Daniel Giménez Cacho to Star in ‘Precious Blood’ (EXCLUSIVE)
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In 2018 Mexican director Andrés Kaiser’s debut feature “Feral” premiered and impressed at the Los Cabos Intl. Film Festival – notching a hat trick of awards including Art Kingdom Best Film, Fipresci Best Mexican film and México Primero best film – before embarking on an international, year-long festival run.
While visiting Madrid, where he studied at the prestigious ECAM film school, Kaiser shared details on his follow-up feature “Precious Blood,” which will similarly head to Los Cabos and pitch in the festival’s Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund Films in Development Stage sidebar.
“Precious Blood” takes place in 18th century Mexico, and follows a priest sent to investigate a series of exceptional murders which have taken place inside one of the church’s convents.
The only surviving witness, a nun being held as part of the investigation, claims to be in direct contact with the devil who is subjecting her to nightmarish visions. Through a series of interviews, the priest slowly uncovers the sequence of events leading up to the grisly murders, pushing him towards a spiritual crisis.
“I see horror in religion. It comes from something primal, a feeling that we are alone in the world which pushes us to invent creation myths, moral doctrine, ask what makes us ‘us’ and what comes after this? I see this all as a reflection of our inner horror,” Kaiser explained to Variety.
“Feral” played with similar themes, turning on a priest who, under extremely questionable circumstances, discovered two feral children living in a cave, and decides to rehabilitate them in a secluded cabin in the woods.
“I’m not a religious person, but everyone’s life is heavily influenced by religion,” he went on. “Politicians talk about it and write laws based on religious doctrine. I’m not against religion, but the way that individual’s religion affects others is something I feel we need to look more closely at.”
Kaiser says the script is 80% finished and the film has an established budget of $1.5 million with a financial scheme in place. Kaiser and Nicole Maynard Pinto, his producer and partner at their company Cine Feral, are currently looking for a North American or Spanish co-producer to complete the funding, one of their main goals for Los Cabos as well as potential distributors, OTT platforms and a sales agent.
Production is planned for early 2021 with delivery in 2022.
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