The Axolotl is a fas­ci­nat­ing crea­ture for a number of rea­sons, includ­ing its grotesque appear­ance, its abil­i­ty to regen­er­ate and pri­mar­i­ly the fact that it exhibits the phe­nom­e­non known as neote­ny, mean­ing that it retains char­ac­ters of the larval stage all through its adult life. It lives in the lakes sur­round­ing Mexico City and is believed to be immor­tal. In the film, the Axolotl a.k.a. Mex­i­can walk­ing fish, becomes a metaphor for Mexico City itself, in an essay­is­tic inquiry into sur­vival and adap­ta­tion. Alexan­der Hick: “Begin­ning with a col­lec­tion of impres­sions and quotes about the Axolotl, it´s the film itself that goes through meta­mor­pho­sis: The places, the people, the pro­tag­o­nists, the atmos­phere, every­thing goes through grad­ual change. I am inter­est­ed in doc­u­men­tary film­mak­ing as a process, where the out­come is at first unpre­dictable, unde­fined.‘‘ (Astra Film Festival)