Grimmfest’s Grim Tidings from Andres Beltran director and co-writer of Tarumama

Grimmfest is back and even better than ever with more movies and madness to make the 13th edition one to remember. Taking place between the 7th to the 10th of October at Odeon Great Northern in Manchester UK there is also a hybrid online Grimmfest edition running 14th to the 17th Oct for people unable to attend the cinema event. You can find the full 2021 line up right HERE.

Recently voted one of best genre film festivals in the World by Movie maker magazine, Grimmfest is a truly independent film festival that started in 2009. Since then the fantastic festival has grown to become one of the most prestigious genre film festivals in Europe premiering the very best new movies from both new and established filmmakers from across the world.

This year our exclusive interview feature is back bringing you some insidious insights into the frightful folks whose horror films will be blowing audiences away at Grimmfest 2021.

Below we get some Grim Tidings from Andres Beltran director and co-writer of Tarumama

1. Tell us why you are at Grimmfest?
My horror film Tarumama is part of this year’s Grimmfest Official Selection. This is my second feature as Writer/Director and my first horror feature film. The film tells the story of a married couple, who in their last attempt to save their marriage, decide to take a short vacation in a cabin in the woods with their two children. But upon arrival, strange events corrode the tense atmosphere between them: a woman prowls the house predicting events that defy nature, which break the family from within as they confront unresolved problems from their past.

2. How did you get into horror?
I have always been a big fan of horror films. I grew up watching films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play, The Exorcist and The Shining. These last two films, from Friedkin and Kubrick are still two of my all-time favourite horror films.

When I became a filmmaker, I became obsessed with the film noir of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. So, I did not make a horror film as my first feature, but more a thriller/neo-noir film. Although I keep watching contemporary horror films, it was only when I lived in London for one year doing a Master’s degree in Cinematography, that I first considered doing a gothic short film.

While I was in London, I read gothic literature that inspired me to make a gothic film. Also, I lived near the Epping Forest, and I used to go there jogging, thinking that this would be a great setup to make a gothic short film. The trees and the fog in autumn influenced me to take the decision to make my own approach to the genre. So, I read more and watched more films to study the style of the genre.

That is why I wrote and directed my first horror short film, named The Undertaker, a story about an undertaker who has to buried the corpse of a dead woman in the forest, only to find out she is not dead, nor alive, she is a vampire.

After I did The Undertaker, I got hooked on the genre and I knew I wanted to explore it more, so I decided to make my second feature a horror film.

3. What scares you the most?
I think what scares me the most are not monsters, or ghosts, or demonic possessions or things like that, but what I consider are real fears. Like the fear of losing someone you love, the fear of death, the fear of not been a good mother or father, not been a good son. The fear of a broken marriage, or having a dysfunctional family.

Those are the fears that scare the most, the ones I consider real. What drives me to make horror films, is not only the visual style or the sound, and technical aspects of filmmaking, but also the idea of taking this “real” fears and creating dramas that become nightmares. This is something that I can only do within the genre.

4. Who or what is your favourite horror character?
My favourite horror character is definitely Jack Torrance. I like him very much, because he is a real human being with many demons inside. Somehow the Overlook Hotel takes possession of him, but only because he is part of the hotel, in the sense that he is also a demon, but a real human “demon”.

His body or face never changes into a demon, or he never starts talking in old languages like we see in demonic possessions. He does not do that. His possession is real and his demons too. He is an abusive alcoholic parent, something we unfortunately can find in real life.

5. What is the grimmest thing you ever saw?
Unfortunately, the grimmest things I have ever seen, are not in films or fiction. But in real stories. Coming from Colombia, a country that had a long history of violence, makes me realize that the real horror happens in real life.

The history of our country has so many dark and sad stories, that it is for sure the grimmest thing that one could imaging.

Tarumama plays on Sun, Oct 10th, 12:35 PM @ Odeon Screen 5 and you can find out more and book your ticket HERE.