Virtual U.S. Theatrical Release of THE WOLF HOUSE, Opens May 15

KimStim Announces the U.S. Virtual Theatrical Release
of the Chilean Film THE WOLF HOUSE
by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña

Winner of the Cinema Tropical Award for Best First Film,
the Stop-Motion Animated Feat Will Be Available on
Friday, May 15 Through Virtual Cinemas Across the Country

KimStim is proud to announce the U.S. virtual theatrical release of the The Wolf House (La casa lobo) by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, winner of the Jury Prize at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and the Cinema Tropical Award for Best First Film, and selected the Best Film of the Year by MUBI subscribers.

Originally slated for a theatrical release on March 20, the film will now be available through virtual cinemas, including Anthology Film Archives in New York and the Laemmle theaters in Los Angeles, starting on Friday, May 15. Additionally theaters will be announced soon, as well as a special live Q&A with the directors.

The Wolf House – Official North American Trailer from KimStim on Vimeo.

Based loosely on the grim case of Colonia Dignidad, a German émigré-run colony in post-WWII Chile that was revealed to have been used to imprison, torture, and murder dissidents during the Pinochet regime, The Wolf House is an animated feature film with a much darker foundation than most. As deeply disturbing as its inspiration would suggest, it is also a truly inspired feat of animation, its extraordinary craft and artistic vision fusing with its profoundly sinister themes to create an experience of exceptional power.

Using stop-motion animation to unfurl a never-ending series of transformations that play out as a single sequence shot, Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña—making their first feature after a series of shorts—tell the grim fairy tale of Maria, a young woman who finds refuge in a house in the south of Chile after escaping from a sect of German religious fanatics. She is welcomed into the home by two pigs, the only inhabitants of the place. As in a dream, the universe of the house reacts to Maria’s feelings. The animals transform slowly into humans and the house becomes a nightmarish world.

Produced painstakingly over the course of several years, and filmed piecemeal within art galleries across several countries, in full view of the gallery-going public, The Wolf House masquerades as an animated fairy tale produced by the leader of the sect in order to indoctrinate its followers. It’s easily one of the most accomplished, transporting, and conceptually rich animated features to appear in recent memory.

THE WOLF HOUSE. La casa lobo, Chile, 2018, 73 min. DCP. In Spanish and German with English subtitles. Directed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña; Written by Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña, and Alejandra Moffat; Producers: Catalina Vergara and Niles Atallah; Production Companies: Diluvio and Globo Rojo; Art Directors: Natalia Geisse, Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña; Sound Design: Claudio Vargas. Original Voices: Amalia Kassai and Rainer Krause. A KimStim release.