Sitges Film Festival

Preview of 'Splice. Experimento Mortal' with SITGES

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

SITGES, International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, invites fans to the premiere of SPLICE. EXPERIMENTO MORTAL by Vincenzo Natali, at 10pm on Thursday July 29th at the Cinesa La Maquinista cinema (Barcelona).

To get a ticket for two just access www.facebook.com/sitgesfilmfestival and you’ll find the link for the event. All you need to do is sign up and the evening of the premiere you’ll be on the Sitges Festival’s guest list.

Splice. Experimento Mortal was screened in the in-competition Official Fantàstic Selection at last year’s Festival, and grabbed the award for Best Special Effects for the C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Mac Guff and BUF companies. Vincenzo Natali also participated at the ’98 Festival with his first feature Cube, that grabbed awards for Best Motion Pictures and Best Screenplay.

If Vincenzo Natali’s previous movies revolved around a lack of spatial identity (Cube, Nothing) or personal identity (Cypher), Splice tackles the subject of the induced evolution of the species. Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley are two scientists who create a new hybrid breed, harmless at first, but that soon develops predatory and even sexual characteristics. An atypical monster movie, with details from Mimic (Guillermo del Toro backs the film) or Species, but that is surprising thanks to the excellent use of special effects and the plot’s unexpected ramifications. Because in Splice, the monster is sexy and perversely attractive...

SPLICE. EXPERIMENTO MORTAL will be in cinemas on July 30th and is distributed by VÉRTICE CINE.

More information at:
www.sitgesfilmfestival.com
www.facebook.com/sitgesfilmfestival
www.twitter.com/sitgesfestival

Sitges in collaboration with FIB

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

SITGES and FIB HEINEKEN, two of the Mediterranean cultural proposals with the greatest international significance have decided to share both musical and movie programs and projects. At the upcoming FIB, starting this Thursday, you can see the preview of Splice, by Vincenzo Natali, that was screened at SITGES 09 and will be premiering on July 30^th (distributed by Vértice Cine).

Catalan Films & TV will be at Sitges one year more

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

CATALAN FILMS & TV, in collaboration with Televisió de Catalunya, will be organizing a series of activities for the Catalan cinema industry. First of all, October 15^th will be videogame day with lectures focusing on themes like Audiovisuals and videogames, social networks, Cool Hunting and 3D. A co-production encounter is also being organized between the Catalan, Brazilian and Italian industries. This encounter will be reflected in the Festival’s film selection too, including a cross-sectional focus on these two countries. Just some of the participating films are: La Doppia Ora (NV Ficció), La bocca del lupo (NV No Ficció), Suspiria (Dario Argento), plus Double Nights as a part of Sitges Clàssics with a screening called Italian Grindhouse with Italian exploitation cinema from the 70’s and 80’s.

Programme preview

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC SELECTION, in and out of competition, will be following several different lines: the vampire myth craze; new themes and new ways of conceiving the genre with an unconventional air; cinema with explicit violence and a certain dose of cruelty and, finally, the most surprising auteur films that are opening up new means of expression.

Following these line we’ll be presenting films like Outrage, the return of Takeshi Kitano to gangster and yakuza cinema ten years after Brother; A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop, by the famous Chinese director Yimou Zhang who has done a remake of Blood Simple by the Cohen brothers in an imaginary tone; The New Daughter, Spanish director Luiso Berdejo’s incursion into Hollywood starring Kevin Costner; A Serbian Film (Srdjan Spasojevic), a controversial, extreme movie that will be considered the Festival shocker; Easy Money (Daniel Espinosa), a film that’s taking Sweden by storm, based on the noir novel by Jen Lapidus, the new sensation after the Millenium trilogy; Dream Home (Pang Ho-cheung), the most radical Asian movie in recent years; The Turkish Kosmos (Reha Erdem); The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm), one of the most awaited films by fans that was all the rage at the latest Berlin and Cannes festivals, produced by and starring Eli Roth; Kaboom (Gregg Araki), a tasteful, North American indie film that combines comedy and horror; Rubber (Quentin Dupieux), about a killer tire; Mexican We Are What We Are (Jorge Michel Grau) and the Uruguayan The Silent House (Gustavo Hernández), both opening doors for Latin American cinema; and two that were previously announced: the undisputed winner of the recent Cannes Film Festival Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, will have its Spanish premiere in Sitges, and Let me in (Matt Reeves), a remake of the highly successful Let the right one in, will be opening this selection.

Representing Catalan and Spanish cinema is the outstanding, previously announced opening film, Julia’s Eyes, Guillem Morales’s second movie starring Belén Rueda and Lluís Homar. The Official Selection will also be screening Agnosia, Eugenio Mira’s second film starring Eduardo Noriega, Bárbara Goenaga and Sergi Mateu, among others; and 14 Days with Victor, by Román Parrado, shot between Barcelona and London, that revolves around the limits of contemporary art, human degradation and death.

The ANIMA’T section will be focusing on Japanese animation’s enormous contribution, highlighting the film that’s been the most important of the year in Japan: Welcome to the Space Show (Koji Masunari).

NOVES VISIONS (Ficció, No Ficció and Discovery) will continue with its proposals, this year with even more impetus after the warm welcome it received last year from both audiences and critics. The winner of the past Sundance Festival, Catfish (Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost) will be opening the section, that will be including several midnight screenings this year with films like Trash Humpers, by the controversial Harmony Korine. The movie that Sónar 2010 got its image from, Finisterrae (Sergio Caballero), will be shown at a special screening. NV-No Ficció will be screening films like The People vs. George Lucas (Alexandre O. Philippe) about the Star Wars fan phenomenon; La bocca del lupo (Pietro Marcello), a half fictional – half documentary film revolving around a love story with homosexual touches that takes place in several different timelines Terence Davies-style, and the mockumentary Vampires (Vincent Lannoo). NV-Discovery will be presenting young and independent works like Tony (Gerard Johnson), about an ultra-realistic serial killer in the streets of London. Finally, in the NV-Ficció section you can see interesting films like Sound of Noise (Johannes Stjärne Nilsson and Ola Simonsson), Red, White and Blue (Simon Rumley), a disturbing vision that’s reminiscent of Haneke’s cinema, La Doppia Ora (Giuseppe Capotondi), a fascinating combination of oneiric thriller and a movie construction on the genre borderline plus Strayed (Akan Satayev), a horror production from Kazakhstan.

This section includes Nova Autoria, resulting from the cooperation among SGAE, Institut Buñuel, the festival and the Catalan film schools. Its objective is discovering new talents and promoting newcoming filmmakers, as well as screening the best works by film school students in Catalonia.

Starting from Noves Visions but covering other sections as well, the Festival will offer a view of tsocial networks, highlighting films like Chatroom (Hideo Nakata) in NV Ficció and Life 2.0 (Jason Spingarn-Koff) in NV-No Ficció.

CASA ASIA section will be focusing on the return of martial arts movies, highlighting productions from Hong Kong and China, with the outstanding Ip Man 2 (Wilson Yip), the sequel to last year’s winning film, and where you will also discover the new cinema from Vietnam with the super-hit Clash (Le Thanh Son), the first Vietnamese martial arts production with big stars and an attractive visual level.

3D CINEMA will be back in Sitges; one of the most outstanding films will certainly be the Spanish stop-motion animation production O Apóstolo (Fernando Cortizo).

SEVEN CHANCES arrives with seven critics who will choose their seven undoubtedly significant films, among which L’Enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot (Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea) has already been confirmed, a documentary that reconstructs the lost film by the aforementioned director.

Following last year’s wake, the Els altres fantàstics retrospective will take a look at productions that vindicate atypical genre cinema by Catalan and Spanish filmmakers who never frequented it assiduously. This is the case with Pedro Olea and the premiere of the new copy, made Spanish Film Library, of The Ancines Woods, considered to be one of the cornerstone films in Spanish horror cinema plus movies by Carlos Saura and Eugenio Martín, among other directors.

The Festival will also be programming a series focusing on the idea of Cinema and Time offering European films with an art house perspective and with the screening of a classic, The Time Machine, by George Pal, an emblematic Festival symbol that is the image for one of its honorary awards.

