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Logline

Andrea Noel, a young American journalist, falls into a social media spiderweb after being assaulted on the street and receiving threats for reporting, which leads her to uncover a network of bots hiding the most intimate secrets of Mexican politics.

Synopsis

Inspired by true events in Mexico City, 2016. Andrea Noel, an American journalist, publishes her investigations through digital media. But Andrea’s world changes drastically when she’s assaulted on the street. During a walk, a man appears out of nowhere and pulls down her underwear. After the shock, she discovers the attack was captured by security cameras. Driven by her journalistic instincts, she takes her findings to Twitter, putting her in the public eye and leading her on a quest for justice. The video clearly shows the attack, but the man’s face remains indistinguishable.

As Andrea grapples with the trauma and pressure, she is encouraged to report the incident. People online believe the attacker is Antonio Chávez, a content creator known for violent public pranks.

Andrea is invited to appear on a gossip TV show, where she is pressured into accusing Antonio live on air. Days later, new video evidence proves he was not the aggressor. Andrea is forced to publicly apologize and is discredited on social media. Her boss informs her that she has been granted a leave of absence, as people no longer trust her work.

She continues to receive threats, online hate, and harassment. After someone blows up her apartment windows, she decides to leave Mexico. Taking refuge, Andrea resumes her investigation. Going deeper into the online rabbit hole, she notices a pattern between different accounts. She realizes that whenever important information about the government emerges, bot-like accounts bury it under trolling. She finds a name that connects them all: @espaguetimonster.

Driven to expose the truth, Andrea returns to Mexico, where she meets Jorge Cabral, known as @espaguetimonster. He reveals the existence of bot farms that control the national media narrative. Despite threats from powerful figures, Andrea publishes her findings, exposing a system of political manipulation and disinformation.

Meet the Filmmakers

Maria Prieto — Director
Born in Mexico City, Maria Prieto discovered her passion for storytelling at an early age. She seeks to create narratives that resonate with genuine human emotions and authentic connections, aiming to inspire and provoke reflection.

She graduated with a degree in Film from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. She has directed five short fiction films: Recognition (2023), ¿Qué somos? (2020), and The Fridge (2016), El Sarape (2025) and Contesta (2026). These works have been showcased at numerous festivals, including The International Festival of Morelia, deadCenter, the Chelsea Film Festival, and the LA Shorts Festival, amongst others.

María served as the second unit director on the Netflix adaptation of Pedro Páramo, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Currently Maria is working on her first feature film I Want to Watch You Burn.

Rafael Ley — Producer
Rafael Ley Pineda is a Mexican producer born in Mexico City in 1977 and one of the leading figures in contemporary Mexican cinema. In 2005, he co-founded Woo Films and later established Noc Noc Films, producing acclaimed feature films, television series, and theater projects.

Over a career spanning nearly two decades, he has produced more than eighteen films and nine television series. His credits include The Good Girls (2018), which premiered at the Toronto and Morelia International Film Festivals; Buy Me a Gun (2018), selected for the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight; Noise (2022), winner of the Spanish Cooperation Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival; as well as The House of Flowers, Perfect Strangers, and Holy Family.

His work has been featured at major international festivals and on global streaming platforms such as Netflix. He has also championed the work of emerging filmmakers, including Natalia Beristáin, Elisa Miller, The Ambriz brothers, Ernesto Contreras, and Rodrigo Prieto on his directorial debut, Pedro Páramo

Andrea Toca — Producer
Andrea Toca is a Mexican film and television producer born in 1990. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Television from Centro, Diseño, Cine y Televisión and a Master’s degree in Film Production from the University of the Arts London.

Throughout her career, she has produced and premiered eleven feature films, including the acclaimed documentaries Teodoro en Concreto and Poetas del Cielo, a co-production between Brazil, France, and Mexico. Her credits also include Adam, which premiered at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival, History Lessons, screened at the Tokyo and Los Cabos International Film Festivals, My Girlfriend Is the Revolution, and Beautiful Losers, starring Diego Calva.

Since 2020, she has collaborated with Woo Films, producing projects for Netflix such as House of Flowers: The Movie, Once Upon a Time… Happily Never After, and Holy Family, all directed by Manolo Caro. She is currently in the postproduction of the film Ñusta, a co-production between Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico, and I Want to Watch You Burn, the debut feature film of director María Prieto.

Nico Aguilar — Director of Photography
Nico Aguilar, AMC, is a Mexican-American cinematographer known for his work on Rodrigo Prieto’s Pedro Páramo and Charlie Day’s Fool’s Paradise. He has also served as second unit cinematographer and additional photographer on projects including Marvel’s Echo, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and Julie Taymor’s The Glorias. Nico won the 2015 American Society of Cinematographers Heritage Award and the International Kodak Scholarship Award. In addition, he is a Grammy Award winner for his work on the music video Anxiety for Doechii, further highlighting his versatility across film and music-driven visual storytelling.

Liora Spilk — Editor
Liora Spilk was born and raised in Mexico City. She began her career as a film editor while studying Communications Sciences at UNAM. In 2016, she began editing socially charged documentaries, including an episode of the series 1994 and the short film The busty doll (Ariel Award for Best Documentary Short 2018). Within this framework, she has worked with internationally recognized directors, including Luciana Kaplan, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Fernando Frías, and Manolo Caro.

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Contact

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