Bilbao (EFE).- The filming of “Anatema”, the first film by Jimina Sabadú to be produced by Álex de la Iglesia, has landed in Bizkaia and is recreating these days in Bilbao and Karrantza a gothic horror story starring a nun, Leonor Watling, and a priest, Pablo Derqui.
After starting in Madrid, the filming set has moved to the center of the Biscayan capital, to the Olabarri Palace, from the 19th century, where the director, the two main actors and the producer Carolina Bang have made a space between shots to attend EFE.
A “cursed” church
This is the debut feature of the writer and screenwriter Jimina Sabadú, a film that, as she has described, “is a total classic of gothic horror” that goes from a “cursed” church.
The protagonist is Sor Juana, played by Watling, a nun with a strong character marked by a paranormal experience who receives a commission from the archdiocese that takes her to a baroque church in Madrid where she experienced “very strange” things in the past.
On this “mission” Juana is accompanied by Father Ángel, played by Pablo Derqui, a priest who has come to the Church more because he likes to help others than because of his spiritual vocation and towards whom the nun begins to “feel something ”.
Scene from the shooting of Anathema. Photo Miguel Toña
costumbrist terror
“Anathema” is a horror movie but “not to use.”
The director has taken him to the “traditional” Madrid, more traditional. “Everything is set in San Isidro, there is a zarzuela, a flamenco tablao, a couple of nods to television…”.
In the words of Derqui, it is “costumbrista terror, closer, of being at home.”
And from Madrid, to Bizkaia, where natural decorations have been sought; two caves, including Pozalagua, and the church of San Esteban in Karrantza.
Spaces that together with the locations in the Biscayan capital are “perfect” to tell this story, an original idea by Elio Quiroga that has been developed in a joint script with Sabadú.
Of the Church produces
The director appreciated the opportunity that this film has brought with the backing of Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang’s production company, Pokeepsie Films.
She recalled the impact it had on her when she was eight years old when she saw the cover of Fantastic Magazine with an image of “Acción Mutante”, the director’s debut from Bilbao.
De la Iglesia “taught us a cinema different from the one we knew,” Sabadú has described.
He also wanted to highlight how easy it is to work with actors like Watling and Derqui, who can be seen to have “shot a lot”, “take what is asked of them very quickly” and offer their suggestions.
new talent
“It’s her first film but she has nothing new, she has a lot of audiovisual experience and she’s a great writer,” Carolina Bang underlined.
The actress and producer has explained that the objective of Pokeepsie Films is to “generate new talent”, “give birth to stories that are not so easy to carry out”, and has recognized the “instinct” they are having for it.
In this sense, he has spoken about how “well” the proposals that are being developed under the horror film label “The Fear Collection” with “Veneciafrenia” and “Venus” are working, and where “Anatema” is the third title that he will see the light.
Both Watling and Derqui have highlighted the “original” and “particular” universe of Sabadú and how easy it is to shoot with her.
“It’s an intense shoot, it goes at a frenetic pace,” said Derqui, who finally showed his desire for the public to enjoy “Anathema.” EFE