MIDNIGHT X-TREME will be especially aimed at the most radical genre fans, with a strong emphasis on the most extreme and gore cinema, like the Thai Slice (Kongkiat Khomsiri), the Australian Primal (Josh Reed), the North American The Violent Kind (The Butchers Brothers) and the amusing Norweigan Ninja (Thomas Cappelen Malling). In addition there will be Mondo Macabro, La nit més zombie and Japan Madness marathons.

BRIGADOON will continue to be an alternative venue offering gore, kitsch and underground films, committed to using DVD as a format to promote fantastic cinema in particular and avid movie-going in general and where, year after year, the Paul Naschy Award is given to the best short film and the Brigadoon Nosferatu Award in acknowledgment of the career of an important, representative genre figure.

'The Shining' inspires the 43rd edition

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The Shining celebrates its 30^th anniversary and the 43^rd SITGES – International Fantasy Film Festival of Catalonia, that will take place from 7 to 17 October, would like pay homage to it through the image for this year’s official poster. The Shining (1980), by Stanley Kubrick, is one of the few undoubtedly classic horror films that still holds up with the passage of time, going beyond the genre and the director himself.

The creative agency in charge of the poster’s concept was China, with final design done by Art&Maña. According to the China agency: “The Shining is a work full of transcendental images. Once again Kubrick demonstrated that he was a master at coming up with contemporary icons, scenes that will remain in the collective unconscious for years to come. That made it very easy for us but also very difficult at the same time when it came to choosing just one influence for this year’s poster. But in the end it was the two girls that prevailed over all the others. Their disturbing stare straight at the spectator was so unsettling to us that we couldn’t help searching for them at daybreak on Sitges’ beach. And there they were, emerging from the water and staring at us”.

The Festival will also be remembering the 25^th anniversary of Back to the Future by Robert Zemeckis, offer a special tribute to the deceased Paul Naschy with the screening of the documentary El hombre que vio llorar a Frankenstein, and will be celebrating the 50^th anniversary of Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock.

6th Carnet Jove Jury at Sitges 2010

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The five members of the 6^th Carnet Jove Jury for the SITGES 2010 – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia will be able to experience an affair with the seventh art during the days of this event. They will be a part of an official jury and be handing out two awards: the Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best Motion Picture from the Official Selection and the Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best Motion Picture from the Midnight X-Treme section.

If it’s your dream to become a film critic... download the regulations and participate here!

*The presentation deadline is 15 July.

"Los Ojos de Julia" to open SITGES 2010

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Guillem Morales’s film, Los ojos de Julia, will be opening this year’s 43rd SITGES International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia on Thursday, October 7th.

Produced by Rodar y Rodar, Guillermo del Toro, Universal International, Antena 3 Films and TVC, Los ojos de Julia is the terrifying odyssey of a woman (Belén Rueda) suffering from a degenerative eye disease who is obsessed with finding out the truth behind her twin sister’s death. The film co-stars Lluis Homar, Pablo Derqui, Joan Dalmau, Francesc Orella and Julia Guitiérrez Caba, and it will be in theaters 29^th October.

Once again, SITGES shows its commitment to genre cinema produced in Catalonia with an international scope and made by a young filmmaker, Guillem Morales, who was actually discovered at the Festival in 2004 with his debut film El habitante incierto (The Uncertain Guest).

In other news, SITGES 2010 will be opening its Official Fantastic Selection with the film Let Me In, by Matt Reeves (director of Cloverfield), a remake of the hit Swedish movie Let the Right One In, Golden Méliès award winner at SITGES 2008 and that now stars Chloe Moretz (the child superhero in Kick-Ass), Kodi Smith-McPhee (The Road) and Academy Award nominee, Richard Jenkins.

Let Me In is also the return of the mythical Hammer production company and sets a trend at the SITGES 2010 Festival which will be the vampire theme.

Let Me In will be distributed in Spain by the independent company Aurum.

SITGES 2010 to present Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's film that picked up the Golden Palm award at Cannes

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The Official Section of the SITGES 2010 - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia (7th-17th October) will be presenting the Spanish premiere of the undisputed winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

For the SITGES Selection Committee, the Thai director’s film reveals to us not only a new conception of fantastic cinema, something that was stressed by President of Cannes’ jury, Tim Burton, but also a dimension of film art as a multimedia expression to decipher a complex reality, where legends and realities, drama and parody, life and death, history and mythology all coexist. A fascinating interaction of mirrors and contrasted realities that Weerasethakul recreates through an original and revolutionary artistic conception.

SITGES already revealed this Thai director to Spain when it programmed his film Tropical Malady in 2004 in the Seven Chances Section.

The Catalan company Eddie Saeta, headed by producer Luis Miñarro participated in the production of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, which will be distributed by Karma Films in Spain.

SITGES Office - New Address

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

SITGES Office - New address since June 2010:

SITGES Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya
L'Escorxador Building
c/ Joan Maragall, 36
08870 Sitges (Spain)
tel. +34 93 811 2232

SITGES 2010 supports the "Supernatural" show's Rising Convention

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The Sitges Fantastic Film Festival is supporting the Rising Convention initiative that will be held on June 12^th and 13^th in Barcelona (Hotel Barceló Sants), dedicated to the hit TV show Supernatural.

This convention will bring fans of this show from CW (Warner Bros TV) up close with actors and actresses Jared Padalecki (Room 411 and Gilmore Girls), Jensen Ackles (Smallville and Dark Angel), Misha Collins (Castiel), Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer) and Samantha Ferris (Ellen Harvelle).

With access for 800 people plus media from all over the world (Spain, USA, Japan, Germany, England, France, Russia, Venezuela, etc.), the program will include panels/interviews, autograph sessions, contests, and concerts by bands paying tribute to groups that are on the show’s soundtrack like AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Metallica or The Rolling Stones.

SITGES is collaborating with the Rising Con by raffling off 4 Matinee Passes among those present to attend this year’s 43^rd film festival, to be held from 7 to 17 October. To win one of these passes, participants must send a picture taken at the Rising Con to play@sitgesfilmfestival.com. The 4 best photos (in the festival’s opinion) will win the 4 Matinee Passes. Each participant can only send a maximum of 1 photo and the criteria for choosing the winning pictures will be their originality and creativity. All participants must by 18 or over. The deadline for sending these photos is Wednesday 16 June (no photos will be accepted beyond this date). The 4 photos with the names of the 4 winners will be published on June 18^th at www.facebook.com/sitgesfilmfestival.

Each Matinee Pass is for 1 person and allows him or her to attend all of the morning and midday screenings at the Auditori throughout the festival. Exceptions: not valid to access 3D movies or last day Marathons. (If necessary, the festival reserves the right to change the features of the Matinee Pass, which will be duly announced).

For more information:

www.facebook.com/sitgesfilmfestival

www.twitter.com/sitgesfestival

www.sitgesfilmfestival.com

To find out about all the Rising Convention’s details and program:

http://www.klzevents.com/Rising_Con

Sitges Film Festival invites fans to the premiere of THE CRAZIES

Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 +0200

SITGES, International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia invites fans to the premiere of THE CRAZIES, a remake of the 1973 movie directed by George A. Romero, at 22:00 on Thursday May 27th at the Cinesa Diagonal cinema (Barcelona).

To get a ticket for two just access www.facebook.com/sitgesfilmfestival and you’ll find the link for the event. All you need to do is sign up and the evening of the premiere you’ll be on the Sitges Festival’s guest list.

Breck Eisner (Sahara) directs this reinvention of Romero’s classic film that tells the story of how a couple from a small town in Middle America is forced to fight for their lives when all their friends and acquaintances fall victims to insanity. A mysterious toxin contaminating their water supply turns anyone exposed to it into an unscrupulous killer and the authorities abandon the few uninfected citizens to their fate.

Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant, Live Free or Die Hard); his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell, Silent Hill); Becca (Danielle Panabaker, Friday the 13), a nurse at the local clinic; and Russell (Joe Anderson, Across the universe), the sheriff’s deputy and right-hand man find themselves trapped in their previously idyllic town, now a place they can’t even recognize. Faced with the impossibility of ever trusting anyone again, abandoned by the authorities and terrified of the possibility of falling victims to the disease, they are forced to work together in order to survive and escape town.

