The Wolf House, feature film

Volčja hiša / La casa lobo / The Wolf House

In Spanish and German with English and Slovenian subtitles

Directed by: Cristobal Léon, Joaquin Cociña

Written by: Cristobal Léon, Joaquin Cociña, Alejandra Moffat

Photography: Cristobal Léon, Joaquin Cociña

Animation: Cristobal Léon, Joaquin Cociña

Design: Cristobal Léon, Joaquin Cociña, Natalia Geisse

Sound Design: Claudio Vargas

Editing: Cristobal Léon, Joaquin Cociña

Voices: Amalia Kassai, Rainer Krause

Producers: Niles Atallah, Catalina Vergara

Production: Diluvio, Globo Rojo Films

Distribution: Diluvio

María finds refuge in a house after escaping from a sect of German religious fanatics in Chile. She is welcomed inside by its only inhabitants: two pigs. Before long, though, the house begins to react to the young woman's feelings. The animals slowly turn into humans and the house becomes a nightmarish world. Inspired by the infamous case of the Colonia Dignidad, in central Chile, La casa lobo is a strikingly creative fairy tale steeped in folklore and crafted out of remarkable stop-motion animation.

For us, our films are rituals, incantations or spells. We imagine the film as an incantation in which one consciousness tries to subdue another and also a projection of all the obsessions of the sect and probably also of Chile: obedience, faith, race and relationship with the outside world.

When we began to work together on our short films we didn’t know whether we were making a short film or a video art piece; whether we were creating a work that would be more narrative-driven or abstract in its form. All we wanted was to make audiovisual works where the organic, the material, and the precarious were at the root of the story itself.

The Wolf House presents us with the possibility to create a feature film where the various elements of beauty, fear, disorder and the narrative itself are born from the same precarious elements that are in permanent states of change. It is the story of a young woman who is hiding in a house, but it is also the story of a physical and mental world that falls apart, destroys itself and renews itself time and again.

-Cristóbal LeónandJoaquín Cociña

Awards (selection):

- Caligari Prize at 68th Berlinale, 2018

- Best Animated Feature Film at FicMonterry Mexico, 2018

- Best Latin American Film at Quito Latin American Film Festival Ecuador, 2018

- Jury Distinction at Annecy Film Festival (France), 2018

- GNCR Prize Special Mention at FidMarseille (France)

- Special Mention of the Jury at Future Film Festival Bologna (Italy)