The work of actor, director and screenwriter Eduardo Casanova is anything but easy to categorise. With his distinctive, sharp and courageous language, he was mentored by the ever-alert Álex de la Iglesia in his feature film debut Skins [+lire aussi :
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fiche série], featuring kamikaze humour and LGTBIQ+ themes. The series is being presented out of competition at the 78th Locarno Film Festival, where its boldness and audacity are shaking up the overall tone of a festival generally more restrained in terms of imagery, staging and narrative.

In its intense 56 minutes, this new “Casanovian” creation delivers more shocking stimuli than 99% of the films seen both inside and outside the festival circuit. To begin with, its protagonists are vampires, bloodsuckers with ultra-pale skin, tempestuous personalities and turbulent relationships with each other and the rest of humanity. These sisters, creatures of the night, feed on haemoglobin, contaminated due to two pandemics: the Black Death and AIDS.

Faced with this scenario, what can these eternal beings do? Stay silent, as the title suggests, about their desires... of all kinds. The script – written by Casanova himself – is as simple as it is complex. The series is bathed in the pink hues that have become the director's hallmark, as seen in his previous works. Once again, a cast of actresses – another recurring element in his filmography – undergoes a baroque transformation of make-up, hairdressing and costume design to embody these ravenous animals. The cast includes Ana Polvorosa (the filmmaker's favourite), Leticia Dolera, Mariola Fuentes, Carolina Rubio and Lucía Díez; and without all the fuss, María León and the only male presence, Omar Ayuso (who returns to alternative projects following the ultra-indie road movie On the Go [+lire aussi :
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Mixing irreverent humour with sentimental drama and political critique, Silence (which will also bares its fangs at the Sitges Film Festival) floors the viewer, whether they’re ready for it or not. Its striking imagery – evocative of different incarnations of Nosferatu, Bram Stoker's Dracula or Interview with the Vampire – delirious dialogue and histrionic performances refuse to be tamed or pigeonholed. They are pure rebellion, just like the characters themselves: beings who exist beyond the norm and outside socially accepted norms who shout from the rooftops that, despite social condemnation, passion cannot be silenced.

Silence is produced by Gamera Films, Apoyo Positivo and Eduardo Casanova.