La Casa Natal Es El Color Primero
A film by David Baute
Some people spend their entire lives in the same house, their birthplace, where the family past rests. At 87 years old, Benigno still sleeps, eats, and dreams in the home where he was born—the home rooted in the land, reaching toward the sky. The house stands alone, alongside Benigno and his turtle Totó, in the limbo of memories, the ritual of everyday life, and the waiting for the final day. Adjacent to the house is his garden, where he goes daily to tend to his chickens and work the soil with seeds inherited from his ancestors, which he carefully catalogs and preserves.
Benigno enjoys and suffers in solitude, but he is losing his sight and is hastening to inventory all his belongings and record family memories. In a dialogue with himself, he meditates on his will and is anguished by the fate of his home, the keeper of many memories. He fears, perhaps more than his own death, the death of a world, an imagination, and a way of life in community.
La Casa Natal Es El Color Primero is a film about a sensitive man facing the final stretch of his life, Benigno. He has an advancing tumor that limits his days. Benigno prepares for what will be his greatest silence—the image of his own final disappearance.
David Baute, director and screenwriter
María Abenia, co-screenwriter
Mauro Herce, cinematography
Manuel Muñoz, editing
Sara Sánchez, composer and sound recordist
DAVID BAUTE
He studied audiovisual production at the Official Institute of Radio and Television in Spain. He continued his studies at the Higher School of Arts and Shows of Madrid T.A.I. as a film editor and in film direction at the International Film School of Havana, Cuba.
As a director, his non-fiction feature films include ELLA(s), presented at Guadalajara (Mexico 2010), MILAGROS, which premiered in Málaga (2018), and ÉXODO CLIMÁTICO, awarded in Valladolid (2020).
In June 2024, he presented his most recent work, MARIPOSAS NEGRAS, a traditional animation feature co-produced with Ikiru Films (Catalonia) and Tunche Film (Panama), selected as a project at the MIFA of Annecy and VENTANA SUR. He is currently shooting his feature film LA CASA NATAL, an essay on solitude and home.
As a producer, he has completed SUGAR ISLAND by Johanné Gomez, a hybrid film selected for Venice 2024, which won several international festival awards as a project. He is developing the project TRES BALAS by Génesis Valenzuela, winner of the Open Doors Award at Locarno and selected in labs such as RAW and the San Sebastián Co-Production Forum.
In the field of cultural management, he directs the MIRADASDOC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL and the CANARY ISLANDS INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL. In 2011, he created and coordinated the AREA GARACHICO project, a cultural space in his hometown focused on training, research, and cultural creation, as well as the dissemination of various artistic disciplines.
He is a juror and project analyst at various international festivals and markets: Valladolid International Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, Buenos Aires Documentary Film Festival, Cali International Film Festival, Mexico Documentary Film Festival, Proimágenes – Colombia, Atlantidoc – Uruguay, and more.
Festival de Cine Independiente de Barcelona, l´Alternativa – Mentoring Projects.
DocsValència. Espai de No Ficció – DocscLab.