Nominated for Best Motion Picture at Sitges, F. Javier Gutiérrez’s THE WAIT (LA ESPERA) will premiere via VOD and Digital on October 4, 2024.

Deep in the Andalusian countryside, Eladio (Victor Clavijo) has been hired to watch over the hunting grounds of Don Francisco’s estate, somewhere in rural Spain. The estate is divided into ten hunting stands, spaced far enough apart to avoid incidents. After three years of service, Don Carlos — Don Francisco’s second in command — offers him a bribe to add an additional three stands to the property. Eladio initially hesitates, but his wife eventually convinces him to take the money. Eladio’s greed has unfortunate consequences that drag his entire family to perdition, and plunges him into the depths of guilt, hatred, and revenge. 

Gutierrez shares: “After Rings, I felt the need to return to Europe, to Spain, to Andalucía, and shoot something personal. As a good friend told me once, “one for them, one for me, for my soul”. The Wait belongs to the latter. No doubt, this film brings me back to my roots, my land, my memories, my most personal storytelling, along with my childhood nightmares. As I did in Before the Fall, beneath the story, I push the boundaries, to go deeper, through layers, symbols, exploring once again the complexity, darkness, beauty and weakness of our human nature. Death. Grief. Guilt… All disguised as a disturbing folk horror, brutal, uncompromised, with the soul of a western. That’s The Wait. A suffocating step towards the edge, into our inner fears. No answers. No mercy. Too harsh? Maybe. But you know, to see a candle’s light, one must take it into a dark place.”

Written and directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez and starring Victor Clavijo, Ruth Díaz, Moisés Ruiz, Pedro Casablanc and Manuel Morón.