The most awarded Catalan film of the year will not win any Gaudi

Barcelonain Snow community in creature in 20 thousand species of bees: The most awarded Catalan film of the year is a dark and horrific independent horror film to say the least, shot in ten days and with four actors in an apartment in Terrassa. From the premiere at the end of 2022 at the Tallinn Festival (Estonia), Dining room table He has previously won 29 awards in 31 festivals in which he participated, most of which specialized in horror. At home, things did not go well: the Sitges Festival rejected it, the distributors did not want it, and the premiere, small and limited in Barcelona, ​​Terrassa and Lleida, had to be organized by those responsible for the film. “And at the moment we don't have platforms either – explains Kai Casas, the film's director -. Spain is the country in the world where it is difficult to watch the film. In Mexico, on the other hand, it is in the most important cinemas in the capital, the Cineteca Nacional, and we are making Talks with a production company there to see if it will be produced or not remake The Mexican is directed by me.” Neither Gaudí was nominated in any category nor Goya.

To explain the film's uneven reception, Casas points to the darkness of a story with minimal elements: a marriage in crisis that has just given birth to a child, a reluctantly purchased dining table, and an unexpected tragedy that causes a spiral of traumatic situations. “Dining room table It's a very cruel and politically incorrect story, and we live in a society that is increasingly concerned with not offending anyone. “The film’s handicap and its potential are the same.” The filming was done on a shoestring budget and thanks to a stroke of luck. “A friend bought an apartment in Terrassa, and before getting rid of the old furniture, I went to see it,” says Casas, who actually wrote the script (with Cristina Borrubia) so that it could be shot in a short time and in almost one place; without any help. , Unknown. Actors (but dedicated) like David Pareja, Estefania de los Santos and one of the final roles of Itziar Castro, who starred in Casas' previous film, Kill GodCo-authored with Albert Pinto.

That Sitges refused Dining room table And in the 2022 edition, it fell on Casas like a jug of cold water, especially since he wrote it with the festival’s audience in mind, whom he knows well, because Kill God In 2017 he won the Audience Award in Sitges. “Table Some programmers didn't like it, it was a matter of judgment, so we changed the strategy and went to international festivals – continues Casas -. Then the tide turned and we were selected for the top horror festivals and also some horror festivals that were not in the same genre. , above all, from the horror show Molins de Rei, where Dining room table It won the Best Film Award and the Audience Award. Casas thought that after the awards some distributors would be interested in releasing the film, but not until that. The TV stations didn't want to know anything about it either. “I'm used to it, Kill God They didn't want it on TVE or TV3, and they never will. “When Itziar died, a lot of people wrote to me saying it would be nice for the film to be broadcast, but not in this way.”

Casas lives with a mixture of frustration and optimism about the difficulties he faces Dining room table In his country, good news constantly comes from abroad, as he concluded distribution agreements in the United States, England, Australia, and Eastern European countries. “In Spain, it is very complicated – admits Casas -. There are no platforms that will bet on the film, and we only received a very ridiculous offer from a platform that thought it would bet more on a film like this.” as you see Dining room table Now then? “Only in two small cinemas in Madrid where it is shown. There is a lot of talk about the film here on the networks, but in reality very little has been seen. The few times it has been seen, it has always elicited enthusiastic reactions.” .. . And some absolute hate.” In short: it has everything that could be programmed in Sitges, but some twenty years from now in a spin around the Catalan horror cult.

Trailer for the movie “The Dining Table”