THE CRAZIES will be in cinemas on May 28th and is distributed by EMON.

The Sitges Film Festival invites fans to the official party for the final episode of LOST

Mon, 17 May 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The SITGES, International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, along with Cuatro, Fox, Shôko Barcelona and the Lost Day group, is organizing the official party before the last episode of the series LOST is broadcast.

The Festival wishes to be present on this unprecedented occasion where a fantasy genre TV series is managing to bring together millions of fans to celebrate the airing of the last episode simultaneously in EUROPE and the USA.

“Lost Night” in Barcelona will be starting at 22:00 on Sunday, 23 May, by the sea in Barceloneta, at Sala Shôko, where we have organized several T-shirt and costume design contests, plus other assorted activities that will be announced in the next few days over the Festival’s Facebook and Twitter sites.

All those participating in the contests will have a chance to win gifts and awards, among which is a VIP pass for this year’s Sitges Film Festival, held from 7 to 17 October.

Starting at 1 in the morning, the party will be moving to Bharma (C/ Pere IV, 93, Barcelona), the only theme bar dedicated to “Lost” in the world, where you can see the pilot episode, the penultimate episode and the series’ final episode (the final one will be a subtitled version at 6:30).

Moon, Best Feature Film of Sitges 09

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

OFICIAL FANTÀSTIC

JURY
Neil Marshall, Amanda Plummer, Tuomas Riskala, John Saxon and Jordi Battle Caminal

Best Short Film
One of those days by Hattie Dalton

Special Mention
The boy who wouldn’t kill by Linus de Paoli

Best Production Design - Sponsored by Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya
Tony Noble for Moon

Best Make Up FX
Kaatje Van Damme for Mr. Nobody

Best Special Effects
C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Mac Guff, BUF for Splice

Best Original Soundtrack
Teresa Barrozo for Kinatay

Best Cinematography
Benoit Debie for Enter the Void

Best Script
Nathan Parker, based on the original story of Duncan Jones, for Moon

Best Actress
Ex-aequo: Elena Anaya for Hierro and Kim Ok-vin for Thirst

Best Actor
Sam Rockwell for Moon

Best Director
Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay

Special Jury Award
Enter the Void by Gaspar Noé

Best Motion Picture
Moon by Duncan Jones

CARNET JOVE JURY
Arnau Vilaró, Sergi Fabregat, Arantza Marichalar, Joan Sala and Isabel Salvador

Best Motion Picture FANTÀSTIC
Ex-aequo: Dogtooth (Canino) de Yorgos Lanthimos and Les derniers jours du monde d’Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu

Best Motion Picture MIDNIGHT X-TREME
Wasting Away by Matthew Kohnen

NOVES VISIONS

JURY
Stephanie Billeter, Marc Helwig and Pedro Usabiaga

Best Motion Picture - Sponsored by SEAT
Deliver us from Evil by Ole Bornedal

Special Mention
Van Diemen’s Land by Jonathan auf der Heide

Non Fiction Motion Picture Diploma
Best Worst Movie by Michael Paul Stephenson

Discovery Motion Picture Diploma
Amer d’Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani

NOVA AUTORIA SGAE AWARD – INSTITUT BUÑUEL

JURY
Roser Aguilar, Lluís Bonet Mojica, Albert Solé and Joan Valent

Best Director
Swingers by Javier Rodríguez Espinosa, presented by ESCAC-Escándalo Films

Best Screenplay
44987373-V by Robert Ors Griera, presented by Centre d’Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya (CECC)

Best Original Score
The last drag by Gonçal Perales Roy, presented by Centre d’Estudis de Tècniques d’Animació de Catalunya · 9 ZEROS

SPECIAL MENTION for the global quality of the piece
Pin up by Tania Verduzco, presented by Centre d’Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya (CECC)

ORIENT EXPRESS - CASA ÀSIA

JURY
Fausto Fernández, Luis M. Rosales and Marc Walkow

Best Motion Picture
Ip Man by Yip Wai-shun

ANIMA'T – Gertie Award

JURY
Fausto Fernández, Luis M. Rosales and Marc Walkow

Best Animated Film
Summer Wars by Mamoru Hosoda

Best Animated Short film
Le petit dragon by Bruno Collet

Best Animated Feature Film for Kids
Panique au village by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar

MÉLIÈS D’ARGENT

JURY
Tim League, Toni Messa and Antje Nikkola Mönning

Méliès d’Argent for Best European Motion Picture
The Eclipse by Conor McPherson

Méliès d’Argent for Best Europea Short Film
One of those days by Hattie Dalton

MÉLIÈS D’OR

Méliès d’Or for Best European Motion Picture
Martyrs by Pascal Laugier

Méliès d’Or for Best European Short Film
Cold and Dry by Kristoffer Joner, co-directed and produced by Bjørn Arne Odden

Audience Award El Periódico de Catalunya

Best Motion Picture
Zombieland by Ruben Fleischer

CRITIC AWARDS

JURY
Desirée de Fez, Imma Merino and Eulàlia Iglesias

Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award
Les derniers jours du monde d’Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu

Citizen Kane Award to an up-and-coming director
Dogtooth (Canino) by Yorgos Lanthimos

BRIGADOON Paul Naschy

JURY
Domingo López Tortosa, Diego López Fernández and José Martos Arroyo

Best short film
Torbellino de hostias by Adrián Cardona

Ben & Jerry’s Award
[REC]2 by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza

Monday 12th Marathons

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

MARATHONS 12th OCTOBER

AUDITORI 11h

1. ZOMBIELAND – 88 min
2. MR. NOBODY – 137 min
3. SOLOMON KANE – 103 min
4. SUMMER WARS – 114 min
5. AMER – 90 min
6. DOGTOOTH – 96 min

RETIRO 13h

1. GRACE – 85 min
2. METROPIA – 86 min
3. CARGO – 120 min
4. DEAD SNOW – 91 min
5. THE LOVED ONES – 84 min

PRADO 13h

1.THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE – 90 min
2.SYMBOL – 93 min
3. LA HORDE – 97 min
4. SORORITY ROW – 100 min
5. THE COLLECTOR – 85 min

The surprise revealed: Millennium 2 premieres at Sitges 09

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The second part of the highly popular “Millennium” saga, The Girl Who Played with Fire, will be premiering at Sitges’09 at the Melià’s Auditori on Sunday October 11^th at 15:00, after the incredible success of Millennium Part 1: Men Who Hate Women. Stieg Larsson’s saga has become a worldwide phenomenon following the death of the Swedish writer, having sold over one million copies in Spain alone and with spectacular box office numbers. The controversial journalist Michael Blomkvist and the sinister hacker Lisbeth Salander, who had done an in-depth investigation of the wealthy Harriet Vanger’s mysterious disappearance in the first film, are back at the orders of Swedish filmmaker Daniel Alfredson, Thomas’ brother, director of the big hit Let the Right One In. Tremendous action and intrigue. Will Blomkvist find the missing Lisbeth? Be the first to find out at 09.

Sunday's Late-Night Marathon

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

A true horror celebration with shapes and colors for all tastes, from three different masters (one more recent that the others). George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead will kick off the evening with a 3-D screening. The 1969 film will see its original black and white filtered through red and green: the definitive confirmation that 3D is invading cinema and no one (and no classic) escapes unscathed. Romero will come face to face with Dario Argento and brand-new Giallo, starring no less than Elsa Pataky and Adrian Brody. The trio is completed with The Haunted World of el Superbeasto: the first animated film from the enfant terrible of horror, Rob Zombie.

