"El Mundialito" (small world cup)

Cinema has treated people of short stature unevenly, consistently committing omissions and fostering prejudices. Sometimes, negative and unfair attitudes are encouraged, presenting them as marginal, deformed, evil beings, or, on the other hand, as the good-natured person incapable of harming anyone. No one questions the true significance of their existence and what they contribute to society. However, the worst mistreatment they suffer in cinema is that they are not seen as ordinary people.

It is undoubtedly a documentary but with clear elements of fiction. We believe that our personal search for expression interrelates with this, as we aim to challenge the strict theoretical division between documentary and fiction. We intend to inhabit that ambiguous zone where “confusion is reinforced,” seeking not a magical identification from the viewer, but above all, to unsettle them, push them out of passivity, and compel them “to have a more critical relationship with the narrative and its characters.”

**The Dwarfs in Cinema**
In Todd Phillips' "Joker," the scene where Gary (Leigh Gill), due to his short stature, has no chance of escaping from Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix); Arthur tells him he can leave, and Gary walks towards the door completely scared, but he cannot open the apartment door because he cannot reach the latch blocking it. Terrified, Gary asks Arthur to help him out. Arthur stands up, kisses him on the head, opens the door, and allows him to flee, while the audience literally bursts into laughter. González Peña (2014) notes that, with the decline of courts in the 18th century, people of short stature began to be frequently exhibited in fairs, carnivals, and taverns.

Throughout the 20th century, a series of social advances occurred, manifested through legal and institutional measures in favor of all differences. In 1948, the UN made the Universal Declaration of Human Rights public. Among its articles, several are of interest to disabled individuals (5, 22, 23, 25, 26). And in this same direction, its resolutions from 1949, 1950, and 1955 in favor of physically disabled individuals. Of course, we cannot forget that major advances are accompanied by worrying setbacks, especially due to budget cuts and their impact on employment and integration of such individuals.

With the advent of cinema, dwarfism has always been reduced to an element of disturbance. Taking advantage of the effect of a human deformity was a common and effective resource used by the greatest filmmakers; even Orson Welles did it in "The Other Side of the Wind." There are countless films where dwarfism features in scenes: Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits" (1981) using the camera at a lower height than usual to provide the perspective as if the dwarf protagonists were viewing the scene; Werner Herzog's "Even Dwarfs Started Small" (1970); Matthew Bright's "Tiptoes" (2003); Thomas McCarthy's "The Station Agent" (2003). Many of these are performed by the actor of short stature Peter Dinklage, who has achieved recognition for his acting quality in a film industry where you are chosen more for your appearance than your talent; he starred in Frank Oz's "Death at a Funeral" (2007); "Knights of Badassdom"; "Game of Thrones" or "X-Men" and recent films like "Summer 1993" (2017).

But "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2017), also starring Peter Dinklage, was criticized by Eva Squire in The Guardian for discriminatory and comedic treatment, saying: “In these films, it remains impossible to find complex, serious characters who face conflicts arising from or not from their dwarfism. They appear as sidekicks to provide a comedic touch or contrast.”

Undoubtedly, the film where dwarfism takes center stage is "Freaks" directed by Tod Browning in the 1930s and considered a cult classic. It leaves us questioning who the real monsters are.

Tom Shakespeare, a disability specialist and activist, himself affected by achondroplasia, believes that many documentaries that have proliferated in recent years are essentially exploitative, voyeuristic ventures and that a change is needed (2003). In this process, Adelson proposes that media should be careful about the image they project of these people—the only one known to people who have not personally interacted with someone with achondroplasia—as well as raising awareness among people with dwarfism about the importance of their personal and professional decisions on the lives of others like them.

Despite everything, people of short stature continue to face significant social discrimination. Their physical appearance and mythological associations continue to provoke fascination and ambivalence, “reducing their image from complete individuals to diminished, undervalued, underestimated people.”

Since “El Mundialito,” we strive for an audiovisual work where disability is not labeled with mockery and to add different sociocultural coordinates to distance ourselves from stigma and discrimination.

**Characters**
In 2017, Facundo Rojas surprised the world by forming the first Argentine National Team of Short Stature. He contacted Diego Maradona, and his sponsorship was ignored by the press and even by filmmakers who use them only for easy and circus-like laughs. After the meeting with Maradona, Facundo said, “Being a dwarf taught me that the ability to dream and fulfill dreams is within all of us, that desires do not understand diminishment, that motivation is not subject to legs. It’s true, I don’t reach some things, but I do reach my dreams.”

Our main characters are guides-conductors who unify the structure of the chapters. The entire narrative is structured based on the parallel stories of the protagonists, establishing them as guides-conductors to unify the story, but this structure is more committed to the complexity of a puzzle that is assembled with multiple voices and resources.

Due to the disproportion of their stature compared to socially accepted standard measures, practical physical limitations arise in daily life, affecting the normal psychosocial development of each of them, as we live in a world adapted for people who are at least 1.60 meters tall. ATMs, public counters, light switches, door locks, shelves, counters, platforms, stairs, cars, etc., have been designed with average-height individuals in mind and not those whom many call dwarfs.

But nothing is impossible for them; with a little more effort, they can accomplish whatever they desire. However, there are those who measure their intelligence and mental capacity by the height they reach.