Christmas Comes Early to Sitges2024 with the Arrival of The Substance and Terrifier 3
The second day of the 57th edition of the SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia was bathed in blood with the arrival of Coralie Fargeat's The Substance and Damien Leone's Terrifier 3, two of the year's most eagerly awaited genre films. Mike Flanagan turned down the volume at the Prado with his Hush - The “Shush” Cut and orchestrated, along with Mick Garris, a marathon for series addicts in Brigadoon with the screening of The Stand. Domestic fantastic genre also joined the party with the arrival of Mariposas Negras (Black Butterflies) at the Festival.
The Sitges red carpet had never been redder. Blood gushed out of the Auditori thanks to a historic double bill, an unbridled diptych ideal for any Festival fan. In its first ever screening, the new Sitges Collection Official Section presented The Substance, an explosion of body horror that explores the archetype of the doppelganger from the perspective of the Z movie and the celebrity universe. After causing genuine mass hysteria at the recent edition of the Cannes Film Festival and taking home the award for Best Screenplay there, this cinematic roller coaster with echoes of Dorian Grey brings Coralie Fargeat back to Sitges after winning the award for Best Director and Best New Director in 2017 with Revenge.
Before walking the red carpet, the filmmaker spoke to us at the press conference about her fond memories of her previous visit to the Festival: “At genre film festivals, movies are seen in a different way, much more honestly”. Regarding her experience working with Demi Moore, Fargeat was aware that The Substance was a very complicated project “because the film confronts all actresses with their worst phobia, but Demi connected so thoroughly with the story I wanted to build; reading her autobiography I understood that she has always been an actress in love with taking risks”. In this regard, she stated that “even though they are very different, both films seek to capture, on screen, the difficulties of existing as a woman; without Revenge, The Substance couldn't exist”. She says that she's delighted to think that with Demi Moore, she achieved something similar to what Tarantino did with Travolta in Pulp Fiction: “Simply because she deserves it more than anyone else”.
Amazingly enough, the Auditori didn't crumble to the ground following the screening of The Substance, which made it possible to offer the special screening of the third installment of Terrifier, the most iconic gore saga in recent years. Damien Leone, who appeared on the red carpet alongside actors David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera and Samantha Scaffidi, returns behind the camera to complete the Art the Clown triptych with a visceral, but no less bloody and grotesque Christmas episode. This bitter festival of merciless deaths to the rhythm of sweet Christmas carols revolutionized a Sitges audience for whom Santa Claus seems to have delivered an early present this year.
And when we say, "a gift", we mean several. Mike Flanagan, an essential filmmaker and showrunner in today's genre audiovisual industry, landed in Sitges today. The father of nightmares like The Haunting of Hill House, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Doctor Sleep or Oculus will be accepting the Honorary Time Machine Award on Sunday. But until then, this American filmmaker has treated us today to two unbeatable celebrations today.
The Prado was left speechless with the screening of Hush, a feature length film directed by Flanagan in 2016 that arrives in Sitges with its “Shush Cut”. This peculiar home invasion movie -which was one of the filmmaker's first collaborations with Kate Siegel-tellsthe story of a young deaf and mute horror novel writer who will be stalked by a serial killer. The screening was followed by a Q&A where the audience was able to chat with the creators of this muted nightmare. A few hours earlier, Flanagan made a stop at the Llevant Room to present, along with filmmaker and podcaster Mick Garris, the marathon screening of The Stand, a series that could be seen in its entirety as part of Brigadoon.
The Sitges Collection Official Section also welcomed its first domestic participant in its history. The Auditori was able to enjoy Mariposas Negras (Black Butterflies), a beautiful and alarming animated odyssey that tells the story of three exoduses forced by global warming. Its director, David Baute, the man behind documentaries such as Milagros and Climate Exodus, spoke to the press today along with composer Diego Navarro and its producer Edmon Rock. Regarding the decision to hybridize documentary and animation, the filmmaker defended the need to “make use of the powerful tool of animation to bring to life what reality hasn't allowed you to film". Rock emphasized the universality of the story, and, in response, Navarro spoke about the difficulty of capturing that territorial immensity in a soundtrack. “The score seeks to capture a neutral and feminine voice with the goal of narrating the story musically, but also universally”, said the composer. The producer believes that there is still a need to defend animation as an adult medium. “This is changing, animation is becoming more and more accepted as a language”, says Rock. Animation once again had a fantastic day, as today the latest short film by Don Hertzfeldt, director of It's Such a Beautiful Day and World of Tomorrow, who returns with his existentialist minimalism in the sci-fi musical odyssey ME, was screened as part of Noves Visions.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, a moving documentary about the film career and personal life of the best Clark Kent in history. The film, directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, wasn’t the only documentary that could be enjoyed today, as the Prado said good morning to us with the screening of Ishiro Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director by Jonathan Bellés, a portrait of the father of kaiju eiga and one of the most important Japanese directors of his generation, which could be enjoyed in a double bill with a 4K remastering of Godzilla, his masterpiece. Also presented was Realm of Satan, Scott Cummings ' entry into feature film format with an atypical documentary that immersed the Escorxador in the mysterious Church of Satan.
At the Auditori, the Official In Competition Selection unearthed a crude depiction of two workers who collect roadkill. Bury Your Dead marked the return of Brazilian filmmaker Marco Dutra to the Official Selection after doing so with his Good Manners in 2011. Meanwhile, the parallel sections also brought some more than familiar faces to the Festival. Cristian Ponce, director of one of the biggest phenomena at the 2021 edition of the Festival, History of the Occult, returned to Sitges with A Mother's Embrace, a survival horror movie set in 1996 that he presented today at the Escorxador. The Prado hosted the screening of The Hyperboreans, the latest from the duo behind the stop motion sleep paralysis that are The Wolf House and Los huesos, where Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León choreograph a hallucination with neo-Nazi esotericism, puppets and artificial intelligence. And we can't forget Miguel Llansó, the director who brought us Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway, who today unveiled his latest project, Infinite Summer, a transhumanist mystery orchestrated by the techno-mystic Dr. Mindfulness.
Parallel activities also picked up the pace during this second day of the Festival, offering visitors leisure options to enjoy with the whole family. At Miramar - Cultural Center, the SITGES FAMILY cycle of screenings began today, a space where genre film doesn't discriminate against the youngest members of the family. In the afternoon, Sincopat by Pol Diggler, Cuadrilátero by Daniel Rodríguez Risco and fantastic short film screenings offered young moviegoers a scary time as part of the Sitges Family / Fantastic Kids lineup. For the slightly older ones, the screening of Kim Min-ha 's Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary served as a rite of passage into horror movies for the beginner audience in Sitges Family / Fantastic Teen lineup. These two lines of screenings will continue to offer films throughout the Festival, so we recommend you take a close look at their lineup. In addition to the movies, as of today the youngest members of the audience will also be able to attend the Fantastic Kids make-up workshop located at the Palau Rei Moro. We invite you to keep up to date with all the parallel activities here.
And of course, we can't forget the presentation of the two official books at this year's Sitges Film Festival: La feria de las sombras. Fantasmagorias, fenómenos y circos en el cine de terror (The Fair of Shadows. Phantasmagorias, Freaks and Circuses in Horror Movies) by VVAA, coordinated by Ángel Sala and Jordi Sánchez Navarro; and Horror Girls. WomanInFan Europe, coordinated by Mónica García, both published by Editorial Hermenaute. The event was presented by Ángel Sala, Mónica García, Jordi Sánchez Navarro and Luis Rueda this afternoon in the FNAC tent, located in front of the Melià Hotel. As of today, this venue will host many other book presentations, which you can consult here.