENS (2018) is a powerful short film that premiered at the LA International Short Film Festival in July 2018. Directed by Swiss/Mexican Mauro Mueller it is now officially eligible to compete for Best Live Action Short Film of 2019.

by Corina J Poore

‘DEAR CHICKENS’ emerged from the creative hub of the multi-national filmmaking collective FIDELIO FILMS. The four founding members met at Columbia University’s Film School’s Masters Programme: David Figueroa García (Mexican), Mark Raso (Canadian), Mauro Mueller (Swiss/Mexican), Mauricio Leiva-Cock (Colombian) and Björn Hering (Swiss).

Fidelio Films is an independent production company with bases in Bogotá. Mexico City, Toronto and Zürich. They focus on modern day cross- cultural narratives as a means to develop international dialogue and ‘transcultural creative cooperation’, and have worked with a huge number of countries covering a lot of ground, touching on sensitive themes in the lives of people, be they based in an indigenous village or urbanites.

FIDELIO FILMS’ first feature ‘COPENHAGEN’(2014) produced by Mauro Mueller and directed by Mark Raso, won the audience award at Slamdance and the Grand Jury Award at the Florida Film Festival. The team at Fidelio Films take turns directing and producing and this film was then followed by ‘In Times of Rain’(2018), shot in Oaxaca, ‘Candelaria’ (2017) and ‘Tenebris’, an original TV horror series that is now in development.

Mauro Mueller is now based largely in Zürich from where he has been involved with the Masterclass Atelier Paris-Ludwigsburg at La Femis, a post-graduate program which is tailored around European co-production/distribution. Mueller was also part of the Script Station at the Berlinale Talent Campus, ScriptConnect in NYC and L.A. Figueroa García, another founder member, directed the award winning ‘Ratitas’(2012), ‘Perfidia’(2013) and has won prestigious awards from the Director’s Guild of America. Mueller was awarded the 2013 Student Academy Award (Oscar) for ‘Un Mundo para Raúl’, and Marek Raso has just finished his second feature ‘Kodachrome’ with Ed Harris and Elizabeth Olsen. So this collective is definitely going places.

Despite having ventured into features, the team at Fidelio still understand the importance and power of short films and now ‘DEAR CHICKENS’, directed by Swiss/Mexican Mauro Mueller is up for an Oscar in 2019.

It never ceases to amaze how in a short span of time, in this case, 15 minutes, the audience can be so captivated by the characters that we can empathize with their dilemmas. The storyline of ‘DEAR CHICKENS’ revolves around two patients who end up reluctantly sharing a room in the Oncology Department of a hospital. A cantankerous old man (played by Philip Baker Hall) and a rebellious and distressed teenage girl (Kerris Dorsey). Being somewhat patronized by the Doctor and his nurse, they form an unexpected friendship, bonding thanks to their mutual dislike of chemotherapy, appalling hospital food and above all fake cheerfulness.

This is a film full of warmth and humour. Despite coming from such disparate backgrounds, the girl (Nora) and the old man (Emil) gradually discover some common ground as they battle privately with their pain, from rage to moments of despair and laughter.

The film is immaculately produced and shot, with all the care of a feature. The Director of Photography, Andrea Gonzalez Mereles, manages to make their dull hospital room interesting and full of emotion.