Laura Casabé: Focus and Seminar of one of the leading contemporary filmmakers

Director and screenwriter presented The Virgin of the Quarry Lake before a packed Aula Magna filled with students, accompanied by the film’s leading actresses, and offered a masterclass.

In conversation with audiovisual designer and cinematographer Laura Gismondi, the Argentine filmmaker emphasized the importance of public funding and education in shaping new generations of filmmakers, and encouraged young artists to defend their own stories without external comparisons.

The film, written by Benjamín Naishtat, is based on two short stories by Mariana Enríquez from her book The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: Our Lady of the Quarry and The Cart. Casabé explained that the project seeks to bring both personal and collective experiences into the horror genre, exploring the sense of abandonment and emptiness that marked the beginning of adult life for her generation. “The Cart felt like an allegory of 2001 to me. It captured that feeling,” the director said, referring to the Argentine social and economic crisis of that year.

During the talk, Casabé shared that her inspiration stems from her connection to genre and horror literature, as well as the influence of authors like Enríquez, whom she discovered through a friend’s recommendation. The director highlighted Enríquez’s use of local mythology and Argentine landscapes in her stories, noting that, until recently, there had been no strong tradition of horror in national literature or cinema. “Discovering Mariana Enríquez, with that Stephen-King-like sensibility she has, was absolutely magnetic,” Casabé expressed.

The creative process included several meetings with Enríquez to obtain her authorization and exchange ideas about the genre. Casabé described how their collaboration was enriched by shared generational and cinematic perspectives, as well as by a desire to portray youth and female friendship from a coven-like perspective. She stressed her intention to capture on screen the anxiety of an era marked by instability and a lack of future, using horror as a vehicle to represent that social “curse.”