30 Coins and Moscas Dazzle Sitges on the Day of the Zombie Invasion

The 56th edition of the SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia reaches its first weekend loaded with screenings, guest stars and all different kinds of events, both Parallel Activities and Industry. The red carpet was especially busy today, with top-tier guests such as Alex de la Iglesia, Aritz Moreno, Gareth Evans and the trio of filmmakers RKSS. 

Álex de la Iglesia has long been a regular at the Sitges Film Festival. In fact, this year he will not only be presenting his latest work, the second season of '30 COINS', but in addition his debut feature film, 'MUTANT ACTION', will also be screened tomorrow morning at the Retiro. Tonight, the director from Bilbao paraded down the red carpet at the Meliá with his crew and a deluxe cast headed by Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Megan Montaner, Macarena Gómez and Cosimo Fusco. The return of the highly acclaimed HBO series once again caused a huge sensation among the audience at the Auditori, who were thrilled by the new adventures of religious terror, monsters and supernatural creatures. 

Mid-afternoon, Álex de la Iglesia, Jorge Guerricaechevarría, screenwriter, the crew and most of the cast attended a press conference. The director explained how the second season is "much more ambitious than the first in every way" and that for the premiere in Sitges they have prepared "a remastered version of the first two episodes to make sure they have the highest possible quality in theaters". One of the new features this season is the addition of Paul Giamatti, whom Álex de la Iglesia defines "not only as our first choice, but the ideal choice". Meanwhile, Jorge Guerricaechevarría commented on how some of the themes dealt with in this season strongly echo today's reality: "we started the season as a fiction, but now we realize that it is actually coming true". The series will premiere worldwide on HBO and HBO Max on October 23rd. 

Another of the day's big presentations, also Spanish, was that of the latest release by Aritz Moreno, who already knows what it's like to enamor Sitges' audiences. He did it in 2019 with the surprising and much loved 'Advantages of Traveling by Train'. This time, he presents 'MOSCAS', an intense thriller that begins with a businessman driven to an extreme situation: after getting a flat tire, he finds a corpse tied to the trunk of his car. This morning director Aritz Moreno, lead actor Ernesto Alterio and producer Merry Colomer participated in a press conference. The director discussed the difficulties of making the film: "I had always been told that your second feature film is the most difficult and that's something I didn't understand until now. I'm very proud of 'Advantages of Traveling by Train' but I needed to do something different to escape from its long shadow. That's why I decided to make a thriller." 'MOSCAS', like his debut feature, adapts a novel, in this case 'Que de lejos parecen las moscas' ('Like Flies From Afar') by Argentinean Kike Ferrari: "what interested me about the novel was the premise, but in this case, the adaptation work was much deeper and more complex". Meanwhile, Ernesto Alterio, colossal in his role as Luis Machi, highlighted the complexity of his character and that he had no hesitation in collaborating with Aritz Moreno again: "from the first moment I felt a very strong bond with Aritz, and in addition, the role was very intense and contained many components to be dealt with".  

On the red carpet today we had the very first international stars attending this year's edition of the Festival. The first to walk it were the trio of Quebec filmmakers RKSS, made up of Anouk Whissell, François Simard and Yoann-Karl Whissell, the people behind the modern cult classic 'Turbo Kid', one of the audience's favorites at Sitges2015. 'WAKE UP', their latest work, was presented today at the Auditori enveloped in great expectation that it more than lived up to. Another much loved star in Sitges who walked the red carpet today was Gareth Evans. In his case, he is bringing one of the most beloved movies for Sitges fans, which is also celebrating its 10th anniversary: 'THE RAID' will be screened tonight in 4K, an apotheosis screening to close the day at the Auditori in a double bill along with the brutal 'KILL' by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat. 

Another major international name attending the Festival is Mary Lambert. On Friday she already dazzled us with her red-carpet appearance and today she presented her most acclaimed film, 'PET SEMATARY', in a 4K copy that delighted all classic horror fans. In addition, after the presentation she held a Q&A with an audience totally surrendered to one of the greatest female directors in the history of horror. 

In the Òrbita section there were two particularly spectacular screenings. A crowded Auditori enjoyed Ma Dong-seok's 'slug outs in the early afternoon. ‘THE ROUNDUP: NO WAY OUT' is a new installment of "The Roundup" series, one of South Korea's most successful franchises in the last decade. Lee Sang-yong was the second Korean director to visit Sitges this year. Meanwhile, Brazilian director Daniel Bandeira's 'PROPERTY', a high-tension, claustrophobic thriller featuring the work of part of the crew that made the Festival fall in love with 'Bacurau' in 2019, was screened at the Retiro Theater.  

Meanwhile, the Panorama section offered its daily dose of horror to the bloodthirsty fans who filled the Retiro theater throughout the day.  This morning, the most daring were able to enjoy the body horror by American director Anna Zlokovic, who presented her debut feature film 'APPENDIX'. After lunch, it was the turn of another American, Alan Scott Neal, who presented 'LAST STRAW', a magnificent debut (something that's very usual this year in Sitges) that explores the survival genre. 

Beyond the movie theaters, the day was highlighted by the 13th edition of the Zombie Walk, the most terrifying undead walk in the world. The invasion started at 20:30 at MEETING, with Mary Lambert as the ultimate master of ceremonies. In addition to the march itself, zombies were the protagonists of other activities like makeup workshops, a special short film screening at MEETING and, of course, the traditional early morning zombie marathon that this year will be held at the Retiro.

Regarding Sitges Industry, the first day of the weekend was very intense. We experienced the end of the "Fantastic Geogenre" conferences with the last two round table discussions: "Women Creating Amazing Worlds" with María Luisa Pino, Montse Ribé, Mónica Murguía and Víctor Garcia as moderator; and an encounter with Mary Lambert that served to close the conference in style. In addition, Martín Hernández, Oscar-nominated sound recordist for 'Birdman' and 'The Revenant', was the protagonist of another encounter to discuss his professional career in "The Art of Sound".