¡During this year, the successful short film directed by Hugo Covarrubias has won 28 awards! After its world premiere at the Annecy Film Festival in June and the successful festival tour i had afterwards, the team behind Beast, has been shortlisted in the 15 Oscar animated short films and has also been nominated for the Annie Awards in the same category.
Produced by Tevo Díaz (Trebol 3), the short film is a story inspired by real events, which takes place in the life of a secret police officer during the military dictatorship in Chile, and will start this 2022 with a special participation in the Sundance Film Festival, under the Sundance Shorts competition, as well as being distributed in several cinemas and film festivals worldwide.
"The decision to send the short film to Annecy was very important for us, and being selected opened up many possibilities, such as the sale to the Franco-German channel ARTE and the interest by Luce Grosjean of Miyu to distribute it. Both actions took shape before the official premiere, when we sent the short film without post-production" says Hugo Covarrubias, director of the short film.
We invite you to read more about this exclusive interview with director Covarrubias and the awards that Beast has gotten during this year!
What inspired you to create this film? How was the process of fictionalizing this story from a gender perspective?
Something that inspired me and that I looked into for a long time during the research and development process of Beast, was a way of being able to investigate human evil through the sinister dimension of a character who was part of the darkest episode of the military dictatorship, but within that, it was also fundamental to me to show other layers that could configure the character, her weaknesses, her fears, without empathizing with her but that inevitably also relate to being a woman under a military structure, trying to control and validate herself in a power that can easily be dispensed, that ultimately uses her and despises her.
These are characters who have been constructed and treated as cogs of a gigantic and sinister totalitarian machine despite having a specific role in the history of the dictatorship, their stories are not as well known as others which is also a symptom of what a patriarchal system is, that fixes its eyes only on one part of history, that of men. In that sense, rather than fictionalizing from a gender perspective and without any desire for appropriation, these layers spontaneously floated as we delved into their frustrations, it’s part of what happened at that time, where gender and sexual conditions were not the subject of analysis, but a further form of discrimination and control.
About his future plans Hugo comments that he is on a creative pause, where the distribution of Beast has been quite intense and has kept him occupied during this 2021. "We are developing some projects, how to go back to the idea of the series from where Beast was born and make animated stories of other characters not so well known of the history of Chile but representing conflicts that continue to portray the dark side of a country that apparently has not changed so much"
"In addition I’m in the initial stage of the script of a feature film that based on the autobiography as an axis, seeks to portray the evolution of the socio-political vision of a child who is witness to the contradictions experienced in his family and his social environment from the end of the dictatorship to our current times" the director told us.
Bestia Awards
The film, somewhat unusual for the genre according to critics, refers to one of the most intense episodes of the Chilean dictatorship, which has stood out due to the masterful use of its aesthetic and narrative resources, building an enigmatic and complex story, but at the same time accessible, some of its awards include:
- Festival de Annecy : Prix Festivals connexion
- Festival Chilemonos : Best Latin American Short Film
- Festival Internacional stop motion our fest ; 2 awards: Best Latin American Shortfilm / Public Prize
- Festival de Títeres e Imagen en Movimiento : BEST ANIMATED SHORTFILM
- Festival de cine Polo Sur : GRAND JURY PRIZE
- Florianópolis Audiovisual Mercosul - Festhome : BEST SHORTFILM
- FIC VIÑA : Best Latin American Short Film
- StopTrik International Film Festival; 4 awards: Audience Grand Prix / Students Special Mention / Special Mention Yiorgos Tsangaris. / Best Shortfilm LODZ edition.
- FICG Guadalajara: Rigo Mora Award Best Animated Shortfilm.
- Córdoba International Animation Festival ; 2 awards: Grand Jury Prize / Best Latin American Animation.
- Festival Annimage : BEST SHORT FILM.
- Festival de cine de Animación Latinoamericano: Best Latin American Shortfilm
- BITBANG Fest : First Jury Mention
- BIAF BUCHEON : Grand Prize Best Short Film.
- ANTOFACINE: 2 awards: Best International Shortfilm / Best Shortfilm Young Jury.
- Animario : Best Shortfilm
- PÖFF Shorts - Tallinn Black Nights : Best Shortfilm
- INTERFILM Berlin: Second Prize
Take a look at the trailer of this great short film here!
BESTIA / Hugo Covarrubias / Trailer 1 from Hugo Covarrubias on Vimeo.
