Spain’s Hugo Stuven fulfills dream of directing feature film

Spanish actor, screenwriter and director Hugo Stuven Casasnovas says he is fulfilling one of his dreams by directing a feature film, a crime thriller titled “Anomalous” that is due to premiere in 2015.

It is “a dream come true,” the filmmaker told Efe in Barcelona during a break in filming the picture, whose cast includes Lluis Homar, who appeared in the Pedro Almodovar films “La mala educacion” (Bad Education) and “Los abrazos rotos” (Broken Embraces).

The 35yearold son of a Chilean television producer, Stuven said he first appeared in a film as the Baby Jesus in the program “Aplauso.”

He said that as a teenager he realized that he enjoyed directing more than acting and has since won prizes for the short films “El sotano,” “Hilo de melancolia,” “Stand By,” “Te mato” and “Tio Jess,” a film that he codirected with Victor Matellano and which was nominated for a Goya Award, Spain’s equivalent of the Oscar.

“Anomalous” is an Englishlanguage film with a 3.5millioneuro ($4.6million) budget that is being filmed in Barcelona and New York and features different narrative styles.

It tells the story of a young schizophrenic who is found dead in his bathtub under strange circumstances.

A young female police officer tries to solve the case by analyzing the videos that the troubled patient recorded of himself at his psychiatrist’s recommendation.

Stuven, meanwhile, already has his sights set on another project, a science fiction thriller that he plans to begin shooting next year.