The Malta Independent on Sunday
The presence inside those walls
Marika Azzopardi What happens if a house welcomes you inside but then won’t let you out again? What if you cannot find a way to get away? Film director Mark Doneo had this bizarre idea while staying in an old farmhouse in Qala some years ago. “We were the usual group of friends keeping an annual summer appointment to meet up in Gozo. The girls wanted to go out for the evening and after all their preening and pruning, they made it to the front door. They spent some long minutes fiddling around with the lock – which would not open, before calling us boys to lend a hand and help them get out. We did, they left and as we trooped back to the pool deck, I kept thinking about this incident – what if we could never leave?”
Five years of hard work, three months of intensive filming, two premieres and one film festival later and The Weeping House of Qala alias Hemm Dar il-Qala, a Mark Doneo film, is now on the big screen. A Malta Film Commission Malta Film Fund and an Arts Council Malta Cultural Export Fund both contributed hugely to make this film a reality.
It recently showed successfully at the 9th edition of the Cinefantasy Festival of Brazil, a festival which features uniquely fantastic themes: namely horror, science fiction or fantasy. The 2019 European Film Festival of Toronto in November is in the offing – all invaluable opportunities to take this Maltese horror drama thriller beyond our shores. What about Brazil? “That was an absolute thrill, the experience of lifetime”, said Doneo. “Our film was shown alongside productions from, amongst others, Italy, Belgium, France, USA and Israel. Meeting such a large concentration of people from the film industry proved to be a superb opportunity to make new contacts, more especially since the genre was a common one of interest to us all.”
The Weeping House of Qala starts off on a candid note, but once it evolves, it becomes intense – unrelentingly so. In Brazil, although screened in the beautifully mysterious-sounding Maltese language, it was helped along by Portuguese sub-titles.
Mark noted that As Làgrimas da Casa de Qala – as the title translated for the Brazilian festival – still provided the viewers from such diverse cultural backgrounds with the same identical sensations of fear, sitting-onthe-edge and nail-biting absorption. It is obvious that the film’s brilliant development did not allow the language to become a barrier for the purpose of the story-line .
He says: “The great majority of people in Brazil do not speak English. Several people I spoke to had not even ever heard of Malta! I am proud of my native language: although all my initial thoughts and writings are in English – and I guess this is because I was abroad for the first six years of my childhood – my productions are strictly in Maltese. For the benefit of the local audience, the film is being screened with English sub-titles, but all the dialogue is in the Maltese language.”
Asked how he managed to coexist in two diverse roles – those of actor and director – in this one production, Doneo says: “Co-director and cinematographer Shaun Aquilina was indispensable. He was helpful in supporting me throughout, since I needed to concentrate on the build-up of tension in the script and still be able to focus on my own performance. I could not afford to divert my attention to the technical details, so Shaun stepped in to allow me to be free creatively. Then again, the cast was a dynamic blend of people who worked well together throughout.”
I had personally visited the house during the filming of this film and could appreciate the way in which the set had been created. The house was in a shambles – purposely so – in order to recreate the required backdrop for this story dripping in horror.
I asked Mark how hard it had been to find the perfect location? “First of all, the house is not actually in Qala, nor in Gozo for that matter, but in a completely different location here on Malta. We spent long months searching and viewing properties. I still have endless film on my phone of all the properties we saw. When the search for a location for The Weeping House of Qala had extended to 12 months of futile hunting, my wife and co-star Louise reminded me of a house we had already used for another filming in 2004. I remembered it had been close to impeccable inside, but after so many years it had lost its shine somewhat and its walls were slightly worn-looking. And suddenly I knew it could be done up to suit our purpose. The monumental task of making it look dilapidated and pretty much horrific, was assigned to Sasa Jovanovich, who did an incredible job.”
Does Mark believe in ghosts? “I would rather ask the question: ‘Could a house mess with you?’ I have considered this question repeatedly. As a child I lived in Valletta, in an old house in which a series of inexplicable spooky events did occur, but I cannot claim to know that they happened due to the presence of ghosts. However, the idea of a presence of some sort intrigues me – that somebody who had inhabited a house before us needs to resolve unfinished business, and attempts to communicate this in the here and now. This does capture my fascination.”
‘The Weeping House of Qala’/‘Hemm Dar il-Qala’ is a Mad Movies Production and is presently being screened exclusively at the Eden Cinemas.