The SMUGGLER director talks about celebrating and subverting the telenovela in her breathless epic for the Mexican pop star and actress Danna. 

Hold on to your hats and fasten your seatbelts... Olivia de Camps new video for Danna Paola, popular Mexican pop star and TV favourite, propels her to the familiar territory of the telenovela, daytime TV staple in Latin America, where she first made her name. Only in this case, it’s even more outlandish and unhinged - and far more cinematic.

We are in a Mexican village, populated with handsome, hard-working young men, gossiping female elders, a gloomy priest and a parrot. And here we find Danna, a glamourous telenovela star who is 'resting' in the village. But now, because it hasn't rained for 777 days, Danna is being blamed for the drought. It's all down to an apparent character flaw: she is unable to shed a tear.

What unfolds over the next few minutes is a mix of absurd rituals, failed romances, and Danna's theatrical attempts to cry. Until one small, unexpected moment finally breaks through. There's some praying in the chapel, some dough-pummeling with the baker, horseplay on horseback with the stableboy, lots of dancing. It's steamy, it's sweaty and its very sexy.

Through it all, Danna comes out triumphant in this uproariously sexy comedy-drama for her new song - which translates as How Hot? 

Olivia de Camps is a Dominican-American filmmaker known for her bold visuals and emotionally rich storytelling. Her recent music videos for the likes of Rebecca Black and Marina - stylised narrative imagery and choreography, and a love of shooting on film - have provided a taster of what we find in her new video for Danna.

We spoke to Olivia about the project - and discovered that there's a serious message behind the fun and frivolous comedy and ridiculous melodrama, if you care to look. On-set photography by Carlota Murillo.

The goal was always maximalism... that intense, dizzying feeling where everything is happening all at once.

PROMONEWS: How did the ‘Khe Calor’ project start for you? And how did you come up with the story in the video?

OLIVIA DE CAMPS: Aaron, Danna’s creative director, called me about the song, and within the first five minutes of that call it was like… okay, we’re speaking the same language, throwing wild ideas back and forth.

Danna’s roots acting in telenovelas was KEY for me. It’s such a huge part of her identity as an artist, and I thought: what if we don’t run from that, what if we embrace it and push it all the way? Make her this gorgeous exiled telenovela icon, trapped in a ranch where it hasn’t rained in 777 days. The crops are dead, the villagers blame her, and a prophecy hangs over everything: when she cries a true tear, the rain will return.

From there, I started thinking about what 'trying to feel' would actually look like. That’s where all the little moments came in… her dating different men, but feeling nothing…. cutting onions, plucking her eyebrows… these almost absurd attempts to trigger emotion. It’s funny, but it’s also kind of heartbreaking.

Overall, it’s really a satirical take on Latin culture… we’re so passionate and dramatic, but we also judge hard, even over the smallest things. We love you and crucify you at the same time. The video exaggerates that to the max.

I wanted to create our own mini-village. The kind of place where everyone knows each other’s business - where even the animals are judging you. I wanted it to feel like you were stepping into this cursed little village that’s been living long before the video starts and will keep living after it ends.

Danna knows how to play with her image - one second dead serious, the next she's winking at you.

At what stage did you decide to use the telenovela tradition as your jumping off point? And is Danna playing an archetypal character from a telenovela in the video?

ODC: Pretty much from the start. The second I heard the song, it felt like pure melodrama… chaotic, passionate… which is exactly what telenovelas do so well. And with Danna, it made perfect sense. She literally grew up in that world; it’s in her DNA as an artist. Why ignore that when we could lean in and twist it?

I wanted to honour those tropes but exaggerate them: heighten it, make it surreal, hyper‑pop, campy, but still rooted in real emotion. What makes it work is that Danna’s in on the joke. She knows how to play with her image - one second dead serious, the next winking at you. She’s one of the few who can balance melodrama and humour in the same frame and make it feel real.

What’s the significance of 777 days?

ODC: The “777 days” is part-myth, part-joke, part-prophecy. In our story, the town’s been bone‑dry for exactly 777 days... It’s ridiculous in the best way, like the kind of cursed countdown you’d hear in an old pulp film. But it also ties back to real life. Danna hadn’t released music in a while, and fans were literally counting the days. So “777” became this cheeky nod to that wait. 

There is so much going on here. Was that all (or mostly) in the original treatment?

