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"There is a promising outlook for Mexican cinema thanks to the audience": Luis Javier Henaine, Director of DESAPARECER POR COMPLETO

Omar Sosa Topete

As part of the 21st Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), Luis Javier Henaine, Mexican screenwriter, producer and director, gave a press conference about Desaparecer por completo (2023), his third feature film in the Mexican Feature Film Competition.

The film tells the story of an ambitious red-note journalist who gradually begins to suffer the loss of his senses after visiting a crime scene.

For Henaine, making the leap from comedy, a genre that permeated his previous projects, to horror, did not represent a challenge: "in comedy you have to generate empathy with the characters, empathy for the situations, so that they can laugh. On the other side [with horror], you have to generate tension, you have to somehow create fear, discomfort or uneasiness," said the director in this regard.

During the conference, the director was accompanied by Pablo Zimbrón, producer of the film, as well as Harold Torres and Teté Espinoza, the film's protagonists.

"This character involves a lot of risks and is very complicated to play. Behind that there is a lot of work, especially from the two of them (Henaine and Zimbrón), and the whole crew. It was very tiring to be in this character, at first, my physical proposal forced me to be hunched and, in addition, there was an energetic toll throughout the filming, as if I was drugged, to play with the homologations my character needed," said Harold Torres about his role.

Teté Espinoza said that before working on Desaparecer por completo (2023), she did not like the horror genre, but the experience changed her perspective on the subject: "I think that the most interesting thing for me, and our film is no exception, is that it is focusing on a story that takes place in Mexico, with Mexican resources. In other words, the Mexican magic, which can also be the source of the tremendous and terrifying things that can happen," added the actress.

Among the audience was writer Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes, who had been developing the screenplay for approximately 20 years. "This screenplay arrived, we read it, we thought the story was incredible. It was a very powerful story and we wanted to work on it," added Zimbrón about the film.

"There is a very important following of the horror genre in Mexico. It's good that more and more people in our country are beginning to see these genre distinctions," said Henaine about the panorama he sees in Mexican cinema.