Laura is a teenager who moves with her mother and brother from San José to an inland town in Costa Rica. There, her mother’s new partner and his young daughter are waiting for them. This is the starting point of If We Don't Burn, How Do We Light up the Night, the first feature by Kim Torres, freshly presented in the New Directors section of the 73rd San Sebastián Film Festival. The new life that awaits her in this place does not thrill Laura, who doesn’t hesitate to make it clear to her mother that this isn’t where she’d like to be.

Despite everything – and aware that she has no other option – the young woman (Lara Yuja Mora) begins to explore and to try to get accustomed to her new surroundings. The overwhelming feel of the place, where the natural world floods everything with an almost violent beauty, coincides with the intensity of the emotions that assail her body and mind. The awakening of adolescence – the fact she has to leave behind the girl she was in order to start growing into the woman she will become – drops Laura into the middle of a maelstrom of changes, which she adapts to as best she can. She starts making friends and discovering the environment around her, steeped in a mysterious mysticism as captivating as it is unsettling.

Word soon reaches her of the legend of a purple-haired beast that wanders through the jungle at night, looking for women to carry off. As if things weren’t complicated enough for the young woman, this grim tale – which threatens brutal, imminent sexual violence – coincides with her own sexual awakening. Her best friend in town is a girl her age who lives with her grandmother, ever since her mother emigrated to the USA in search of a better life. Between the two of them and another boy, a subtle triangle of desire and attraction takes shape, becoming just another threat in an already complicated context.

All of the ingredients that make up the recipe for If We Don't Burn, How Do We Light up the Night simmer slowly, and demand attention and a certain effort from the viewer. One has to wait until the film’s final moments for the drama to break loose and the pace to quicken. This can be frustrating up to a point, but if you agree to play the game that Torres offers, it’s easy to feel fascination and a strong emotional connection with Laura, her family and the particular environment in which their lives unfold. This is a debut that, while imperfect, offers many elements worth applauding. Among the most notable are a solid, well-matched cast; cinematography (by Mel Nocetti) and a mise-en-scène that gift us with beautiful, emotionally charged images; and an exceptionally intelligent use of sound that reinforces the dense, all-enveloping atmosphere.

If We Don't Burn, How Do We Light up the Night was produced by Noche Negra Films (Costa Rica) in collaboration with Tropical Films (Mexico) and Les Films du Clan (France). French sales agent Urban Sales handles its international sales.