Legend has it that the ‘Red Wind’ of Santa Ana—which blows through coastal Southern California—causes drastic mood swings among those exposed to it, sparking tensions and wrathful human behaviour. In this new film director César Pesquera and art director Christian Lopez—a duo who studied the winds of the Mediterranean in an earlier collaboration— team up with writer Kako Mendez. This time the malevolent Red Wind is embodied as a demonic figure that stalks the region's deserts and diners, while local residents who have encountered its effects open up—however warily—about their blood curdling experiences.
"We combined visual references to classic horror films with allusions to Joan Didion and Raymond Chandler," they note. “Ultimately, this gives the viewer a glimpse into the bleak landscape shaped by this wicked natural force.
This film is part of our special program #FiveDaysOfDarkness, where we celebrate—and interrogate—the meaning of ‘goth’
Q&A with the team behind the film
1. How did you first come across the infamous ‘Red Wind?’ What caught your imagination about it?
CÉSAR: After finishing Tramuntana [the directors’ first film] Christian moved to Los Angeles. There he heard about the Santa Ana winds through Kako, who was based there too. The more we read and researched about it, the more intrigued we were by the wicked nature of this wind.
CHRISTIAN: After a weekend trip to the Mohave desert with Kako, we started talking about how the landscape and the inhabitants of this small towns felt somehow touched by a strange force.
2. How has the Red Wind influenced you when you’ve experienced it? For good or bad?
KAKO: There's something definitely uneasy in the air when Santa Ana blows. Something uncomfortable. It's like an invisible flame burning through the atmosphere. Your eyes get dizzy and reality can take a surreal turn for worse... it burns your skin, it gets into your head. As if you were experiencing a day nightmare. Chandler said it best. Anything can happen. You can even get a glass full of beer at a cocktail lounge.
3. Are any of the testimonials in the film based on real people’s accounts of the Santa Ana winds? Or are they pure fiction?
KAKO: All the accounts are real. We spent a whole year researching stories and did a few trips to the desert (Joshua Tree, Salton Sea and Death Valley) to talk with locals. We didn't have a script, but based on what we found and heard along the way, we penned down questions and started conceiving specific scenes.
4. The film’s mix of playfulness, reportage, and horror makes it feel like a Joan Didion-penned Hammer Horror script. Did you set out to make a horror doc-mockumentary?
CÉSAR: Yes, it’s ultimately a film about evil. That's why it's full of homages to horror movies. But we never intended to make a fake documentary. It's a film that contains documentary elements, elements that are real and exist. Nothing is staged. But we use them to give free reign to our imagination and elucidate the nefarious urban legends around it.
5. Tell us about how Santa Ana, as a film, fits into your wider creative projects
CHRISTIAN: Yes, for the project we partnered with photographer Javier Tles and artist Pau Arregui as part of the team to portrait the Santa Ana wind in a photo journal format. We developed the photos through acid, making them look as the time made them rougher and touched by the evil wind.
6. Do you guys always work with the same team? How did you bring this project to life?
CHRISTIAN: Santa Ana was possible trough a big team of creative people that believed on the project from day one. Victor Mata and Ana Laura Solis from Story, who produced the project. Wild Goats in Los Angeles where a crucial part of the production team to make it possible. Also director of photography Jose Luis Bernal, Marta Cerdá on the lettering, Nick smith on the music and sound design and Mairi Chisholm on the evil costume.