ODC: Yeah, most of the madness was there from the very beginning. Honestly, the first treatment was even bigger: more lovers, more chaos, more surreal little moments. We had to trim it down, but the DNA stayed the same.

The goal was always maximalism. The idea was always to create this sensory overload, what Danna herself calls “a rush of poppers”. That intense, dizzying feeling where everything is happening all at once. That’s the energy we wanted to trap. We also wanted it to feel like this world existed long before the video started and will keep going after it ends - like the curse is still hanging in the air when we cut to black.

How much time did you have for the pre-pro after the idea was green-lit? What was the most challenging thing to get right at that stage? Were you working closely with Danna at this point?

They green-lit it as soon as I sent the first treatment - which was amazing - and pre-pro was a sprint, just a couple of weeks. The hardest part was the weather; the concept was about a drought and… of course, it poured rain the entire shoot week in Mexico.

What’s a cursed village without old ladies gossiping in the background? It’s such a Latin thing.

Danna and Aaron were deeply, deeply involved from the jump – we were all texting 24/7 until the shoot day. We were building this world very much together. We’d go back and forth on how far to push the camp, which tropes to exaggerate, which ones to subvert. Danna is game for anything, but also super intentional about the story we’re telling. That trust is what made the madness fun instead of impossible.

When and where did you shoot the video – and how long was the shoot?

We shot it in Mexico over one and a half very intense days in June!

The cast includes lots of love interests for Danna – and old ladies. Why old ladies?

Because what’s a cursed village without old ladies gossiping in the background? It’s such a Latin thing. They know everything, they’re whispering about Danna’s character, blaming her for the drought, praying she finally cries so they can eat again….

I wanted the video to feel like its own little village… everyone knows each other’s business, everyone’s suffering together. The boyfriends are there, but she’s numb to all of them, which makes it funny and kind of tragic. The old ladies are the glue… gossiping, judging, witnessing it all… they make the world feel alive. 

And why the parrot?

Because every telenovela needs one completely unnecessary but unforgettable character. The parrot is really the ultimate betrayer. He’s riding along with her through this whole drama, but he’s also judging her the entire time… like the town gossip who knows everyone’s secrets and can’t help throwing absolute shade. I loved the idea of making him feel like another villager, part of this fake little town we built where even the animals have opinions about her love life.

Can we read a subtle message about extreme weather and climate change in the story?

Yeah, for sure. The drought is a metaphor for climate change. The town is dying - the crops are gone, everyone’s desperate for rain. But instead of dealing with the bigger issue, they’re all waiting on this one woman to cry so it can magically fix everything. It’s funny and dramatic, but it’s also about the danger of ignoring the bigger crisis. We’re all kind of doing that in real life… waiting for some miracle instead of confronting the fact that the world is literally falling apart around us.

It’s a satirical take on Latin culture… we’re so passionate and dramatic, but we also judge hard.

Danna is a big star in Mexico. But how much does the video represent a reinvention of her image?

I wouldn’t call it a reinvention. It feels more like an evolution. Danna’s always been fearless about taking risks, but this video shows a different side of her: way more pop, free, but done with lots of quirks, humour, and self‑awareness. One of the big reasons I wanted to work with Danna was  because she’s such an incredible actress and singer. I knew this concept would live or die on someone’s ability to sell melodrama and comedy in the same breath, and Danna can do that better than almost anyone. That’s what made this project so exciting, it let her push her acting and let me build a world that only she could really pull off.

You’ve come from recently working with Rebecca Black and Marina. How did your approach differ on this from those projects? And how was it similar?

The biggest similarity between all three, and honestly why I love working with them, is that they’re fearless and very self‑aware. They know exactly how to play with their own image, push boundaries. None of them want to be safe or predictable… They're driven by concept/storytelling and always chasing something unique rather than following trends. They’re also super-collaborative and trusting and deeply involved in shaping the world we build together. That trust and openness is everything… It's what makes the work exciting and why I want to go even harder for them. 

What felt different about this project with Danna is how familiar it was. She’s Latin, I’m Latin… so it wasn’t just about building a cool video; it was about tapping into a world that feels familiar to us and making it bigger, poppier, campier, surreal, almost making fun of it in a way. We were pulling from telenovela tropes we grew up watching and flipping them into this satirical dream. It felt like making something for us, for our community, and having fun with it at the same time.

• Olivia de Camps is with SMUGGLER for music videos and branded content; watch her showreel here