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The lost of Alberto Sánchez, part of the management Committee of the Huesca Film Festival

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Alberto Sánchez Millán (Zaragoza, 1943-2009)

Last evening Alberto Sánchez passed away. After some long months of suffering from a neurodegenerative disease, his body finally gave out. An essential man in the culture of Aragón, he worked as photographer, amateur filmmaker, critic and film researcher, writer, actor cultural activist. As a director, his short film La persecución (1965) is very highly considered, a magnificent exercise in editing. He was the founder of the Cine Club La Salle, an active member of the Club Cine Mundo, promoter of the Cine Club Gandaya, chairman of the Aragonese Federation of Film Clubs and vice-chairman of the Spanish Federation. Until the very last moment and despite the physical difficulties, he never stopped participating in numerous activities. He was chairman of the Real Sociedad Fotográfica de Zaragoza, part of the management Committee of the Huesca Film Festival, belonged to the Tertulia Cinematográfica Perdiguer, coordinated the “Fila 12” talk cycles for the Ibercaja Zentrum and collaborated on many cultural programs. A very well-loved person has left us, and the enormous void he leaves behind can only be filled by the many good moments he delighted us with.

Martyrs wins the Méliès d'Or

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The award ceremony for the Méliès d’Or, the important award for the best European film from the fantastic genre, was held yesterday at the Auditori. The candidates for this award are the different films that have won the Méliès d'Argent award the same year. Since 2008 Sitges is the permanent venue for this award-giving.

Martyrs, the controversial French film that tells the story of the tortures a girl is put through won the Méliès d’Or for the best European film from the fantastic genre. The other films nominated were: Mum & Dad (Steven Sheil), Absurdistan (Veit Helmer), Sauna (Antti-Jussi Annila), 3 Días (F. Javier Gutiérrez), Butterflyzone (Luciano Capponi), Linkeroever (Pieter Van Hees), Moon (Duncan Jones) and Panique au Village (Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar).

The Méliès d’Or for the best short film went to Cold and dry, directed by Kristoffer Joner and co-directed and produced by Bjørn Arne Odden. The short won the Silver Méliès at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival.

This year’s jury is made up of Antje Mönning, Tim League and Toni Messa. The deliberation was accompanied by a public gala presentation attended by representatives (directors, actors, producers, etc.) of the award-winning movies and that ended with the official presentation of the Méliès d’Or.

All of the Federation members are required to program at next year’s edition at least one of the award-winning films that hasn’t been already presented at the festival in question, and preferably the winner of the Méliès d'Or award. The Federation is in charge of promoting the award-winning films throughout the year after winning the award. The movies Les derniers jours du monde (Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu) and Cargo (Ivan Engler, co-directed by Ralph Etter) where screened during the gala. An Honorary Maria Award was also presented to director Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi in acknowledgement of his film career.

SGAE Nova Autoria Award

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Students from the Centre d'Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya, ESCAC-Escándalo Films and the Centre d’Estudis de Tècniques d’Animació de Catalunya· 9 ZEROS win the 2009 SGAE Nova Autoria Awards

For the ninth year in a row, the Societat General d’Autors i Editors (SGAE) and the Institut Buñuel, along with the International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, organized the SGAE Nova Autoria Awards, born with the goal to promote and help publicize the new audiovisual productions made by students from Catalonia’s film schools. These awards, conceived as an open window to discover the talent of the audiovisual creators of the future, enjoy the collaboration and complicity of the main Catalan film schools.

This year the SGAE Nova Autoria Awards go to the students from the Centre d'Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya (CECC), the ESCAC-Escándalo Films and the Centre d’Estudis de Tècniques d’Animació de Catalunya· 9 ZEROS. The official award-giving ceremony will be held on Sunday October 11^th at 19:30, in the Auditori at the Hotel Melià Sitges, during the closing ceremony of the International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

The 2009 SGAE Nova Autoria Jury, made up of Albert Solé, director and screenwriter of the 2009 Goya award-winning best documentary; Joan Valent, composer; Lluís Bonet, journalist and film critic, and Roser Aguilar, director and screenwriter, decided to give:

- The 2009 SGAE Nova Autoria Award for best direction-production to Swingers, presented by ESCAC-Escándalo Films, and directed by Javier Rodríguez Espinosa.

- The 2009 SGAE Nova Autoria Award for best screenplay to 44987373-V, presented by the Centre d'Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya (CECC), written by Robert Ors Griera.

- The 2009 SGAE Nova Autoria Award for best original music to The Last Drag, presented by the Centre d’Estudis de Tècniques d’Animació de Catalunya· 9 ZEROS, composed by Gonçal Perales Roy.

- The jury also decided to give a SPECIAL MENTION for the general quality of its work to Pin up, presented by the Centre d'Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya (CECC), created by Tania Verduzco.

Through these awards, the SGAE, the Institut Buñuel and the International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia offer emerging creators the possibility to show their works and make them known to the general public within the framework of an internationally-reaching event.

The official award-giving ceremony will be on Sunday October 11^th during the closing gala of the 42^nd edition of the Sitges 2009-International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

More tickets available

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday October 7th, there will be more tickets available for sale of the following films:
(through the Tel·Entrada website starting at 8am and at 9.30am on the festival ticket box offices)

AUDITORI

FRIDAY 9TH
- Paranormal Activity, 18:45h.
- Carriers, 22:45h.
- George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead, 1:00h

SATURDAY 10TH
- La Horde, 12:30h.
- La Horde, 16:30h.
- Doghouse, 18:30h.
- Solomon Kane, 20:30h.
- Zombieland, 23:00h.

SUNDAY 11TH
- Zombieland, 11:00h.
- Ghostbusters (Cazafantasmas), 13:00h.
- Sessió Sorpresa, 15:00h.
- The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, 17:30h.
- The Road, 23:15h.

EL RETIRO

FRIDAY 9TH
- King of Thorn, 12:15h.
- 9, 21:30h.

SATURDAY 10TH
- 20th Century Boys 2, 9:45h.
- Yona Yona Penguin, 12:45h.
- Dead Snow, 14:30h.
- Paranormal Activity, 19:15h.
- George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead, 21:00h.
- Carriers, 23:00h.
- Revenant + Wasting Away + Zone of the Dead, 1:00h.

SUNDAY 11TH
- 20th Century Boys 3, 9:30h.
- Mi Vecino Totoro, 12:15h.

CASINO PRADO

FRIDAY 9TH
- Colin, 11:00h.
- Book of Blood + Dread, 1:00h.

SATURDAY 10TH
- Symbol, 13:30h.
- Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl + Samurai Princess + Hard Revenge..., 1:15h.

SUNDAY 11TH
- Las crueles, 16:00h.
- Dead Snow + Wasting Away + Revenant + Zone of the dead, 1:00h.

Round table presentation of CIMA

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The Asociación de Mujeres Cineastas y Medios Audiovisuales (Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA) was presented yesterday at Sitges 09. CIMA is an association that, after three years in existence, has gathered together over two hundred professional women in cinema and audiovisuals to promote women’s equal presence in this sector and make their work visible. The project was presented by the Association’s chairwoman, director and screenwriter Inés París, its vice-chairwoman, actress and director of the “Mujeres en Dirección” film festival in Cuenca, Marta Beláustegui, member and producer Sagrario Santorum and Mireia Ros, director and actress, and one of the Association’s members. The initiative was presented at the round table and objective data was offered on the minimum and often undervalued position women occupy in the audiovisual and film industry, and the reasons this association is necessary was explained and some of the concrete measures and projects being carried out were announced. In a rapidly-changing world, at a point where the laws that will govern cinema and audiovisuals in our country are being decided, the association wants to have a voice in it and not be left behind. They emphasized that culture is a right and that, as such, it must be equally in the hands of men and women, the only way to enrich it.

PAC: from a hospital into an audiovisual park

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

PARC AUDIOVISUAL DE CATALUNYA-TERRASSA (PAC)

The incredible transformation of the land belonging to the old Thorax Hospital in Terrassa into an audiovisual park of over 50,000 m2 including sets, meeting rooms, sector companies and an extensive backlot, was promoted yesterday within the framework of Sitges’09. Their chief executive, Jordi Llonch, was accompanied by Javier Ruiz (director of Spanish Movie), Montse Vilamanyà (responsible for the Vilamanyà School, specializing in makeup and characterization) and Lluis Botella (film production scout). Created by the Terrassa Town Hall along with the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonian Autonomous Government), the PAC has two enormous 600 and 1,200 m2 sets, with all the auxiliary services needed to make movies, TV shows and commercials. In 2009 alone, they have accommodated up to 88 audiovisual productions, including feature films like Paintball, Rec2 (that premiered at Sitges’09) and Spanish Movie, soon to be released. The PAC will also be presenting the award for best production design.

