The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis continuing to upend our lives in unpredictable ways.

How we work, socialize, shop, educate our children, access vital services, and conduct our daily lives is drastically altered - most likely for the foreseeable future.

The Chilean sci-fi short film ASYMPTOMATIC (ASINTOMÁTICO) speaks to our uncertain future.

The short is the story of couple Alicia (Nury Ortego-Farré) and Cristóbal (Sebastián Palacios Brockhaus). At the beginning, Alicia is FaceTiming with Cristóbal, who is traveling far away for a job interview. Seconds after their conversation ends, she is startled by an unexpected visitor.

It is Cristóbal, claiming he has traveled back from the future to speak with her.

After confirming his identity with an incredulous and suspicious Alicia, Cristóbal delivers a dire update from the future: the COVID-19 pandemic is only the beginning of an even worse worldwide crisis.

Future Cristóbal has been sent back into the past on a mission to stop the fateful event that will make the current pandemic even more deadly.

Revealing more of the short’s disturbing plot would be spoiling it, because the dramatic conclusion demands to be seen to keep the integrity of its emotional impact.

With a story by Argentinian writer Sebastian Esparza and direction by Pablo Roldán López, ASYMPTOMATIC is compelling and intense. Also, it feels eerily prescient due to its very timely subject matter. The film delivers due to its gripping script, intimate direction, and the terrific performances of its two lead actors.

It also succeeds as an urgent cautionary tale, admonishing us to remain vigilant and hold our world leaders more accountable in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This project is another sci-fi short film produced during the pandemic. Watch ASYMPTOMATIC in its entirety below…

(Note: The film’s dialogue is in Spanish with English subtitles provided.)

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