Cerdita, Carlota Pereda's feature film debut based on her award-winning short film of the same name about a teenager with overweight problems who suffers from the insults and harassment of the other girls in town, has landed at the Sitges Festival out of competition after dazzling in contests such as Sundance, Fantastic Fest and San Sebastián.
The film has an unstoppable run before being released this October 14 in commercial theaters and promises a good dose of realistic terror for lovers of the genre. "I'm super happy because I don't know if something like this will happen to me again," Laura Galán, an actress seasoned in the theater who gives life to the protagonist, tells La Vanguardia.
He already embodied Sara for the Goya-winning short film shot in 2018 and Pereda has once again relied on her to expand this rural thriller set in the Extremaduran town of Villanueva de la Vera with clear references to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Jeepers Creepers. "At first, Carlota did not love me because she was older - she is currently 36 years old - but we met in a cafeteria and she asked me to do the last look at the script and decided that it was me. Carlota is my family, I love her very much and I am super Thankful that you trusted me."
For Galán it was "a delight to read the script" and he happily lent his body to Sara because he was clear that it was "a story that had to be told starkly and openly. At first I was scared because he is a strong character, but I fell in love with Sara and everything that happens".
Far from what happens to the protagonist due to her physical appearance, the actress assures that "I have always been fat but I have never suffered bullying and I think it is important to say it because it cannot be the norm. Not because I am fat and have a body non-normative, you have to take it for granted that I have to suffer bullying because you blame the victim with that and you can't allow it. This is a fictional, horror movie, but there are people who are going through it. There is a significant suicide rate in boys and girls with which it is a very serious issue".
The actress explains that she felt identified with Sara "in her body and in thinking that I am different because I do not fall within the canons, but then I have known through her what fear is, that giant vulnerability and being exposed all the time. We fat people don't have a closet to hide in, we are always an easy target for ridicule."
Sara helps in the butcher shop of some parents with whom she has little communication and the only friend she had from childhood betrays her. "It is not safe anywhere. I would not like to go back to adolescence right now because if it is always difficult, with social networks you are not safe at home either. It is very scary," she adds.
Galán appears for a long time scantily clad in the film, shamelessly showing off his body. "I've realized that I'm a bit of an exhibitionist -she says laughing- I don't have any problems with my body and I wish it would happen to everyone. I'm embarrassed to say it but I look pretty in the movie. Carlota has filmed my body in such a beautiful way... It has been very easy to work with her and she is a woman's love. I don't mind exposing my body, besides for this film it was necessary, and I think that if people are uncomfortable seeing me like that, almost naked, to question why if it were normative, no".
The interpreter confesses that she does not like horror movies, "they scare me a lot, but with Little Pig I have enjoyed and had a great time with so much action. I ended up with many war wounds from running and getting into the field and they had to camouflage them" .
In one of the most distressing sequences, a group of girls insult and abuse her when Sara is in the pool. However, the arrival of a stranger will turn her life upside down. Faced with the mysterious disappearance of some stalkers, the protagonist will have to decide between speaking up and saving them or keeping quiet to protect that stranger who has helped her. "Sara makes very bad decisions at times. She starts out as a victim but you have to consider how easy it is to cross to the other side. The appearance of this man is a spark that changes everything; there is even a sexual awakening, which is something very adolescent. In little time matures suddenly".
Laura Galán speaks wonders about her co-stars, especially Carmen Machi, who plays her mother. "Everyone has been very good to me and has covered me." It's only been a year since they shot the film and Galán feels "I've said goodbye to Sara. She grew up and so did I. I've also been a mother."
He is not lacking in work proposals and he knows that he has to juggle to reconcile: "I am recording a small collaboration in the Zorras series with a character who is very opposed to Sara and at the end of the year I have a theater in Madrid with the works An animal on my pillow, by Vanessa Espín, and Easy Reading, with Alberto San Juan".
