Shortfilm
The short film "Cuando llegue la neblina" (When the Fog Comes) portrays the lives of people from the Mexican border city of Tijuana. Through a combination of photographs, animations, and audio recordings, the film delves into the daily realities of four individuals who have different connections to the Mexican-American border.
We meet Isna and Miche, two migrants who fled from Haiti, leaving their children and families behind in their home country. They undertook the exhausting journey through eleven countries to reach Mexico, hoping to get closer to their dream of the "American Dream." We encounter José Luís, a Mexican man who, after eight failed attempts to cross the border, now waits for the next fog to try again. We also meet Gustavo, a lifeguard who rescues migrants from the waters as they attempt to swim around the border at the sea.
Author, Director, Photographer, Editor: Laurentia Genske
Animation Direction: Camilo Colmenares
Illustration: Angélica Padilla
Animation and Compositing: Saeyun Jung
Animation Assistance: Jiwoo Kim
Dramaturgical Consultation: Carina Mergens
Sound Design, Sound Mixing: Robert Keilbar
Music: Matthias Albert Sänger
Color Correction: Laurentia Genske
Production Assistance Tijuana: Samahil Borbón Ojeda
Sound Recording, Samahil Borbón Ojeda, Laurentia Genske
Production: Vamos Animation in co-production with Laurentia Genske
Funding: Goethe Institute Mexico, Relaciones Inesperadas, FFA German Federal Film Board, Akademie der Künste,Neustart Kultur, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
TV broadcasting 3sat, 02.05.2026, 23:10 - 23:35
TV broadcasting 3sat, 03.05.2025, 23:10 - 23:35
2026 - Monsoon Film Festival, Coimbatore
2026 - 29th Social Justice Film Festival, Bangaluru
2025 - 28th Social Justice Film Festival, Chennai
2025 - Freedom Film Festival, Chennai
2025 - Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg
2025 - Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival
2025 - Kontrast Filmfest
2024- Fickin International Film Festival Kinshasa
2024- Encounters, Exhibition MKW NRW
2024- Exground Filmfest Wiesbaden
2024- Short Film Festival Cologne, KFFK
2024- Mobile Urban Cinema, Kunstwerk, Cologne
2024 - 29th Openeyes Filmfest
2024 - DOKOMOTIVE Special Screening, Turistarama Cologne
2024 - 26th. Mecal Pro, Barcelona International Short and Animation Film Festival
2024 - 17. Kino Latino Köln
2024 - WINNER fbw, Seal of Approval "highly recommended"
2024 - 47. Grenzland Filmtage Selb, Audience Award
2024 - 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, German Competition
2024 - 34. Onion City Experimental Film Festival, Chicago
2024 - 47. Grenzland Filmtage Selb
2024 - 30. Cinelatino Tübingen
2024 - 46. Clermont-Ferrand, Short Film Market Picks
2023 - Festival Fotografischer BilderRegensburg
2023 - 66. Dok Leipzig, Dok Film Market Exklusives
LAURENTIA GENSKE FILMS ABOUT imprint | privacy policy
Even observing nature here is not innocent, nor is having a drink on the beach. Barbed wire on walls and a circling helicopter signal that in Tijuana, the sea is not without limits. Only on moonless nights, or when the fog rolls in ("Cuando llegue la neblina"), is there a chance to cross the heavily monitored border from Mexico into the USA. Undocumented migrants and refugees tell director Laurentia Genske about their attempts and their failures, and during these accounts the documentary shifts into black-and-white animation, into which spilled blood flares up in red.
— kultur.west
"When the Fog Comes," a short film by Laurentia Genske, shows a fence separating a beach far out into the sea. Here, Mexico. There, the United States. The promised land seems so close — one would only need to walk around the end of the fence — but the currents there are too dangerous. A young man has already fled to the USA eight times, only to be sent back every time. He does not give up on his dream. A film that is as simple as it is haunting.
— Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"José Luis sells drinks on the beach in Tijuana, Mexico. He has built this business, and this life, for himself. Yet he does not want to live here. Because where his drink stand stands, it is only about 300 meters to the border with the USA. That is where José Luis wants to go. He has already tried eight times. Again and again he was caught by border patrol, again and again sent back to Mexico. Now it simply has to work. He will cross the wall that reaches from the beach out into the sea. But he has to wait — until, between night and early morning, the thick and impenetrable fog arrives that conceals everything better left unseen. José Luis is just one of the people that filmmaker Laurentia Genske portrays in her experimental documentary WHEN THE FOG COMES. Genske uses a masterful artistic device: she tells her story through still photographs, while on the soundtrack, the full atmosphere of the place where the images were taken continues to unfold. In this way, the images seem to bring the people of this place to life."
— German Film and Media Rating (FBW)
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