The Road, by John Hillcoat, to close the 42nd edition

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The film, starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smith-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce, is one of the most eagerly-awaited movies in recent years.

Presented at the Venice and Toronto festivals with a spectacular reception, the film is already considered one of the best productions of the year. With a cast headed by Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron, The Road was photographed by Spaniard Javier Aguirresarobe, one of our country’s most respected directors of photography who made the big leap to Hollywood to shoot this film with a devastating atmosphere full of smoke and chiaroscuros.

John Hillcoat had already elegantly seduced genre cinema with The Proposition, a westernwritten by music genius Nick Cave (who did the score for The Road). Now Hillcoat adapts Cormac McCarthy’s celebrated novel The Road and creates a harsh and moving apocalyptic film. McCarthy, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, is also the author of the novel adapted by the Cohen Brothers, No Country for Old Men. In a world in ruins, where it rains ash and food is a scarce commodity, a father has to protect his son during a complicated road trip. Absolute desolation, cold, hunger and piles of bodies everywhere create the atmosphere in this film that was shot around different parts of the United States, including post-Katrina New Orleans: a landscape as fitting of science fiction as it is of westerns.

Enjoy the Trailer!

The Road will have the following showings at the Festival:

AUDITORI: Sunday 11/10 at 20:15h (Closing Gala)
AUDITORI: Sunday 11/10 at 23:15h

New spot of Sitges Zombie Walk'09

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The Sitges Zombie Walk will be invading the streets of Sitges again.
The meeting place will be the Miramar Building on Saturday 10th at 8:30pm.
We’ll be giving you more details soon; meanwhile you can enjoy the commercial spot.

Sitges 09 announces its complete program and presents the spot

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia announces its complete program. There are still a few surprises to be confirmed, like the closing gala, but we’ve already put together the final list of films that will be screened at SITGES 09. Below you’ll find the titles of each film and their sections.

Plus, to get your engines revving, you can now see the SITGES 09 spot. Blood and action in an ad that will leave no one indifferent.

OPENING FILM

[REC]2. Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró. 2009.

OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC IN COMPETITION SECTION

ACCIDENT. Soi Cheang. 2009.
ACCIDENTS HAPPEN. Andrew Lancaster. 2009.
THE CHILDREN. Tom Shankland. 2008.
COLD SOULS. Sophie Bartes. 2009.
THE COUNTESS. Julie Delpy. 2009.
LES DERNIERS JOURS DU MONDE. Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu. 2009.
DOGTOOTH (KYNODONTAS). Yorgos Lanthimos. 2009.
DORIAN GRAY. Oliver Parker. 2009.
ENTER THE VOID. Gaspar Noé. 2009.
GRACE. Paul Solet. 2009.
HEARTLESS. Philip Ridley. 2009.
HIERRO. Gabe Ibáñez. 2009.
LA HORDE. Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher. 2009.
INGRID. Eduard Cortés. 2009.
KINATAY. Brillante Mendoza. 2009.
METROPIA. Tarik Saleh. 2009.
MOON. Duncan Jones. 2009.
MR. NOBODY. Jaco Van Dormael. 2009.
MUSASHI: THE DREAM OF THE LAST SAMURAI. Mizuho Nishikubo. 2009.
NE TE RETOURNE PAS. Marina de Van. 2009.
SPLICE. Vincenzo Natali. 2009.
THIRST. Park Chan-wook. 2009.
TIMER. Jac Schaeffer. 2009.
YATTERMAN. Takashi Miike. 2009.

OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC PANORAMA SECTION

9. Shane Acker. EUA, 2009.
BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS. Werner Herzog. 2009.
CARGO. Ivan Engler and Ralph Etter. 2009.
CARRIERS. Àlex Pastor and David Pastor. 2009.
THE COLLECTOR. Marcus Dunstan. 2009.
CROWS 2. Takashi Miike. 2009.
DEAD SNOW. Tommy Wirkola. 2008.
LOFT. Erik Van Looy. 2008.
ORPHAN. Jaume Collet-Serra. 2009.
PANDORUM. Christian Alvart. 2009.
PANIQUE AU VILLAGE. Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar. 2009.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Oren Peli. 2007.
SHADOW. Federico Zampaglione. 2009.
SOLOMON KANE. Michael J. Basset. 2009.
SORORITY ROW. Stewart Hendler. 2009.
SUMMER WARS. Mamoru Hosoda. 2009.
GEORGE A. ROMERO’S SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD. George A. Romero. 2009.
VALHALLA RISING. Nicolas Winding. 2009.
ZOMBIELAND. Ruben Fleischer. 2009.

OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC PANORAMA SECTION - BRITISH FOCUS

DOGHOUSE. Jake West. 2009.
THE DESCENT: PART 2. John Harris. 2009.
THE ECLIPSE. Connor McPherson. 2009.
LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS. Phil Claydon. 2008.
MALICE IN WONDERLAND. Simon Fellows. 2009.

SITGES ESPECIALS

CELDA 211. Daniel Monzón. 2009.
CLIVE BARKER'S BOOK OF BLOOD. John Harrison. 2009.
CLIVE BARKER'S DREAD. Anthony DiBlasi. 2009.
THE FROST. Ferran Audí. 2009.
THE HURT LOCKER. Kathryn Bigelow. 2008.
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS. Terry Gilliam. 2009.
NADIE INQUIETÓ MÁS. Gustavo Leonel Mendoza. 2008.
NIGHTMARES IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE. THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN HORROR FILM. Andrew Monument. 2009.
TETSUO: THE BULLETMAN. Shinya Tsukamoto. 2009.

SITGES CLÀSSICS

ALIEN (ALIEN, EL 8. PASAJERO). Ridley Scott. 1979.
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Stanley Kubrick. 1971.
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (EL PÉNDULO DE LA MUERTE). Roger Corman. 1961.
ZOMBI 2 (NUEVA YORK BAJO EL TERROR DE LOS ZOMBIS). Lucio Fulci. 1979.

SITGES CLÀSSICS - TRIBUTE TO THE 80's

A NIGHTMARE IN ELM STREET (PESADILLA EN ELM STREET). Wes Craven. 1984.
GHOST BUSTERS (LOS CAZAFANTASMAS). Ivan Reitman. 1984.

OFFICIAL NOVES VISIONS SECTION

FICTION

BRONSON. Nicolas Winding Refn. 2009.
DELIVER US FROM EVIL. Ole Bornedal. 2009.
THE FORBIDDEN DOOR. Joko Ankwar. 2009.
THE FOREST. Ashvin Kumar. 2009.
THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL. Ti West. 2009.
INDEPENDENCIA. Raya Martin. 2009.
MORPHIA. Alexei Balabanov. 2008.
NYMPH. Pen-ek Ratanaruang. 2009.
PONTYPOOL. Bruce McDonald. 2008.
SYMBOL. Hitoshi Matsumoto. 2009.
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. Jonathan auf der Heide. 2009.
VISAGE. Tsai Ming-liang. 2009.
WHITE LIGHTNIN’. Dominic Murphy. 2009.

NO FICTION

BEST WORST MOVIE. Michael Paul Stephenson. 2009.
CROPSEY. Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio. 2008.
SON AND MOON (DIARIO DE UN ASTRONAUTA). Manuel Huerga. 2008.

DISCOVERY

1. Pater Sparrow. 2009.
AMER. Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. 2009.
COLIN. Marc Price. 2008.

ORIENT EXPRESS-CASA ÀSIA

20^th CENTURY BOYS - CHAPTER 2. Yukihiko Tsutsumi. 2009.
20^th CENTURY BOYS - CHAPTER 3. Yukihiko Tsutsumi. 2009.
CHAW. Shin Jung-won. 2009.
GOEMON. Kazuaki Kiriya. 2009.
HAEUNDAE. Yun Je-gyun. 2009.
IP MAN. Wilson Yip Wai-shun. 2008.
MERANTAU. G. H. Evans. 2009.
VENGEANCE. Johnnie To. 2009.

