At the Costa Rica Media Market (CRMM), which is announcing the launch of the Latin American spin-off of the genre initiative WomanInFan, Sitges Film Festival Executive Director Mónica García sat down with Morbido CEO Pablo Guiza and Mexican director Luis Javier Enaín (Total Annihilation) to discuss the current state of genre filmmaking in Latin America despite the obstacles and the rapid increase in the number of female directors in the field.
Speaking to Variety ahead of the panel discussion, Garcia revealed that since WomanInFan was launched six years ago, the number of female genre directors participating in Sitges has jumped from 6% to about 30%, encouraging news for the new WomanInFan Latin America program.
However, the field of genre filmmaking remains difficult for women. She showed the audience a trailer for a documentary she directed that offered a snapshot of women entering the field, and the consensus wasn’t entirely rosy.
“What all of their statements have in common is the difficulty, the desire to become a director because they weren’t allowed to be a director — sometimes fulfilled, sometimes not — or the obstacles they faced. Even Katarina Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick’s daughter, talked about being marginalized because she was a woman.”
“And, for me, this is the most important part. You see that it’s not a generational thing, it’s something that spans decades, generations, and unfortunately still exists today, even if things have improved a lot,” she said.
The challenge for women is therefore twofold. They face not only xenophobic prejudice against female directors, but also against women venturing into the field of genre filmmaking.
Regarding the connection between Spain and Latin America, director Ghisa said, “There is definitely a connection. We share not only a language, but also a Judeo-Christian imagination: the Virgin, the saints, the Holy Trinity, the devil, hell. All of this is perfect fuel for genre films. You can see that heritage in Latin American fantasy, from Guillermo del Toro to short filmmakers who keep up the tradition.”
“Isn’t fantasy the most free space in which we can express ourselves? And isn’t Latin America, by its very nature, a wonderful place? It gives us a powerful space to explore and communicate all kinds of ideas,” Guisa pointed out.
“I have long said that Latin America, with Argentina in the lead, sets the standard for genre films. When the Blood Window program was launched in Ventana Sur, it gave a huge economic boost to international genre co-productions across the region, sparking exponential growth,” Garcia said.
She pointed to the example of Argentine director Demián Lunya’s “Cuando acecha la maldad” (When Evil Lurks). The film made history by becoming the first Latin American film to win the prestigious Best Feature Film award at the 2023 Sitges Film Festival.
For Henain, who declares his third feature, Vanishing and Guiza, to be the best horror films to come out of Mexico in the past 20 years, his last two comedies had some influence on his foray into genre filmmaking.
“Comedy and horror have a lot in common. They are also the most difficult genres to pull off. One has to make people laugh, the other has to scare people. Both depend on creating a true emotional response.”
“But as a director, I don’t start with the question, ‘How do I make this scary?’ Or, ‘How do I make this funny?’ I start with human emotion. When a situation feels real, fear and humor naturally emerge. Of course experience helps, but what’s really more important than genre is being an avid viewer of both horror and comedy. ”
Regarding the growing status of women in the genre, director Garcia said, “We’re waiting for the next Issa López (‘Fearless of the Tiger,’ ‘True Detective’). We’re waiting for Laura Casabe (‘Our Lady of the Quarry Lake’) to come back with another movie. Continuity is difficult for any filmmaker, but even more so for a woman. But we’ve been following these talents since the first movie, and they know this.” The festival is always waiting for them. ”
The Costa Rica Media Market was held from July 14th to 15th.
