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Mexican debut ‘Against Nature’ gets Karlovy Vary Proxima world premiere as trailer released
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

Culture/The Apex Times/Jul 4, 4:58 AM EDT

Mexican debut ‘Against Nature’ gets Karlovy Vary Proxima world premiere as trailer released

Axel Bertha’s first feature follows a silent stonemason protagonist whose work and presence are tied to an ominous, spiritual force, according to festival materials and debut trailer details.

3 min readEditor-approved Apex article

A trailer has been released for “Against Nature,” a debut feature from Mexican writer-director Axel Bertha that will world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as part of its Proxima competition program. The film’s opening, as described in festival-linked materials, centers on Jonás, a silent protagonist who returns to the countryside after years away to begin work as a stonemason, setting up a story that moves between physical settings and what the film frames as intangible forces.

The official festival framing of the plot emphasizes atmosphere and ambiguity rather than conventional exposition. Karlovy Vary program text cited with the release says Jonás “opens himself up to something intangible,” a force that permeates the landscape, bodies, and time itself. It also characterizes the protagonist’s enigmatic nature as stemming from the dark side of humanity and from his contact with the sacred.

Rather than relying on traditional storytelling, “Against Nature” is presented as a hypnotic, sound- and style-driven experience. Festival-linked description cited in connection with the trailer says the film stays near the cinematic edge between physical and spiritual worlds, with an absorbing experience built around sound design and visuals that aim to immerse viewers as the story shifts toward escalating, unsettling developments.

The film is also described as turning toward themes of destruction and human cruelty. Materials cited around the trailer say the movie explores human cruelty as part of a cycle of destruction from which humanity has yet to find a way out, while separate press notes referenced alongside the trailer describe a looming catastrophe and an unraveling that humanity has not been able to escape “since its origins.”

The timeline for the festival premiere places the film in Karlovy Vary’s 60th edition, with the Proxima competition slot scheduled for Thursday, July 9. The release of the trailer comes ahead of that screening window, as the festival prepares to present Proxima entries as part of its broader slate of international features.

“Against Nature” is written, directed, and produced by Bertha. The project is described as coming from Mexico-based production companies Domme and Cárcava Cine, along with U.S.-based Love Song, according to the reporting tied to the trailer release. The film’s appearance in Proxima marks Bertha’s first feature-length directorial release in the competition context.

The film’s premiere at an international festival follows the trailer’s positioning of the story around unanswered questions and a looming collapse of normal order, with Jonás drawn deeper into events that are described as almost native to the natural world. The next public checkpoint for audiences will be the Proxima competition screening at Karlovy Vary on July 9, when festival programming will move the film from teaser framing to full presentation.

Why It Matters

  • A July 9 Proxima competition premiere at one of Europe’s major film festivals places a new international debut on a high-visibility platform before wider audience access.
  • The trailer and festival framing emphasize nontraditional storytelling, which can influence audience expectations for how the film will be screened, marketed, and discussed during festival circulation.
  • The production involves cross-border collaboration between Mexico-based companies and a U.S.-based partner, reflecting ongoing international financing and distribution patterns for emerging directors.
  • Because the film is presented as exploring destruction and humanity’s darker impulses, its reception can affect how festivals and programmers position similar genre-adjacent, atmosphere-driven works in competitive lineups.
  • For festival audiences and critics, the next step is straightforward: the full film presentation at Karlovy Vary will determine how the teaser’s spiritual and ominous tone resolves in the complete narrative.

Sources

Key Facts

  • “Against Nature,” the debut feature from Mexican writer-director Axel Bertha, has released an exclusive trailer.
  • The film will world premiere in Karlovy Vary’s Proxima competition program at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
  • The story centers on Jonás, who returns to the countryside to work as a stonemason, with festival text describing an intangible force tied to the landscape, bodies, and time.
  • Festival-linked materials frame the film’s style as hypnotic, with emphasis on sound design and visuals, and describe it as exploring human cruelty within a cycle of destruction.
  • Karlovy Vary materials cited alongside the release say Jonás’s enigmatic nature stems from the dark side of humanity and contact with the sacred.
  • The Proxima premiere date for the film is Thursday, July 9.
  • The project is described as coming from Mexico-based Domme and Cárcava Cine and U.S.-based Love Song.
Mexican debut ‘Against Nature’ gets Karlovy Vary Proxima world premiere as trailer released | The Apex Times