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Jaime Polo | @lovacaine
The short ‘My zone’which is part of the official selection of the Valencia Fantastic Film Festival, MANIATICand which has entered the Goya shortlist, is a compelling example of how an apparently simple narrative can hide an emotional and aesthetic labyrinth. Not only does he play with expectations and manipulate them, but he turns them into a weapon that shoots at the viewer from the first frame to the last.
Filmed in Monegrosthe short film finds in that desolate place the perfect setting to weave its atmosphere of uncertainty. The infinite horizons and scorching colors inevitably refer to Westerns, while the climax, raw and visceral, is an undeniable nod to the brutality of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. However, far from remaining an easy reference, Cristian Beteta he reinvents them, building his own language that draws on his influences but transcends them.
I have known Cristian since we shared the master’s degree in directing. Even then it was evident that he had a particular sensitivity for building disturbing and emotional worlds. In My Zonethis look is consolidated, mixing elements of horror, thriller and fantastic cinema to create a cinematographic experience that not only entertains, but endures.
A question I usually ask the directors I talk to is what they consider the most overrated and the most underrated film within their genre. I don’t do it out of simple curiosity, but because I believe that these choices reveal something essential about their perspective as filmmakers: what they value in a work, what they reject and, above all, what elements they have decided to incorporate or avoid in their own work.
My Zone It is a testimony to the emerging talent that is renewing the panorama of Spanish fantasy cinema.
Cristian, after a long reflection, pointed out Midsommar like the first and vindicated Longless like the second. And these choices, far from being arbitrary, say a lot about his way of understanding cinema. In My Zonethe stylistic and almost ornamental excess of Midsommar it has no place; Each shot is measured with surgical precision, leaving room only for the essentials. At the same time, the short shares with Longless a brutal honesty: that search for pure emotional impact, which emerges when naked emotions collide with the unknown.
My Zone It is, in essence, a constant game with the viewer, a piece of cinematic clockwork that demonstrates how a short can be as compelling as a feature film. Like the desert itself where it takes place, the film is arid in its resources, but profound in its impact.
The journey does not end in that lonely world; Your journey has just begun. His presence in the official Maniatic team and, above all, his entry into the Goya preselection They are proof that the short has a lot to say. My Zone It is not just a genre piece, it is a testimony to the emerging talent that is renewing the panorama of Spanish fantasy cinema. If this is the beginning, I can’t wait to see where the road takes him.
#zone #Maniatic #Goya
