17/09/2024 - The Basque filmmaker returns to direct another film in his speciality, psychological suspense, again starring Natalia Tena alongside Belén Fabra and Tony Dalton

On 2 September, two months of shooting began in Álava for El mal, the new film by the always risky and controversial Juanma Bajo Ulloa, which, as he says, “explores the depths of the human soul”. The film comes four years after the premiere of Baby [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a feature film with no dialogue that screened at Sitges Film Festival and was nominated for a Goya for Best Director.

The Basque filmmaker previously won the Golden Shell at San Sebastian International Film Festival in 1991 with his debut Butterfly Wings which was also awarded a Goya for Best Screenplay and Best New Director. Two years later, he returned with The Dead Mother, presented in the Venetian Nights section of the Venice Film Festival, and smashed the box office -with more than seven million euros in takings- with the wild road movie Airbag, winner of two technical Goyas.

His new feature film, which reflects on the human need for recognition, includes an international cast headed by the London-born Natalia Tena (winner of the Silver Biznaga for Best Actress in Malaga Film Festival and Goya-nominated for Best New Actress for Long Distance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile], later seen in series such as Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian, and who already worked with Bajo Ulloa in Baby), the Catalan Belén Fabra (recently seen in Políticamente incorrectos and Chinas [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and the North American actor Tony Dalton (seen in series such as Sense8 and Better Call Saul), supported by Fernando Gil (the Netflix series Alpha Males), Maria Schwinning (a very young actress selected after a casting process), Natalia Ruiz and Aritz Kortabarria.

In the words of its director, screenwriter and producer, who has finally brought this long-awaited project to life, whose plot he is keeping top secret, “El mal is basically a suspense story, where the audience senses that something disturbing is going to happen, but doesn't know how or when. But it also aims to get the viewer to question their own certainties, their capacity to love and to accept their own dark side.”

El mal is produced by Frágil Zinema, with the participation of RTVE and EITB.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)