ANIMA'T

FIRST SQUAD. THE MOMENT OF TRUTH. Yoshiharu Ashino, Misha Shprits and Aljosha Klimov. 2009.
GENIUS PARTY BEYOND. Mahiro Maeda, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka and Koji Morimoto. 2008.
IN THE ATTIC: WHO HAS A BIRTHDAY TODAY? Jirí Barta. 2009.
KING OF THORN. Kazuyoshi Katayama. 2009.
LASCARS (ROUND DA WAY). Albert Pereira-Lázaro and Emmanuel Klotz. 2009.

ANIMA’T NENS

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO. Hayao Miyazaki. 1988.
THE SECRET OF KELLS. Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey. 2009.
OBLIVION ISLAND: HARUKA AND THE MAGIC MIRROR. Shinsuke Sato. 2009.
YONA YONA PENGUIN. Rintaro. 2009.

MIDNIGHT X-TREME

BLACK DYNAMITE. Scott Sanders. 2008.
THE HILLS RUN RED. Dave Parker. 2009.
BREAK. Matthias Olof Eich. 2009.
HARD REVENGE MILLY.
HARD REVENGE MILLY BLOODY BATTLE. Takanori Tsujimoto. 2008/2009.
THE HORSEMAN. Steven Kastrissios. 2008.
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE. Tom Six. 2009.
THE LOVED ONES. Sean Byrne. 2009.
MACABRE. The MO Brothers. 2009.
RECON 2023: THE GAUDA PRIME CONSPIRACY. Christian Viel. 2009.
THE REVENANT. Kerry Prior. 2009.
SAMURAI PRINCESS. Kengo Kaji. 2008.
SMASH CUT. Lee Gordon Demarbre. 2009.
VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL. Naoyuki Tomomatsu and Yoshihiro Nishimura. 2009.
WASTING AWAY. Matthew Kohnen. 2007.
YAMAGATA SCREAM. Naoto Takenaka. 2009.
ZONE OF THE DEAD. Milan Konjevic. 2009.

MONDO MACABRO

MAHAKAAL (THE MONSTER). Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay. 1993.
VEERANA (THE WILDERNESS). Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay. 1988.

ELS ALTRES FANTÀSTICS: IMAGINARI I AUTORIA EN EL CINEMA CATALÀ I ESPANYOL CONTEMPORANI

BRUJA, MÁS QUE BRUJA. Fernando Fernán-Gómez. 1977.
CADA VER ES... Ángel García del Val. 1981.
EL ESPÍRITU DE LA COLMENA. Víctor Erice. 1973.
EL PERRO. Antonio Isasi Isasmendi. 1977.
EL SUEÑO DEL MONO LOCO. Fernando Trueba. 1989.
LA CASA SIN FRONTERAS. Pedro Olea. 1972.
LA MADRE MUERTA. Juanma Bajo Ulloa. 1993.
LAS CRUELES. Vicente Aranda. 1969.
VAMPYRES (LAS HIJAS DE DRÁCULA). José Ramón Larraz. 1974.
VIVA LA MUERTE! AUTOPSIE DU NOUVEAU CINÉMA FANTASTIQUE ESPAGNOL. Yves Montmayeur. 2009.

SEVEN CHANCES

UN LAC. Philippe Grandrieux. 2008.
MARY AND MAX. Adam Elliot. 2008.
NUCINGEN HAUS. Raoul Ruiz. 2008.
PALERMO SHOOTING. Wim Wenders. 2008.
LA TERRE DE LA FOLIE. Luc Moullet. 2009.
LES YEUX SANS VISAGE (LOS OJOS SIN ROSTRO). Georges Franju. 1959.
YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH. Francis Ford Coppola. 2007.

Line Up :: Official Fantàstic In Competition Selection

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

This year the 42^nd edition of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is presenting a selection of 22 in competition films in the Official Selection. The world’s number one fantasy film festival continues to offer its audiences a broad spectrum of movies that insist on questioning and vindicating the fantastic concept as one of the genres in constant mutation. A transformation that requires a framework capable of analyzing movies from the most varied perspectives. And it’s the directors of these films who seem to be sending us a clear message: the fantasy genre has no limits.

New Spanish fantasy cinema couldn’t miss its date with the Festival. Besides the out-of-competition opening film, [REC]², two other movies have been chosen to compete this year. The Spanish production Hierro, from newcomer Gabe Ibáñez, presenting the murky story of a mother (Elena Anaya) who loses her son during a trip to the island of El Hierro, finally sending her reeling into a spiral of nihilistic nightmares about loss of identity. The other film is the Catalan production Ingrid, by Eduard Cortés, the story of a man’s obsession for a young artist who is as beautiful as she is mysterious.

From France comes one of this season’s most controversial films, Enter the Void. That enfant terrible of French cinema who convulsed half the world with Irreversible is back with another movie that will definitely shake up spectators’ consciences. With manipulated realism and precious aesthetics, Gaspar Noé delves into the dark corners of the human mind to portray a story of sex and drugs. The scandal is served.

Accountable to the mutation the abovementioned genre is going through, from the Philippines comes Kinatay, by Brillante Mendoza. With the award for best director at the latest edition of the Cannes Festival under his arm, Mendoza presents an uncomfortable, abrasive film camouflaged with a stifling ultra-realism where the camera captures, in first person, the story of a kidnapping that will make even the bravest’ hair stand on end.

One of the most awaited films comes from an old Festival acquaintance, Vincenzo Natali, who won the award for best feature film and best screenplay in 1998 in Sitges with Cube. Splice is a lucid science fiction movie starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley where a scientist hopes to evolve the human race through biogenetics.

The Belgian production Mr. Nobody is a surprising fantasy story where a very special character travels in time between the 20^th and 21^st century. Presented in the Venice Festival’s official selection, the cast is headed by Diane Krueger, Jared Leto and, once again, Sarah Polley.

This category’s variety is completed with a good selection of comedies that will surprise the most skeptical and that’s made up of an assortment of rarities that are hard to find at a genre film festival: the Australian film Accidents happen, by Andrew Lancaster; the British film Cold Souls by Sophie Bartes and starring Paul Giamatti; and TiMER by Jac Schaeffer.

The French selection is completed with the stunning zombie film La Horde, by Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher; and Les derniers jours du monde by Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu, starring Sergi López. And from the UK come the distressing The Children, by Tom Shankland and Dorian Gray, a revision of the classic film by Oliver Parker. Asian presence in the Official Selection is completed with the urban thriller Accident, by Soi Cheang, from Hong Kong and produced by Johnnie To.

And we remind you of the preciously confirmed titles: the story of the vampire priest in Thirst, by Park Chan-wook; Yatterman, a zany adaptation of the comic by the same name that has been one of the biggest box office hits in Japan; Grace, by Paul Solet, representative of the best independent North American horror cinema, that participated in Sundance; the Greek movie Dogtooth (Kynodontas), by Giorgios Lanthimos, Un Certain Regard award-winner at Cannes; Moon, by Duncan Jones, recent winner of the Award for Best Feature Films at the Edinburg International Film Festival; The Countess, by Julie Delpy, a return to the Countess Dracula myth; Ne te retourne pas, by Marina de Van, a disturbing tour de force between Monica Belluci and Sophie Marceau; and the Swedish animated film Metropia, by Tarik Saleh.

'Visage', by Tsai Ming-liang, opens the Noves Visions category

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Noves Visions has been one of the Festival’s most consolidated and indisputable categories. This year, its most eclectic section continues to bring together films of the most diverse nationalities, although some of the most innovative and transgressive proposals in today’s movie scene are still coming from Asia.

Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang will be opening the Noves Visions category with his latest film, Visage. Starring Fanny Ardant, Laetitia Casta and Jean-Pierre Léaud, the movie is a tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of nouvelle vague. An old Festival acquaintance, Tsai Ming-liang has presented other films in Sitges like The Hole (1998) or The Wayward Cloud (2005), that on the Special Jury Award.

Noves Visions is made up of three subsections: Ficció (Fiction), No Ficció (Non-Fiction) and Discovery. The three subsections compete for the award for best feature film in the Noves Visions category. There are also two special mentions for the best features in No Ficció and Discovery.

