Screamfest Interviews: LAZARUS TAXON

Interview with Denis Rovira, wroiter and director of the short film, LAZARUS TAXON.


What is your short film about?
“Lazarus Taxon” is a sci-fi horror short set in a probable future. The world has been flooded due to global catastrophe’s and a man struggles to cross the New Sea to save his daughter from death.  A journey to the unknown. A twisted story about LIfe and Death and after all about survival of the human being.


What was it about this particular project that made you want to make it?
After writing and directing “Angel” (psychological thriller), a love/hate story about twin sisters who reunite after years without having seen each other, I wanted to go deeper into the horror genre and also make a sci-fi film.  I didn’t want to do a technological future dominated by machines but a future represented by an involution, going to the primive part of men. Going backwards. a regression. Sometime ago I read part of The Beginning Was the End (1971) of Oscar Kiss Maerth, a pseudo-scientific book that claimed modern man devolved from a species of brain-eating apes. I thought it was an interesting concept.







The film has a very rich, haunting visual style. What inspired it and how did you go about achieving it?
My main inspirations where “Stalker” (A.Tarkvosky) and the artist Zoran Music. I wanted the future to be bleak and desolate but at the same time visually compelling. There´s a lot of work in post-production thanks to “Apuntolapospo”, a post-house in Spain that jumped in as co-producers along with Polar Star Films and myself.


What problems did you face shooting on the water?
As a commercial director I had some previous similar experiences and I knew from the beginning we needed to control the shooting space and not go deep into sea. The producer suggested a natural pool in the harbour of Barcelona. At the end it was easier than we thought. I shot with a huge green-screen to control the horizon and the texture of water in post. If I didn´t have the idea of using post-production to recreate the mood and the visual appearence of the sea, of course it would have been a very different shooting.


How long was your shooting schedule and what was your budget?
We shot in 4 days, 3 in the house and 1 for the sea part, plus an extra half-day just shooting plates and some Wide angle shots in the sea. The budget was around 60,000 USD.


The heart of the film is the performance by Ariel Cases as he brings forth the anguish and despair of the father? How did you assemble you cast?
Ariel Casas along with Mingo Ràfols and Maia Jenkinson (the dead daughter) did a great job. I´m trully thankful for their effort and dedication to the film. They all liked the script and the visual presentation I made. Thanks to the casting director, who I worked closely with, we got them on board.







Do you see this short as a complete project or as a segment in a larger vision about a post apocalyptic world cause by global warming?
This short is the introduction and calling card to the feature film I´m in the process of finishing. Lilliana Cabal, the co-writer, and I always wanted to extend the story of “Lazarus Taxon” into a very powerful feature film. We want to set it in the same world with more budget and production potential. Presently, I have the treatment ready to pitch . I would love to get in produced in the US.


How did you get into filmmaking?
I studied tv and film in Barcelona and finished my studies at U.C.L.A. I started making shorts at the age of 18. It´s been a natural process, even when I´m directing a commercial I´m always trying to learn more of the craft to apply it in my films. It´s a way of being in good shape. “Lazarus Taxon” is my fifth short-film. Now it´s time to make my debut in feature films, the place where I really want to be. Fingers crossed.


What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers?
There was a great commercial director I assisted at a very beginning of my professional career that told me “If you want to direct just direct”. It´s a great advice that I took from him. Then I decided to move to L.A. to continue learning the craft and I shot “Angel”.


Which filmmakers inspire you and why?
Too many, but specially David Lynch and Lars Von Trier for their unique vision of filmmaking and their spirit of going forward and not backwards… always experimenting new ways. Apart from that I have a list of other prefered titles as “Lost Highway”, “The Shinning”, “The Exorcist”, “Alien”, “Funny Games”, “The Hunger” and “Old boy”.


What is next for you?
I´m prepearing “Worms” a feature film written along with Lilliana Cabal. It´s a Psychological Thriller/Horror Survival based on true events.  A production film in Barcelona is already on board, but we´re open to co-production deal, maybe in the States…?



Visit the official site of the film or the director.


LAZARUS TAXON plays on Sunday, October 18th at 2:00 PM as part of Shorts Program 3