UPIRO

Spain, 1755. As the Age of Enlightenment promises to replace superstition with reason, Ana, a young woman sent to a remote monastery to atone for her sins, finds herself trapped within a cloistered world ruled by unwavering faith and absolute obedience. Behind the convent's austere walls, several sisters are afflicted by a mysterious blood disease, while an atmosphere of mounting dread unsettles the isolated religious community. When an unconventional priest begins investigating the unexplained illness, scientific certainty and religious doctrine collide with an ancient evil: an upyr, the Slavic precursor to the vampire.

Following the acclaimed AMIGO (world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2019), director Óscar Martín draws inspiration from the first documented case of vampirism officially recognized by the Catholic Church in Spain, transforming a little-known historical episode into an unsettling exercise in gothic horror. Rather than embracing the familiar iconography of modern vampire cinema, UPIRO returns to the myth's obscure origins, where folklore, history, and collective fear intertwine. Blending the atmosphere of religious horror with the intrigue of a historical mystery, Martín crafts a slow-burning narrative, where silence, ritual, and the oppressive beauty of the rural landscape become as unsettling as the supernatural itself.

With stark, somber visuals, tension accumulates with hypnotic precision, revealing a world in which every act of devotion conceals the possibility of corruption, and every attempt to explain the unknown only deepens the mystery. UPIRO explores the enduring power of fear, fanaticism, and inherited trauma, breathing unsettling new life into one of horror's oldest myths while asking whether the darkest monsters are supernatural or born from the stories societies choose to believe in. (SARA LOPO)

*Paired with the short FATHER'S LOVE dir. Caye Casas

The twisted mind behind THE COFFEE TABLE returns with a short about a dysfunctional woman coming to say her final goodbyes to her extremely vindictive dying father.