As every year, and with the collaboration of the SGAE and the Buñuel Institute, the Nova Autoria section continues with its aim to discover new talent and promote up-and-coming audiovisual creators, as well as to program the best thesis projects by students from the different participating film schools.

The in-competition NV Ficció section is made up of a wide, hybrid selection of films from the fantasy genre that explore more personal and, at the same time suggestive visions: Independencia by Raya Martin, the latest work of art from the young Filipino that has shaken up a section of worldwide critics; Nymph by Pen-ek Ratanaruang, an intimist and ghostly story told with the usual sensuality of the director of Invisible Waves; the shocking Russian film Morphia, by Sergei Balabanov (Cargo 200); the Indonesian thriller The Forbidden Door and the Indian The Forest (the directing debut of the filmmaker who has taken half the world by storm with the short film Little Terrorist). Completing this section are the British Bronson (on the life of a famous criminal) and White Lightnin' (on the life of a possessed tap-dancer), the Danish Deliver Us from Evil, the direct horror movie directed by Ti West, The House of the Devil, the Canadian Pontypool (about a violent virus that attacks a town)and the Australian survival film Van Diemen's land.

The NV Discovery section brings fresh air and furious originality with three films that will have everyone talking in the near future: the intriguing Hungarian 1; Colin, an amateur film that has become an unexpected box office hit in Great Britain; and the experimental French film Amer.

The NV No Ficció section presents three exceptional documentaries. On the one hand, the unexpected, beautiful film by Manuel Huerga (Salvador) about the space race, Son & Moon. Diario de un astronauta. On the other hand, a morbid American documentary so harsh it will make audience’s hair stand on end: Cropsey. And finally Best Worst Movie, a curious documentary about what is, for some, the worst movie in history: Troll 2.

Malcolm McDowell to receive the Grand Honorary Award at the opening, which will moved up to October 1st

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Better known for his role as Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange (1971), Malcom McDowell was also outstanding in the controversial Caligula (1979), in the 1982 remake of Cat People, and also in the adaptation of horror figure Michael Meyers directed by Rob Zombie, playing the child psychologist in Halloween (presented in Sitges two years ago) and the long-awaited H2: Halloween II, among others.

The Grand Honorary Award, in recognition of his career, will be given to him at the Sitges 09 opening gala, which will take place on October 1st.

The Festival is moving its opening up to October 1st, with the Spanish premiere of [REC]2, adding an extra day to the program at this year’s edition, which ends on Monday, October 12th with the mythical movie marathon. In addition to [REC]2 the Festival has already confirmed other films like Moon (Duncan Jones), Grace (Paul Solet), Kinatay (Brillante Mendoza), Thirst ( Park Chan-wook), Yatterman and Crows II (Takashi Miike), Orphan (Jaume Collet-Serra), The Countess (Julie Delpy), The Final Destination in 3D (David R. Ellis), among many others.

Brigadoon and the zombies

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

BRIGADOON will be including two film series by essential directors in Spanish fantasy, José Ramón Larraz and Juan Piquer Simón, who will be joining the list of tributes offered by the Festival. In addition, it will be devoting two specials to Bollywood -one to its most bizarre cinema and the other to its most erotic- plus a section dedicated to Asian Trash, with the best of the worst in Asian cinema. In parallel to the Festival's tribute to Alien, Brigadoon will be screening unreleased movies that are inspired by this film within the space After Alien. The Brigadoon NOSFERATU Life Achievement Award will be given to Jack Taylor.

SITGES 09 will be paying special attention to the zombie genre, holding a new edition of the Zombie Walk on Saturday, October 10th, and with a tribute to Zombie 2, by Lucio Fulci, that premiered in Sitges 30 years ago.

Jurat Carnet Jove, a committement to the young audience

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Sitges 09 - International Fantasy Film Festival of Catalonia continues to be committed to maintaining the spirit of youth, the Festival's most loyal following. Proof of this is the presence, yet another year, of the Carnet Jove Jury, promoted by the Agència Catalana de la Joventut (Catalan Youth Agency), which, this year, is celebrating its fifth edition. The mission of the 5th Carnet Jove Jury is to hand out two different awards: the Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best Motion Picture in the Fantàstic Selection and the Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best Motion Picture in the Midnight X-Treme Category. Our commitment to youth is also clear through the Festival ticket discounts available to Carnet Jove card holders.

Catalan Films & TV strengthens its collaboration with the Festival

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

CATALAN FILMS & TV strengthens its collaboration with the Festival and expands its program of parallel activities, with emphasis on an interactive fiction session led by Televisió de Catalunya. At SITGES 09, CF&TV will be supporting Catalan production through Catalan Focus, will participate in the opening party and will be organizing a workshop on videogames and the interactive fiction industry, designed by experts from TV3. In addition, there will be two sessions dealing with the synergies between animation and videogames where new formats and content distribution channels will be analyzed. In parallel, CF&TV is coordinating the arrival of a delegation of Mexican producers who will participate in a co-production encounter with their Catalan counterparts. Mexico is one of the territories where CF&TV is working on its proceedings plan for 2009 and that's why it sent a group of companies to the Guadalajara Festival last March.

Sitges 09 will be recalling certain flashes from the 80's

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Regarding tributes, besides the 30th anniversary of Alien, SITGES 09 will be recalling certain flashes from the 80's, films that represent this decade's different genre film expressions and that will bring special guests from emblematic movies to the Festival. In this review of classics we will be including an American cut, unreleased in Spain, of The Shining, with extra footage and horror; and A Nightmare on Elm St, with the attendance, among others, of John Saxon.

Another outstanding novelty at this year's edition is the Els Altres Fantàstics retrospective, that will review productions which embody atypical genre films by Catalan and Spanish filmmakers who don't usually delve into genre film, like Pedro Olea (A House Without Boundaries); Antonio Isasi Isasmendi (A Dog Called... Vengeance); Vicente Aranda (The Exquisite Cadaver); or Víctor Erice (The Spirit of the Beehive).

Another of the Festival's tributes will be dedicated to horror story writer Clive Barker, presenting two movies based on novels of his: Dread and Book of Blood.

Animation, international variants of horror and 3D film

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

ANIMA'T will be including the biggest box office hit of the season in France, Lascars.

In NOVES VISIONS the Festival is banking on international variants of historical and realistic horror, like the Australian Van Diemen's Land, by Jonathan Auf Der Heide; The Forbidden Door, the consolidation of Indonesian genre cinema or the brutal English docudrama Bronson, by Nicolas Winding Refn.

ORIENT EXPRESS will be including, among others, Goemon, by Kazuaki Kiriya, and Ip Man, by Wilson Yip, featuring Donnie Yen, the world's number one martial arts expert.

3D FILM will be one of the most important new additions to SITGES 09, with outstanding screenings like The Final Destination and Toy Story 3D.

SEVEN CHANCES will be showing films like Youth Without Youth, by Francis Ford Coppola, or La Maison Nucingen, by Raoul Ruiz, a classic in Sitges.

MIDNIGHT X-TREME will be setting aside viewing time for the phenomena of the new, most recent extreme Japanese cinema. These midnight screenings will be including zany films like Best Worst Movie, based on the checkered and even grotesque commercial experience of the movie Troll 2, considered to be the worst in history by specialized web sites like rottentomatoes.com; Dead Snow, Lesbian Vampire Killers, Black Dynamite, a tribute to blaxploitation, or Smash cut, the resurrection of the eternal King of Gore Herschell Gordon Lewis.

the latest and most eagerly awaited genre films at Official Fantàstic Section

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC SELECTION will include the latest and most eagerly awaited genre films with titles like the vampirical Thirst (photo), by Park Chan-wook; Yatterman, a zany version of the comic of the same name that has been one of the biggest box office hits in Japan, and Crows II, the sequel to the first part emphasizing teen ultra-violence (this one out-of-competition), both by Takashi Miike; Grace, by Paul Solet, representing the best in independent North American horror cinema, that participated in Sundance; Kinatay, by Brillante Mendoza, a literal journey to hell and a paradigmatic example of hyper-realistic horror, that snagged the Best Director Award at Cannes; Kynodontas, by Giorgios Lanthimos, Un Certain Regard Award winner at Cannes; Musashi, by Mizuho Nishikubo and Moon, by Duncan Jones, recent winner of the Best Feature Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Representing Catalan and Spanish cinema are the outstanding Orphan, a North American production by director Jaume Collet-Serra, and Ingrid, by Eduard Cortés, set to become an instant cult movie in European fantasy film.

