Sitges 2020: Chilean Horror Anthology APPS Chosen For Festival's 'Coming Soon' Section

APPS. Chilean anthology of horror and fantasy, was selected in the “Coming Soon” section of Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

 

The APPS horror and fantasy anthology, made by Chilean filmmakers José Miguel Zúñiga, Sandra Arriagada, Camilo León and Lucio A. Rojas, was selected for the Coming Soon section in the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival , which celebrates its 53rd edition as the main and most influential fantasy film event in the World.

 

The festival, to run from October 8 to 18, transforms this small town in Catalonia (Spain) into the hub of genre cinema, where the greatest exponents of world fantasy meet. Within this important event, our country will be represented by this independent production, whose starting point is mobile applications that will lead its characters to their worst nightmares.

 

José Miguel Zúñiga, creator of the project, says: “After the premiere and the good reception of my last horror movie´Contra el Demonio´ in Mexico and Chile I was very enthusiastic about the genre and burdened with a tremendous anxiety to shoot, but I did not have the budget to produce a complete film. So I came up with the idea to make a horror anthology, with four stories, four directors and four independent productions with a contemporary theme. That's how Apps was born and the first thing I did was call Lucio, whom I met at festivals and invited him to participate. Then we added Sandra Arriagada and Camilo León. The creative exercise was very free. The standpoint: the story had to have a mobile application as a trigger. "

 

Lucio A. Rojas (“Trauma”) along with Zúñiga, executive producer of “APPS”, comments: “There is a lot of material about the fears or myths of the internet. Rather than focus on that, the idea was to have an ordinary App as a starting point, which will lead us to terror. In my case, I relied on a lot of urban legend that exists about improper use of vacation rental apps, traps in resorts, travelers who’re intercepted by criminal gangs or disappeared. In fact, a few days ago I read in the press about an Airbnb rental house that had a satanic object in the decor, commonly used in satanic rites. Working from that, combining urban legend with technology, seemed attractive to me".

 

The presentation in the Coming Soon section of the Sitges festival will allow the film to be screened by the international circuit. After this screening, the movie will tour important international film festivals from the first quarter of 2021. At the same time, the film will premiere in commercial theaters in various Latin American countries, since its theme, beyond Chilean territory, is attractive for the continental public. 

 

A newcomer in fantastic cinema, Sandra Arriagada comments, “My segment, called OnFire is a gorey black comedy that talks about dating networks and the utilitarian tricks that some men use to sell themselves as good romantic prospects, using their children like bait for naive women. It is a satire of the judicial system, the entire society that forces children to have a father, no matter how toxic he may be, and how rage can be a valid and even supernatural skill”. Arriagada is also the first Chilean female director to be officially selected with a film in the history of the Sitges festival in its 53 years. This is also an indicator of the unfair percent participation of women in the direction of genre films in the country. Arriagada says, “Unfortunately it's twice as difficult for us. That is why this first step is important. Currently I am developing a couple of full length movies, to be filmed as soon as we return to a normality that allows us to work and with those projects, which are also in the fantastic genre, to go on exposing our vision, from a Chilean, Latin american perspective, in the international circuit".

 

After the festival circuit, Apps will have its premiere in LATAM commercial cinemas during the 2nd quarter of 2021. In this regard, Rojas adds, “The current pandemic context has allowed audiences to grow for festivals. But at some point, it will have to return little by little to normality and we hope to be part of the local titles that make people return to movie theaters".

 

The directors, in addition to preparing this premiere, are also developing new Projects. Lucio A. Rojas says, “In my case, a couple of genre films to be filmed during this 2021 in Argentina, which would be the first fantastic co-production between Chile and Argentina”.

 

For her part, Sandra Arriagada will be a judge of the Molins de Rei Horror Film Festival (Terror Molins) in Spain and the Santiago Horror Film Festival, in Chile. At the same time, she is preparing a paranormal road movie and her first fantasy genre tv series about women's football, where Lucio A. Rojas is also the general producer.

 

The film was made thanks to the co-production between Femtástica Films, Sunrise Films, Pragma and Fascinante Films. It stars Néstor Cantillana, Javiera Contador, Ignacia Uribe, Fernanda Finsterbusch, Tutú Vidaurre, Mariana Derderián, León Arriagada, Catalina Silva, Jaime Omeñaca, Nicolás Durán, Alejandro Trejo, Ximena del Solar and Felipe Ríos, among others.