Nadi and her mother Elsa live and work in a quiet, secluded farm in South Brazil. After a mysterious teen comes out of the lake, the local legend of the “Body of Water” becomes too real, and tensions increase.
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looks like I’m first! great horror with a sort of old school folk angle. definitely feels like the bold type of idea A24 would eat up.
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I love the feeling of loneliness and the eerie atmosphere created. Nadi’s choice is based on probably one of the hardest process we go through while growing up: how do we leave the role of “daughters/sons” and start becoming something else?
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Hey Joe, thanks so much for reading and commenting! I absolutely love A24, so that would be a dream come true hahaha 
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Hello everyone, lots of new faces in here – we love to see it
@onlyjoeklein What’s your favourite A24, and how do you feel about the direction of more mid-budget ‘blockbuster’ attempts they’re going for? I fear they’re diminishing returns at the moment, but happy to be proven wrong!
@lbarzotto welcome to the forum and thanks for your comment. I agree, this really put the ‘growing pains’ in a coming-of-age story. That’s a great analysis of the theme!
@jgonzatto greetings! assuming you’re the author, would you be willing to share what inspirations you took when crafting this story? Would love to hear what some of your favourite comps are and where you’d like to take the short going forward.
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absolutely, I’m the author and would be glad to share some refs.
First, I drew the overall mood/narrative from a folk horror short story I published in 2023, called “O Leite da Mãe” (The Mother’s Milk, roughly translated).
It’s also about the dark sides of motherhood, sacrifices, and female isolation. Second, I’m obsessed with folk horror films like “The VVitch” and the short “Fishwife”, which depict the female characters in rural settings and how the mystical aspect of their life changes them forever. My film also deals with that, and discusses the loss of loved ones - something I always had trouble dealing with.
Overall, a very emotionally deep film for me.
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Thanks for such a great comment! I’m writing an article at the moment about folk horror versus urban legend as a focal point for horror scripts, what draws you to the former so much? I find that we go through periods of most general release horror being one or the other for a decade or so at a time, and we’ve swung all the way back into folk for the past eight or ten years.
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That’s cool, I’d love to read it! And about folk horror, I think it has a lot to do with societal norms, pushbacks on social revolutions, and using mysticism as control. These issues usually arises in cycles, like you said.
So I’m drawn to this kind of metaphor to speak about issues, fears, and create almost dream-like universes that linger in our memory. I myself inhabit some folk horror universes whenever I daydream or think about other horror stories…
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Loved this so much that after I listened to it, I went back to read it to squeeze out the extra votes! Hope this does well.
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I’m so so so grateful for your vote and wishes!! This film will definitely be made, and I hope we get to reconnect when it premieres! thank you so much
Hello everybody, please join me in welcoming Body of Water writer @jgonzatto (https://forum.kinolime.com/u/jgonzatto) to the thread. Jessica will be available checking in over the coming days to answer any questions you might have about her screenplay.
Kindly leave your comments in this thread and don’t forget to READ AND VOTE for Body of Water!
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Hi Jessica, this is a beautiful script. I loved how you treat motherhood as something incredible but also frightening. I really felt that and wondered what you wanted to convey with this theme?
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Hey, thank so much for your message! It’s so gratifying to know/read that. 
About the theme, you’ve described literally how I feel about motherhood, even if I’m not a mother myself. It’s truly life changing, and I wanted to unite it with grief and show how it can change us in monstrous and/or fascinanting ways.
Also, I want to convey how differently women see this part of life. Some see it as total devotion, others see it as a chore, others see it in a more balanced way. It’s the same kind of discussion I build in my short story “O Leite da Mãe” (Mother’s Milk in Brazilian Portuguese) and in my horror/drama feature “The Pains of Labor” - both works were inspirations for “Body of Water”.
In short, it’s a very complex theme that can definitely have a dark side to it when we explore it in fiction. But this dark side also exists in real life, and we should accept it and relate to it in a better way. For instance, how does being a mother changes Nadi’s personality? How much do we really give up when we’re in a maternal position? Why is there a divide between mothers and sons/daughters, especially when it comes to control and expectations? And so on.
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Hi Jessica, I know very little about Brazilian film, would this type of folk horror be atypical in your country? Would love any recommendations on Brazilian movies. I think I’ve only seen City of God and I’m Still Here.
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Hey there, thanks for you message!
Honestly, when it comes to mainstream Brazilian folk horror films, there are only a few that I can mention. We have some examples like “The Loss” (2019), “The Devil’s Knot” (2017, didn’t watch this one), and the TV series “Unsoul” (2020). Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra also have an interesting contemporary horror career, but they’re not entirely folk.
This subgenre is much more popular in literature, which is one of the reasons why I really want “Body of Water” to be made and distributed worldwide. I’ve had a lot of feedbacks from friends stating that our story is unique and very different from the kind of cinema being made here, and I think that’s awesome.
As for general BR films, I have some favorites like “Charcoal” (2022), " Central Station" (1998), “Bacurau” (2019), and “Good Manners” (2017). If you enjoy thrillers, you might like “7 Prisoners” (2021); “A Dog’s Will” (2000) for comedy, and “The Blue Trail” (2025) for a fun adventure.
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Sorry, I forgot to add a recent historical/folk horror-ish title that just came out this year (I haven’t had the chance to watch it yet): “The Flesh Itself”.
It’s actually set in my home state of Rio Grande do Sul 
This was great, Jessica! Congratulations! I definitely felt those A24 vibes. The dynamic between the characters kept me hooked in, and I loved the focus on Brazilian folklore. How was your process of research on this topic? Would love to know that, we’ve barely stratched the surface on this kind of stories.
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don’t really have a question per se, just wanted to say congratulations and I love all of your answers on here. I can really feel the passion in your responses. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you. 
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Hey Lucca, thank you!! I love A24 and I think what they’re doing with modern horror is so cool, right up my alley. So, great to hear (read) that.
As for research, honestly, I haven’t focused on anything specific for this short because the legend is entirely fictional.
However, since it’s loosely inspired on my short story “O Leite da Mãe," I did some research to write that one. It’s a piece that was part of a Latin folk horror anthology called “Terrores Latinos”, and my short story was to be based on Chupacabra.
So I created a very similar tale where, in a same sort of isolated farm, a woman, her son Joé, and her mother started being haunted by something that was killing the farm animals. The woman, who still have to breastfeed her 8-years-old son, suspects it’s him that’s becoming a monster. When her own mother is found deceased and bloodless, the woman finally understands she was right, and accepts this monstrous child.
What I wanted to create was a metaphor for hurtful coming-of-ages we sometimes go through, as well as the pain of accepting the darker sides of our loved ones. I also did some research on the Chupacabra’s myth and how it became a real frenzy in Brazil.
Those elements became the foundation for “Body of Water”, where I changed the focus a bit to speak about grief - something that’s very present in my work and that everyone can relate to. I also envisioned a different kind of “son” here, since the teenager Joé is much more of a hollow figure that Nadi “fills” with her own son’s image.
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Hi Beth, thank you sooo much for your message!! It’s been a very emotional journey for me, and reading these kinds of feedback are incredibly touching. Thanks again! 