European cinema will include movies like The Countess, by Julie Delpy, a return to the Countess Dracula myth, and Ne te retourne pas, by Marina de Van, a disturbing tour de force between Monica Belluci and Sophie Marceau.

Alien is the inspiration for Sitges 09

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Alien by Ridley Scott is the inspiration for this year's edition. The Festival will be including a screening of the director's favorite version of the movie and will be attended by guests still to be determined.

[REC]2 to open Sitges 09

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

[REC]2 will be opening the 42nd edition of the SITGES 09 - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, to be held from October 1st to the 12th. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza return to Sitges -they presented [REC] in 2007- with the eagerly awaited sequel that takes up the events occurring soon after the end of part one: It's been 15 minutes since the TV camera's batteries ran out. It's been 15 minutes since the last images were filmed for the program "While You Sleep" inside the infected building. Outside, a curious crowd gathers behind the area sealed off by the Special Forces. The TV crews are putting on the pressure to find out what the hell is happening...

ALIEN, 2009 passenger

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

La 42^nd edition of the Sitges - International Film Festival of Catalonia will revolve around the ALIEN universe, celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the film directed by Ridley Scott.

Sitges 09 will also remember the huge eighties phenomenon that Ghostbusters was.

Time's up. Invasioooooooooon!!!

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

The living dead will be gathering at the Brigadoon Zone (Miramar Building), where they can get made up from noon on. The starting shot will be fired at about 19:30 and the invasion will make its way towards the Passeig de la Ribera esplanade. Once there, at 21:00 a concert will kick off with the bands Motorzombis, Eyaculación Post Mortem, Dulcamara, Secret Army, Los Brioles and Los Tiki Phantoms.

Hundreds of zombies on parade Sitges

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

Blood and more blood. Hundreds of people dressed as zombies came together in Sitges at the Eastpak Zombie Walk organized by the 41^st edition of the International Film Festival of Catalonia. Severed heads, knives driven into their bodies, wounds of all sorts, skin hanging off and eyes popping out of their skulls. It could never have been said better, Sitges became a genuine cat walk for the walking dead, all grunting growling, howling and complaining.

This concentration of the living dead was to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the mythic film Night of the Living Dead, by George A. Romero. The North American director cancelled the visit he had planned to Sitges due to shooting complications on his new movie. Despite Romero's absence, there was other representation for this classic genre film. Hill Hinzman, the first zombie in history appearing in Romero's movie, walked the streets of Sitges impeccably made up, with blackened teeth, a gray face and a black suit that, although it looked new from close up, if you examined it closely you could find spider webs, rips and split seams.

After this concentration at the Festival's Brigadoon Zone (Miramar building), the march of the moved down to the Passeig de la Ribera esplanade, where the bands Motorxombis, Eyaculación Post Mortem, Dulcamara, Secret Army, Los Brioles and Los Tiki Phantoms performed.

Surveillance, by Jennifer Lynch, Best Motion Picture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC

JURY
Marina Anna Eich, Àlex Gorina, Umberto Lenzi, David Pirie, Fred Williamson

Best Motion Picture
Surveillance by Jennifer Lynch

Special Jury Award
Eden Lake by James Watkins

Best Director
Kim Jee-woon for The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Best Actor
Brian Cox for Red

Best Actress
Semra Turan for Fighter

Best Script
Alexis Alexiou for Tale 52

Best Cinematography
Angus Hudson for The Broken

Best Production Design
Tulé Peak for Blindness

Best Make Up FX
Bendit Lestang & Adrien Morot for Martyrs

Best Special Effects
Jung Do-Ahn for The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Best Original Soundtrack
Kenji Kawai for The Sky Crawlers

Best Short Film
Next Floor by Denis Villeneuve

Jury Special Mention to the Shortfilm
Centigrade by Collin Cunningham

Los Bastardos, Religulous and Ramírez, Seat Noves Visions Awards

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

SEAT - NOVES VISIONS

JURY
Velasco Broca, Guillermo Jure, Xavi Serra

Best Motion Picture
Los Bastardos by Amat Escalante

Special Mention
God's Puzzle by Takashi Miike

Non Fiction Motion Picture Diploma
Religulous by Larry Charles

Discovery Motion Picture Diploma
Ramírez by Albert Arizza

NOVA AUTORIA SGAE AWARD

JURY
Albert Espinosa, Albert Guinovart, Àngel Quintana, Roser Aguilar

Best Director
Dögg Mósesdóttir by Eyja

Best Screenplay
Dea Pompa by Restaurando a Héctor

Best Original Score
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson & Örn Eldjàrn by Eyja

Linda Harrison and Luis Miñarro receive the Honorary María Award

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

Actress Linda Harrison, star of the movie The Planet of the Apes, and Luis Miñarro, film producer, Received the Honorary María Award in recognition of their career.

Luis Miñarro (Barcelona 1949) produced movies like Things I Never Told You (Isabel Coixet, 1996), Where in Madame Catherine (Marc Recha, 2003), The Chair (Julio D. Wallovits, 2006), In the City of Sylvia (José Luis Guerin, 2007), El cant dels ocells (Albert Serra, 2008), El somni (Christophe Farnarier, 2008 and El blau blau (Daniel Villamediana, 2008).

Linda Harrison (Maryland, 1945), actress in movies like A Guide for the Married Man (1967), The Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Cocoon (1985), among others. This year the mythic film The Planet of the Apes is celebrating its 40^th anniversary.

The Carnet Jove Jury gives the Midnight X-Treme Award to Encarnaçaô do Demônio

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

CARNET JOVE JURY
Albert Elduque, Cristina Álvarez, Manuel Bocero, Covadonga de la Cuesta, Sergio Morera

Best Motion Picture FANTÀSTIC
EX AEQUO:
The Sky Crawlers by Mamoru Oshii
Vinyan by Fabrice du Welz

Best Motion Picture MIDNIGHT X-TREME
Encarnaçaô do Demônio by José Mojica Marins

Orient Express-Casa Àsia Award goes to The Chaser

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

ORIENT EXPRESS - CASA ÀSIA

JURY
Todd Brown, Xavi Sánchez Pons, Carles Arenes

Best Motion Picture
The Chaser by Na Hong-jin

From Inside, the Anima't winner

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

ANIMA'T - Gertie Award

JURY
Todd Brown, Xavi Sánchez Pons, Carles Arenes

Best Animated Film
From Inside by John Bergin

Best Animated Short film
The facts in the case of Mr. Hollow by Rodrigo Gudiño & Vincent Marcone

The audience choose Blindness

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

AUDIENCE AWARD EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA

Best Motion Picture
Blindness by Fernando Meirelles

The Sky Crawlers, chosen by the Critic Jury

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

CRITIC AWARDS

JURY
Beatriz Martínez Gómez, Alejandro G. Calvo, Carlos Losilla

Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award
The Sky Crawlers by Mamoru Oshii

Citizen Kane Award to an up-and-coming director
Home Movie by Christopher Denham

The Silver Méliès goes to Martyrs

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

SILVER MÉLIÈS

JURY
Diego López, Zak Kadison, Javier Gutiérrez

Silver Méliès for Best European Motion Picture
Martyrs by Pascal Laugier

Silver Méliès Award for Best European Short Film
Afterville by Fabio Guaglione & Fabio Resinaro

GOLDEN MÉLIÈS

Golden Méliès for Best European Motion Picture
Let the Right One In by Tomas Alfredson

Golden Méliès for Best European Short Film
Of Cats & Women by Jonas Govaerts

La Victoria de Félix eclipses at Brigadoon

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

BRIGADOON Paul Naschy

JURY
Juanjo Lleó, Toni Benages, Jaime Quesada

Best short film
La Victoria de Félix by Jordi Pastor & Albert Miró