MITLA | Underworld

Mitla | Underworld is a 3-minute, 20-second art film inspired by my visit to Teotihuacan and the tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. This short film expresses my feelings while walking through the 2000-year-old space, visited only by a few. I was inspired to consider the possible discoveries and ideas to explore this unexplored archeological site.
Though the tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent has been fully explored and documented, there is a discovery of caves in Mitla near Oaxaca, Mexico. These places are some of the oldest continually occupied sites in America. Mitla is derived from the Nahuatl name Mictlán, which was the place of the dead or underworld.

MITLA | Underworld.
The short film is created utilizing Generative AI Toolsets and composited with real-time toolsets.

  • Mark Chavez
    Director
  • Ina Conradi-Chavez
    Producer
  • Tate Egon Chavez
    Score
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short, Web / New Media, Other
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 4, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    100 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Singapore
  • Shooting Format:
    Generative AI, Digital animation
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Best Shorts Competition 8861 Villa La Jolla Drive #13131 La Jolla, CA 92039
    Best Shorts Competition
    United States
    September 20, 2022
    North American Premiere
    Experimental
  • Venice Shorts
    Venice, California
    United States
    August 12, 2022
    North American Premiere
    Best Experimental - Nominee
Director Biography - Mark Chavez

Mark Chavez (the USA, b.1958), is an artist and animator currently based in Singapore and Los Angeles. He has an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles. His works have been exhibited at the Chinese Millennium Museum (Beijing, China), Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), Los Angeles Center For Digital Art (LACDA), the BANK Gallery, Omotesando district in Tokyo, Japan, and the International Fine Arts Film Festival, (Santa Barbara, CA), Raw Science Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA), and other international film festivals and galleries such as the International Beyond Film Festival Special Edition for Climate Change at ZKM, Germany, Art Basel Miami 2021.

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Director Statement

This short film is the first in a series of short that I plan to make with Generative AI and Dreivative Touchdesigner. These new techniques provide a feeling of liberation in the ease of visualization and realization. It becomes almost as though through imagination alone a new creative palatte is available where through careful curation new visions can be realized.