Luis Quilez’s ‘GRAFFITI’: A Story Of Survival And Hope has been shortlisted for a 2017 Academy Award.

To give the short film a true feeling of isolation, director Luis Quilez chose the actual location of a nuclear hit area of Ukraine. The entire short film has been shot in the abandoned city of Pripyat, where the notoriously infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s reactor number 4 was situated. It proved to be the best place for Oriol Pla to improvise and understand his character in depth.  The gloom and the desolation of the city added a haunting effect which added in to the suspense that the film carries. The musical score is slow and subtle at a few places to indicate the silence that surrounds, only to gradually raise its tempo to give a feel of hope of surviving the ordeal. The cinematography excellently captures the essence of the mood the film releases on to the viewer.  Luis Quilez’s ‘GRAFFITI’: A Story Of Survival And Hope. 


The film starts off with a rather unusual way of introducing the main character Edgar (Oli PLa) who is relieving himself from his sexual desires. The habitat where he lives is a city completely isolated from any known civilisation on earth. The only other living being to keep him company is his dog, which follows him around anywhere he goes. His day to day activity is to spray paint different parts of the city to indicate them as being safe because the city experienced a near apocalyptic catastrophe involving a nuclear incident. He hopes to find any survivors but finds none, until one day he finds the name ANNA spray painted on the wall.

It has won numerous awards including Best European Short Film and Melies D’Argent at Sitges Film Festival, Spain, Director’s Choice Award at Indie Flicks, UK and Best Short Film at Best Short Competition, USA. Now it has been shortlisted as one of the nine films for the 2017 Academy Awards.

Writer: Adnan Kundi.

Title Image: Euphoria Productions