Grand Prix
Documentary Short
For Your Consideration — Academy Awards
Los Peces
No Se
Ahogan
Fish Don't Drown
The Film
A man, a house,
and time that breathes.
In the heart of Havana, Malelo — 67 years old — lives alone in a colonial house inherited from a bourgeois neighbor without descendants. The camera approaches at a distance that allows us to enter, with care, into his daily tasks.
We linger in the time where there is nothing to do — the time of curiosities, of childhood, of blackouts, and of questions about a future in a reality where one breathes bravely, still without gills.
"Este cortometraje alimenta esta hambre de cercanía al mismo tiempo que la sacia."
— Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena, FICCI
Official still — Los Peces No Se Ahogan
The Director
Lea Vidotto Labastie
Director · Writer · Documentary Filmmaker
Lea Vidotto Labastie (b. 1998) is an Italian-French director and documentary filmmaker. She trained at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba — one of the world's foremost schools for cinema, founded on the principles of committed, independent filmmaking.
Her work is defined by an intimate, observational approach — entering slowly into the rhythms of a life, and staying long enough to find what ordinary time conceals. Los Peces No Se Ahogan is her debut documentary short.
The film has traveled to festivals across Latin America and Europe, earning the International Grand Prix at Curta Cinema Rio 2026 — the festival's highest honor and an Oscar-qualifying award.
aún sin branquiasLos Peces No Se Ahogan, 2025
Awards & Festival Circuit
Recognition
International Grand Prix
Curta Cinema Rio — Festival Internacional de Curtas do Rio de Janeiro, 35th Edition, April 2026 Oscar Qualifying
Best Documentary
VisioNova Film Festival — 1st Edition "Journeys", January 2026
Official Selection
FICCI — Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena, Colombia, 2026
Official Selection
DOC. Coimbra Film Festival, Portugal, March 2026
Official Selection
Tulipani di Seta Nera, Italy, 2026
Official Selection
Corto Botanico — Como Short Film Days, Italy, November 2025
Official Screening
Fondazione Libero Bizzarri — San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy, November 2025
Stills
Images from the film
aún sin branquiasLos Peces No Se Ahogan, 2025
Press & Contact
Get in Touch
Screening Requests
For Academy members and press screening inquiries, accreditation, and press kit access.
lea@vidotto.linkPress Kit & Materials
High-resolution stills, director biography, film synopsis, and technical specifications available upon request.
Request Press Kit