Jerónimo Rocha’s latest animated short film, Macabre, is a scary, beautiful story about a man who gets trapped in a freaky mansion. Synopsis:
K just crashed his Mercedes-Benz 280 SE against a tree, right after trying to avoid running over a small wild animal that ran across his path. He is on a secondary road in the rural interior, and it’s a very dark night. His evening has only just begun…
Director Jerónimo Rocha is well known for his short films, which include the excellent The Mirror of the Mirror’s Mirror, Dédalo, Take It Easy Maria, and more. Macabre was originally a very short piece known as The Mansion, created especially for London’s FrightFest festival. Yellow Bread did a short interview with the director last year at TIFF:
How do you find your inspiration?
J.R.: When I was a kid, roleplaying in the backyard of my school with my mates, I experienced a creative freedom that I aspire to now as a storyteller. Hopefully I’ll never really understand how one finds it, but by now I’ve realize how to create the conditions to summon it. I call it the “filling the cup” experience. To travel, read books, have deep conversations with true friends, fall in love, fail and fail again. Those are the things that fill the cup. And, working creatively are the ones that empty it, because you distill and pour it into your work. I guess destiny and coincidences also help, of course. Being at the right time at the right place and having your mind clear to receive whatever is coming your way. However, once it finds you, you must labor. Do the homework. Work the extra hours. Push hard. And there is nothing romantic about that!
So far, you have made mainly horror shorts. Is that your favorite genre?
J.R.: Mainly – I agree. I think I was always fascinated with “the fantastic,” that thing beyond everyday life. I’m not sure if it is horror per se, but my path lead me to this road and I’m enjoying it very much. I love to create fantasy worlds and play with the atmosphere of a specific place and situation. When I was in college studying arts I played a lot with this concept I called “ambiances of anticipation”. Places that had the potential to create… energy. You would see them and you could sense something drawing you to them and have the feeling that something happened there, or was about to. Having said that, I enjoy watching all kinds of genres. It depends on my state of mind that particular day. From timeless classics to guilty pleasures. And I can see myself working on many other genres and techniques, as long as I feel a deep connection with the source material.