A couple that is not going through its best days, a newborn child, and the purchase of a dining table, are the elements that Caye Casas brings together to create an audiovisual piece that has amazed judges and audiences at film festivals all over the world and has accumulated 26 awards. If we talk about fantasy and horror film festivals, the name of this director is not new. With two short films and two feature films, he has collected hundreds of awards. And with The Dining Table, the phenomenon continues. The film, which was presented at the Tallinn Festival in Estonia, has become the most awarded Catalan film so far this year, and it has achieved this without leaving anyone who has seen it indifferent.
The Dining Table is the second feature film by the Terrassa director. With his first film he already had something to talk about. Killing God (2017), filmed with Albert Pintó, took the grand Audience Award at the Sitges Festival. The film was shot independently, with actors hired by Facebook and in just 21 days of filming, which adds merit to the reception it had at one of the most important fantasy and horror film festivals in the world.
And in his solo debut, the story is not much different. Ten days of filming in a friend’s apartment, something that the director hopes will change for future projects. “I have already made two independent films. I hope that my third film is bigger, with a bigger budget and allows me to get a foot in the industry,” he expresses. “I need to do projects with more resources. First, to live. Second, to be able to make stories that need a bigger budget,” adds the director in conversation with La Vanguardia.
And if it comes to merits, Casas far surpasses them. Before entering into full-length films, his name was already mentioned in festival selections and awards. Entre Nada S.A. (2014) and R.I.P. (2017), the two short films directed with Pintó, managed to accumulate more than 500 selections and 200 awards, and even got a nomination for best short film at the Gaudí Awards.
And the dining room table surprises. Not only because of its innovative and disturbing plot, far from paranormal terror and easy jumps. Also, because it is a 100% independent and low-budget film that has achieved a reception that mega-productions, with budgets that do not go below millions of dollars, desire. “The film was born by chance, it was already written. When we went to see a friend’s newly purchased apartment, we asked her – along with Cristina Borobia, co-writer of the film – if we could film something there and she gave us a month. From that moment on I called the producers to get money. All very low cost. The technical team was very small and it was shot in 10 days,” says Casas. “With La mecita we had much less budget than Matar a Dios. There are short films with higher budgets than our film,” he adds from his office, surrounded by posters and figures from film classics.
The film, with Alberto Morago as director of photography, begins with the disagreements of the couple Jesús and María – played by David Pareja and Estefanía de los Santos – when purchasing a dining table. From that moment on, the plot only intensifies for its almost 130 minutes. And the film shines without having to go into the fashionable themes, which abound in large productions. “My cinema is about death, the passage of time. The topics that scare me the most. I turn that fear into stories that try to have dark humor. What can happen in life to any of us. There are no monsters or paranormal events. It is simply life and a very cruel destiny,” says the director, who hopes to have greater opportunities in the film industry.
Despite the enormous number of awards, nominations and the great reception from viewers, reality is not so sweet. “I have been in cinema for many years, many awards for both shorts and feature films. I travel the world with the label of Catalan and Spanish cinema, but later, when you present projects, you do not receive any help. “You feel mistreated because you do not have clear support from your country after a meritorious career,” he comments. “We have distribution all over the world, except in Spain. There has been no major distributor that has been interested,” adds the director, who recently won the best film award at the TerrorMolins festival.
Starting on November 30 and for one week, the film can be seen at the Cinemes Girona in Barcelona, ??and from December 1 at the Cine Catalunya in Terrassa, thanks to the self-distribution of the film’s team. The film has already passed triumphantly at the San Sebastián Horror Film Festival, A Night of Horror in Australia, the TerrorFest in Utah, the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, the Macabro festival in Mexico, at the Curtas Festival and the list goes on. “We have gone to festivals competing with films with incredible budgets. It has double merit and I hope it is recognized,” says Caye Casas. An offer has also arrived to make a remake in Mexico and, in parallel, it continues to tour the world waiting for the cinema of this outsider director to achieve the recognition it deserves, in the country he represents. “Now we are going to Leeds, London and Buenos Aires, to the most important genre film festival in Argentina. We still have some festivals left to scare people,” concludes the Catalan director.
