Dark Comedy Short Film TRAGEDIUM is FARGO Meets INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Here’s a fun short film for you to watch today, a dark comedy titled TRAGEDIUM, which is described as being “like Fargo meets body snatchers, but with a lot of grace and reference to movies from the 80s and 90s, or series like Amazing Stories, or Tales from the Crypt.”

The film comes from director Gastón Haag and it is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the radical indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating.

I also included an interview with the director that you can read below!nd its themes. Is it a proof of concept,

What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea?

The inspiration came from a news story I read in a newspaper, very ridiculous, about a man who found an alien in an apartment and upon seeing it similar to a person who was his partner, he fell in love. Although the short film is not about this, it is based on the crazy idea of ​​aliens disguised as humans, in a ridiculous and funny environment.

Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?

I currently live in Bilbao, Basque Country, I am a director who has always been interested in absurd humor and genre, so I decided to mix these things. This year I premiered a series on Latin American Disney Plus and the Dark channel in Spain called "There is something in the forest" is a very retro and vintage anthology, with aliens, killer cars, werewolves, a lot of animatronic and latex.

I was also in Sitges with this series and with previous shorts like Superjodidos, or Nada de Nada, comedies of humor and offal. I am currently looking to close my next project, which are two feature films, the short "Superjodidos" and another horror film called Laboratorio 70.

What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories?

I think that making stories that are far from my daily life is what keeps me alive in some way, I like to play and these stories allow me to do that, enter impossible worlds, and make them real. I really like the characters and creating scenes for them, and I was always a fan of latex, blood and ammiatronics. I am very inspired by music, sometimes it takes me to think about scenes, or watch movies that make me want to tell stories, I also like to observe everything that happens around me, and from there look for possible "what ifs"

What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?

What I liked most about this process was working with talented people, who I knew would improve my vision, costumes were incredible, I loved working with Alaia Arde, or for example the art department or my photo director Ernesto Baez, I think He is an export talent, he is truly a genius.

But something that I also added to this, because in addition to being a director I am an actor, was playing with the actors that I summoned to this story, when I act for me this is a role-playing game that I invite people to play together and that is what But I have fun and I like teamwork.

What are you most proud of with this film?

What makes me most proud of this short film is that it turned out exactly as I imagined, or better, I would say better thanks to the people I was able to work with, without them it is impossible.

What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you'd like to share? 

I have several favorite moments from this short, but seeing the "aliens" with their acting, because more than fx we played on the actors' body acting, seeing that, their talent, and how they generated sensations only with their physicality and without much effect more than contact lenses. It was without a doubt one of my favorite moments, as well as the death of my character, I like to die in stories, I find it fun.

What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?

I think the biggest challenge of this short film was making it in 1 day and a half, very little time for many shots.

If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you'll approach future projects as a result?

The short change in many aspects, one was the sound that although I had an idea in my head, the work with the sound department in post production was very fun and very cool. Also the editing by Iñigo, the editor, who added certain things that gave another twist to my original idea.

The only thing missing is not having had more budget to make the aliens make the bullies' heads explode, that idea was left in the pipeline, it was just something that would have given the necessary gore touch. So in future projects, just as I was able to do in old projects, I will always try to budget so that gore is a part that is not missing. Luckily in other projects I was able to get the urge.

Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other?

The actors in this short film are all incredible, I was lucky to be able to work with the people I imagined in the script from the beginning, some I had already worked with before who are very talented and I admire a lot, as is the case of Lander Otaola one of the Huamoid Alines, or Jordi Aguilar, the main thug. But then I was lucky enough to get the urge to call two actors that I had not worked with before, but had tried, as in the case of the super talented Goize Blanco, or the other super talented Aimar Vega.

What is the best advice you've ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?

For me, the best advice I received is to always try to do something that I would like to see, to do something that would make me go see a movie or a festival, beyond thinking of a story that the audience would like. If it comes from within you and you are motivated and like it, I think someone will always like it and you will be able to convey to them that genuine thing that led you to write the story.

Another piece of advice is, please think about the characters and always give them importance, the films that I like the most are always the ones in which the characters are well presented and each one has their moment.

What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward?

Now my plan is to be able to film some of my film projects that I have in hand such as Superjodidos, Laboratorio 70 or Sumo de Robots, films that I would really like to see made and see if people like these stories, I think they will Have a great time and I hope you are amazed, because they are crazy and very fun.

With Tragedium, what I hope is that it opens the door for me to be able to carry out these projects in the future. For me, the stories I like to tell are the ones where the most important thing is the characters. I think it's cool to explore individuals and oneself, putting ourselves in extreme situations, and playing with the possible scenarios that can arise in situations, whether ridiculous or fun, as well as terrifying and dangerous. I like all movies, but I like to make the entertaining ones, the ones that take you out of your routine a bit and make you have a good time.

What is your next project and when can we expect to see it? 

I hope my future project is "Superfucked", a film in which in a world of violence, it becomes fashionable to become a superhero, or rather a vigilante, in order to stand out in society, and I focus on a group of misfits who do this. to follow the majority, but they only get together to bowl to criticize others, until something happens and they are forced to prove their worth.

I think that talking about losing characters and how they lose is important, because it is what mostly happens to us in our lives, we are not winning good moments all the time and we don't learn much from that. Instead of losing and something going wrong, that's where you learn. Cinema for a long time was about stories of winners, I always liked losers and secondary characters that no one cared much about. I hope I can film it in 2025 and it will be released in 2026.

Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handles? Give us what we can share and we'll share!

You can find me on Instagram as @gastonciooooo and I leave you here trailers of my work that I did both for the series and my other short films "superwasted" of which I want to make a movie, and "Nothing at all" both premiered in Sitges. Superwasted trailer : https://youtu.be/aXFtF54xt_0 Nothing at all trailer: https://youtu.be/5B-IcINzIiA

What is your all-time favorite film?

Jurassic Park

What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work?

Pulp fiction