Muse

An aging and decadent artist rekindles a dangerous relationship with his Muse right before his last exhibition. All goes well... until the inner monster comes out to play.

  • Camilla Demichelis Richaud
    Director
  • Camilla Demichelis Richaud
    Writer
  • Camilla Demichelis Richaud
    Producer
  • Ghyslaine Richaud
    Producer
  • Humberto Zurita
    Key Cast
    "The Artist"
    Under the salt, The queen of the south
  • Ana Isabel Esqueira
    Key Cast
    "The Muse"
    Suave Patria
  • Ceci Romo
    Key Cast
    "Old Aristocrat"
    Los naufragos del liguria, Out of time
  • Johar Lara
    Key Cast
    "Young Artist"
  • Ruth Pownall
    Key Cast
    "Narrator"
  • Christian Besson
    Key Cast
    "Art connoisseur"
  • Christian Giraud
    Sound Design
    Rambo: Last blood, Roma, 7:19, Belzebuth
  • Leo Calzoni
    Director of Photography
  • Swald Huerta
    Associate Producer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Magical realism, fantasy, drama
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 18 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 10, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    11,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Mexico
  • Country of Filming:
    Mexico, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    2K anamorphic
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Shorts Mexico
    Mexico City
    Mexico
    September 5, 2021
    National premiere
    Official Selection
  • Filmquest
    Provo, Utah
    United States
    November 4, 2021
    World premiere
    Official selection, Nominee Best Fantasy Short, Best cinematography
  • Feratum Film Festival
    Patzcuaro
    Mexico
    Official Selection - National Competition
  • Festival Internacional de Cine de San Luis Potosi
    San Luis Potosi
    Mexico
    November 21, 2021
    Official Selection
  • International Film Festival "Prvi kadar"/First Frame
    Sarajevo
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    November 19, 2021
    European Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Ferrara Film Festival
    Ferrara
    Italy
    April 2, 2022
  • SANFICI - Santanter International Film Festival
    Santander
    Colombia
    February 21, 2022
  • Sick Chick Flicks

    United States
    February 19, 2022
  • FIC tequila
    Tequila
    Mexico
    April 27, 2022
  • Valencia Fantastic
    Valencia
    Spain
    February 25, 2022
    Spain
  • San Diego Latino Film Festival
    san diego
    United States
    March 10, 2022
  • FEMCINE - Festival internacional de Santo Domingo Mujeres en cine
    Santo Domingo
    Dominican Republic
    March 10, 2022
    Best International short film, Best director
  • Festival Ojo Indomito

    Chile
    March 23, 2022
  • RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
    richmond
    United States
    June 7, 2022
  • San Sebastian Kuursal Film Festival
    San Sebastian
    Spain
    July 21, 2022
  • Directed by women Turkey
    Istanbul
    Turkey
    August 16, 2022
    Turkish premiere
  • Kaaffilm International Film Festival
  • Festival Internacional de cine bajo la luna de Islantilla
    Islantilla
    Spain
    July 4, 2022
  • Dalmatia Film Festival
  • XVIII Muestra Internacional de Mujeres en el cine y la TV
    Mexico city
    Mexico
    November 1, 2022
  • Peephole Film Festival
    Guadalajara
    Mexico
    October 29, 2022
  • X Cinefem
    punta del este
    Uruguay
    September 7, 2022
  • Usak short film festival
    usak
    Turkey
    December 13, 2022
  • Espanto Film Fest

    Mexico
    October 28, 2022
  • Fixion Fest
    santiago de chile
    Chile
    November 14, 2022
    Chilean premiere
  • 34 Marato de Cinema Fantastic i Terror de Sants
    Sants
    Spain
    November 22, 2022
Distribution Information
  • YAQ Distribucion
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights, Internet, Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Hotel, Airline, Ship, Theatrical, Video / Disc, Free TV, Paid TV, Console / Handheld Device
Director Biography - Camilla Demichelis Richaud

Camilla is a Mexican, French, and Italian film director and producer. In her work, she likes to explore the female figure in society and the topic of empowerment and obsession.
She enjoys complicated, quixotic, and underdog characters, and often ponders with the metaphor of invisibility both in fiction and documentary.
For her work as a producer, she was the recipient of the Youth Award Medal in Arts and Culture, the most prestigious decoration given by the Mexican head of state. She was also selected by leading Mexican magazine Expansion as one of the 30 Leaders in their 30s in Mexico. She received the Emerging Content Creator scholarship from the National Association of Latino Independent Producers and she was selected as one of the mentees in their Diverse Woman in Media program.
She has worked in feature films, documentaries, short films as well as commercials and music videos with names such as Javier Bardem, Eugenio Caballero, Cristina Gallego, Humberto Zurita, etc.
She has directed commercials for brands like Walmart, Sam’s Club, Emperador (Pepsico), and Heineken, Nivea, Samsung, and Telcel. She directed the second unit for Latin grammy nominated documentary video Amar y Vivir.

Muse is Camilla's first fiction short film and it has been selected in over 30 film festivals and was named by Dread Central a film to keep an eye out for. She is currently writing a female led crime and adventure series and is in pre-production of her first feature documentary, which was based on a short film selected by PROCINE Mexico, Women in Film Mexico, Filminlatino, and the international Mobile Film Fest.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In my films, I like to observe the position of the Feminine in society with a very particular point of view.
Muse is a gothic romance fantasy drama that explores the complicated and often abusive relationship between the obsessed artist and his muse.

Matruzzi, a decadent and aging artist rekindles a dangerous relationship with his Muse right before his last show. He NEEDS her to finish a painting, -although that also means he will have to face his inner demons and the violence of his obsession-, at whatever cost.

My father was an artist. My mother was his muse. They divorced a long time ago, yet, they still carry the marks and pains of that relationship.
I was always fascinated by the huge demands of Passion. Passion can be both a blessing and a curse, and often, it can be the motor for achieving great things, at great cost.
I always found the huge ambivalence in my father's character very interesting: How, how could he be so grand and bright and yet so dark and sad at the same time?
I immediately understood why, since childhood, I was always fascinated by gothic novels such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or the Portrait of Dorian Gray.

This film was born from, -as cliche as it may sound-, a dream where I saw an artist paint his muse until he made her disappear, in order to end up with a piece of art.

The Muse is at the same time hero and the victim, the Hunter and the Prey.
I was obsessed by the dynamics of that Muse-Artist relationship and this very particular take on feminism.

Although the Muse is the leading character in this drama, we are seeing it all through the point of view of the artist, who gets so lost inside himself, so disconnected from the reality of Others and the world around him, that this is why I opted to play with magical realism and fantasy.

The aesthetic is often very baroque. I loved the idea of having that aging, decadent, no longer relevant artist live in a golden cage in his head, made of an unreal world of grandeur, sensuous richness, and emotional exuberance.
The film is set in the inner and outer world of the artist: decadent, extravagant, and overly-refined.

It is filled with an almost ridiculous preciousness, that leads the spectator to question if the motives of the artist are really all that important.