Synopsis
Spanish with English subtitles
With Álvaro de Paz, Paula Varela, Luisa Fernández, Juanjo Sanjosé
During the strict lockdown during the COVID pandemic in Madrid, Diego, a 35-year-old unemployed actor, kidnaps Sara, a 20-year-old law student. She will be his audience…
Directed by Éric du Bellay, Menina Casilda is a twisted comedy about loneliness and the art of acting.
Press
“Menina Casilda is an exemplary example of independent filmmaking. It is one of the most creative kidnapping stories we have ever seen.” – Christine Hoper, Fargo Film Festival
“This year’s indie surprise: Menina Casilda by Éric du Bellay. A dark comedy about survival and understanding, an uncomfortable and claustrophobic love story, and an unabashed love letter to cinema and other obsessions. Fresh, incisive, unpredictable, and genuinely free. Fantastic performances by Álvaro de Paz and Paula Varela.” – Pablo Vásquez, Fotogramas
“I found it funny, moving, and incredibly original: a beautiful tribute to cinema, brought to life with such imaginative mise en scène. The actors are wonderful as well.” – Professor Jimena Laroque, Université Orléans
“It is a success, as crazy as it should be, under the deceptively banal everyday appearance. What touched
me most is that, despite the situation, nothing is aggressive or violent. The film remains luminous and even, strangely, funny and charming. This is undoubtedly
due to the two actors Éric du Bellay has chosen and directed, who are really good.” – French film director and screenwriter Patrice Leconte
“We found Menina Casilda to be very smart, cynical, funny but also full of emotions, and very well acted.” – Amir Bogen, Lighthouse Film Festival
Notes on the Film
“Menina Casilda was born shortly after I arrived in Madrid. I had just emerged from the COVID lockdown in Paris carrying emotions and sensations I had never experienced before: the loneliness of people cut off from the world, the brutal clarity of seeing one’s own life differently, and the strange usefulness of that shock.
My wife and producer, Gwladys Bernard, says I have antennas. I collect stories without realizing it. I absorb fragments of lives, voices, tensions, until suddenly characters appear and situations demand to be filmed. For me, storytelling is not a choice but a necessity. My process is instinctive. Over the years, I learned to trust that instinct. I am drawn to human adventure, to uncertainty, to what cannot be controlled — which is why I love working with actors.
Part of Diego’s character came directly from the actor Álvaro de Paz himself. Álvaro possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema. Paula Varela, on the other hand, had seen none of the films referenced in the script — and didn’t care in the slightest. I embraced who they truly were and let their personalities reshape the story. Scenes were invented overnight. Limitations became freedom.
With a tiny budget, we transformed fragility into creative energy: a lightweight crew, minimal equipment, complete agility. My cinematographer, Nicole J. Gallo, often had no more than fifteen minutes to create an entire lighting setup while I operated the camera myself. She embraced the challenge with extraordinary courage.
Menina Casilda was a leap of faith for all of us — and, in many ways, a miracle. I truly believe there is a god of cinema.”
– Éric du Bellay, Director
