Emilio Mancilla

Emilio Mancilla was born and raised in Ciudad de México (Mexico City). He trained as an actor in Sala Marlowe, La teatrería, and MM studio. Emilio made the move to Aotearoa at the age of 19, where he studied under Elena Stejko, and later debuted on screen in the Independent film Shut Eye (NZIFF 2022). While at Toi, Emilio has performed his solo at the Wharewaka function centre for the Festival of the Day of the Dead (2022), and acted in short film Prince (2023) directed by Mason Cade Packer, opposite Beula Koahle. You can see Emilio Mancilla on his latest screen project: A remarkable place to die coming soon on TVNZ. Emilio is currently working on the development of his Latin-futuristic play Tecuani.

Last Update:: 16/01/2025, 10:15 am

Emilio Mancilla

Emilio's Live Project

Tecuani

The sacrifice is nigh. The Nemontemi ceremony approaches as Mētzili counts down the days, hours and minutes to her imminent death. A strange voice grows stronger, calling for her to escape into the wild and embark on a perilous journey across the treacherous jungle of Lakam Tum. Tecuani is an immersive sensory experience providing an intriguing, powerful and stimulating synergy of movement, voice, spatial design, mask and virtual technologies. The work brings to the forefront a story of reclamation looking at the past to re-imagine the future. Drawing from Nahuatl (Mexican indigenous) poetry and exploring ways to translate these poems through a contemporary lens. Tecuani is a response to the chronicle: "No queremos ser cristianos" by Jan de Vos - it aims explore themes of community, corruption, self-discovery, indigineity, and latin-futurism as vehicles for re-imagining a future where indigenous languages are dominant. Emilio hopes to bring the brutalist nature of his culture to Aotearoa with a surrealist performance that reminds us of the absurdity of life.

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