Experiencing Interruptions?

Blow Down

A young photographer takes pictures of nature and selfies for an adult online platform. During a break, another young man seems to arrive casually, but as the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that nothing is casual when your image is on the web.

  • Roberto F. Canuto
    Director
  • Xiaoxi Xu
    Director
  • Xiaoxi Xu
    Writer
  • Roberto F. Canuto
    Writer
  • Roberto Fernandez Canuto
    Producer
  • Pelayo Carrizo
    Key Cast
    "Luka"
  • Dimitri Álvarez
    Key Cast
    "Carlos"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Blow Down: Colapso
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, LGBTQ+, Queer, Youth
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 36 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 24, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Spain
  • Country of Filming:
    Spain
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, DCP
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • IV Oriéntate Llanes, Festival De Cortos De Llanes
    Llanes
    Spain
    February 5, 2025
  • Cortoviedo 2024, Xv Festival De Cortometrajes Ciudad De Oviedo
    Oviedo
    Spain
    December 21, 2024
  • 3 Mostra Internacional de Curtmetratges de Les Corts
    Barcelona
    Spain
    May 14, 2025
Distribution Information
  • Enigma Distribución
    Distributor
    Country: Spain
Director Biography - Roberto F. Canuto, Xiaoxi Xu


Roberto F. Canuto
Film director and screenwriter from Asturias (Spain). He has worked in China for nearly a decade. He graduated in Information Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid, after obtaining a degree in the specialty of Audiovisual Communication.
He moved to London dedicating himself to professions far from the world of cinema until he resumed his passion in Los Angeles (USA) by studying a master's degree in film directing at the New York Film Academy, at Universal Studios (Hollywood). As of 2008 he directs several short films. Those years began his collaboration with Xu Xiaoxi. His two student and graduation projects premiered at festivals. After that, he directed various fiction films and commercials in China and Spain.
In 2019 he was the director of the 1st Spanish Film Festival of Chengdu, organized by the Embassy of Spain in China, Ermei Studio 1958 and his production company, Almost Red Prod.

Xiaoxi Xu
Film director and screenwriter from Chengdu, China. He graduated in Fine Arts from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) in 2006, specializing in Video-art, with his experimental short film The Fluxus of ID.
In 2009 he completed a Master of Film Directing (MFA) at the New York Film Academy, at its headquarters in Universal Studios (Hollywood). He directed several short films in celluloid and digital format and collaborates on many others as director of photography (most notably Toto Forever, being nominated by his academy for the Kodak Cinematography Scholarship Awards). He graduated with his work Desire Street, co-directed with Roberto F. Canuto, with whom he will collaborate ever since. All of his films are shown on the film festival circuit and he worked in various fiction films and commercials in China and Spain.
He currently resides in Spain, establishing there a subsidiary of his production company Almost Red Prod., founded in China almost a decade ago.

Directors Filmography

Authors with multiple awards at international festivals, especially with Sunken Plum (Chen Li, 2017). That film premiered in more than 50 countries and has official selections at prestigious festivals such as Raindance in London, Seminci in Valladolid, FICX, Malaga Film Festival or Outfest in Los Angeles. In addition, it won almost 30 awards and nominations such as the Silver Caravel at the Cartagena Film Festival, the three awards at the Punto di Vista Festival in Sardinia or the two obtained at the Cortada Festival in Vitoria, and with more than 200 international screenings.

Roberto F. Canuto & Xu Xiaoxi previously directed the other two parts of their Chengdu Invisible trilogy: Floating Melon (Fu Guo) and Ni Jing, Thou Shall Not Steal (Ni Jing), works that also received numerous awards. In their filmography we find a Spanish-Chinese short film titled Advent (Ad-vientu). Previously his works were filmed in Los Angeles, with titles like Toto Forever or Desire Street.

Recently, they are developing several fiction short film projects and a feature film, as well as a feature-length documentary project about non-binary individuals.

2024 Sunset in Paris (Atardecer en París)
2024 Blow Down (Blow Down:Colapso)
2022 Water Circles Under Cotton Clouds (Círculos sobre agua, bajo nubes de algodón)
2017 Sunken Plum (Chen Li)
2016 Advent (Ad-vientu)
2015 Floating Melon (Fu Guo)
2013 Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal (Ni Jing)
2011 Desire Street
2010 Toto Forever (dir. Roberto F. Canuto)
2010 Mei Mei (dir. Xu Xiaoxi)
2008 The Fluxus of ID (dir. Xu Xiaoxi)

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In an era of constant, ubiquitous communication through the internet, images no longer hold the same meaning they once did. The young protagonist of this short film believes he can share intimate, even sexual images on social media and still enjoy a peaceful afternoon in nature. However, this story reveals that the virtual world is just as tangible as the real one, and that today’s world has shifted enough that what happens in one realm can directly impact the other.

Our photographer exists in an imagined world, one that could easily represent the idyllic park where he takes his latest selfies for his online admirers. He embodies a carefree, almost naïve demeanour that begins to crack when another young man suddenly appears. His arrival is eerie, as if a ghost has emerged from another realm—this time, the virtual one of images.

The photographer may have known him before, as an avatar or under a pseudonym, but he can't recognise his face or voice. He knows him, but doesn't know him. When he realises this—that the encounter isn't some random passerby, a chance meeting on an ordinary afternoon—he begins to feel the vulnerability of someone who is exposed, stripped bare. This is when the terror of the unknown strikes, and the violence of the clash between two realities—distinct yet inseparably intertwined—becomes undeniable. The virtual and real worlds, though reluctant, are forced to meet.