Premiere 'Un baño', by Nacho Bibián.

Yesterday evening, I attended in The Collective to the premiere of 'Un baño' (A Bathroom) short-film, directed by Nacho Bibián and which was shot on a hot moring of June in, as the tittle states, a narrow and cramped bathroom in a house of Poble Sec.

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What is this short-film about?

"The man who kills himself kills all men."

Chesterton.

'Un baño' (A Bathroom) tells the story of six characters, five of them conforming a group of friends, who decide to get into the bathroom in a house party to get high with different substances. With them there is Óscar, a friend of the crew's leader, defined as an "enlightened being" and who's totally against about the use of drugs and contrary to the ones who are in the bathroom. After several games, mockeries and jokes inside the bathroom, Óscar commits an accident whose solution will involve a irreversible path. This short-film will make audiences think about the existing dichotomy between men and group, and will leave no one unmoved.

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At 19:30h the cast and crew members, teachers and so students of the acting school were called to enjoy this short-film projection in addition to some other clips with monologues of the students who were there. I attended as a guest, and besides not being a student in The Collective I felt supported, because I had met some people there in the shooting. I must admit too that some of the monologues I watched on screen prior to the short-film, written and performed by some school's students, they seemed to me very good material, so it could be said that what is taught in the school is from high quality.

Around 20h the lights in the hall turned off, and we started watching the monologues and the short-film. What I watched on screen surprised me for good, besides sometimes you cannot get used to watch yourself on the big screen and the version of 'Un baño' we watch wasn't the final cut. It greatly caught my attention the use of shots during the sequence in order to improve the story. The acting of the cast was also good, and good character embodiment work on our part was also noticeable. In addition, a friendship environment was palpable in the air, though the cast members and I never had been on a real party as the one we perform on fiction. In general terms, I had a great impression of the shot material, besides not being the 'official' version of the montage. Here you have some pictures of the short-film itself for you to notice.

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Once the projection was over, we had a small debates with the assisting audience. Many of them highlighted the way we told the story through the shots, congratulating to our director of photography, assembler and cameraman Sebas Niño for his task. They also highlighted that the message transmitted by the short-film was also greatly reached through the script and, though some home-grown contributions added during the shooting itself, the message of the script was still latent. Generally, it could be said that the received critiques were good, there were some compliments and even the idea of presenting the short-film to some film contest, so it could be said that 'Un baño' has a brilliant future ahead.

At the end of the debate we had a small toast with champagne, and we were invited to some snacks and drinks. It was there where I exchanged some impressions and opinions, not only with some cast and crew members in 'Un baño', but also with some people I didn't know. In most of those conversations, they congratulated my job in the short-film, also expressing that they had enjoyed the projection. With some crew and cast members, we highlighted and congratulated for the use of shots in the short-film, we got really surprised about it, and it had improved the short-film itself. We also commented about the comradeship and friendship environment felt in set when the action command was given. They especially highlighted the fact about the relationship between my character (Rejo) and Carla, her girlfriend in the fiction, felt very fresh and natural on screen besides Joselina Sánchez, the actress portraying Carla, and I barely knew each other just for a couple of weeks ago, and we weren't able to work in depth on the relationship of our respective characters.

Cast and crew of 'Un baño' after the premiere.

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In general terms, yesterday's evening was something quite memorable that in addition to the brief party with cast and crew and the apéritif, it meant the finishing touch to the short-film's premiere. It could be said that the future of 'Un baño' aspires to reach high expectations. I want to thank Nacho Bibian, director and scriptwriter, again for this chance and his trust on me when performing Rejo on screen; to the rest of cast members, the project's crew and members in The Collective (Ástrid Albornoz, Misael Sanroque and Kristian Cacho) for making me feel warm and supported both in and out of set. A million thanks!

Right now, I don't have the short-film material itself for you to enjoy it, so we must wait until they send the final cut to me in order to watch it. However, here you have a making-of video of the short-film: shot, edited and assembled by Jordi Extremera, which has a great quality and, in some moments, it reminds me of those cinema programmes such as Cahiers du Cinema usually ran on TV. Hope you like it!

Special thanks to Jordi Estremera for 'Un baño's making-of