Sitges2024 Pays Tribute to Master Mike Flanagan

It's Sunday, but the 57th SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia never rests and honors the master of contemporary horror, Mike Flanagan, with  the Honorary Time Machine Award while he presents his latest project with Kate Siegel, V/H/S/Beyond. Domestic audiovisual production had a leading role today thanks to the return of Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia to Sitges with Rich Flu and the preview of the third season of The Head. 

Nothing better than spending Sunday with the family. Audiences of all ages were able to enjoy many of today's screenings, starting with the special screening in the Anima't section of the feature film Fox & Hare Save the Forest, a 3D tale where Dutch filmmaker Mascha Halberstad, director of the acclaimed Oink, narrates the odyssey of two best friends in search of a missing owl. Immediately afterwards, the Prado welcomed Night of the Zoopocalypse, a colorful apocalypse caused by a meteorite that turns animals into mutant slimy zombies, the first collaboration between Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro.

Animated cinema also seems to have marked the day in the Official Fantàstic In Competition Selection, as the Auditori was able to enjoy the Japanese film Ghost Cat Anzu, a friendship with a Ghibli aura where Nobuhiro Yamashita and Yoko Kuno have managed to choreograph one of the best anime films of the year. Today the Selection had a double helping of Asian cinema, because arriving from China -this time in live action- was Li Yang's Escape from the 21st Century , an amusing tale about time travel that explores coming of age narratives through the filter of science fiction.

Today we celebrated the return to the Festival of some more than recognized names in the Official Fantàstic In Competition Selection. Following the success of The Platform at the 2019 edition, becoming the first domestic production to single-handedly win the award for Best Picture at the Festival, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia returns home with his new project, Rich Flu. On this occasion, the Basque filmmaker proposes a dystopia where a deadly virus begins to infect the wealthiest layers of society, wiping out millionaires in its wake. At the press conference prior to the screening at the Auditori, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia explained what it was like to return to reflect the current socioeconomic problems through the codes of genre: “If these recent crises have taught us anything, it's that the richest are always immune to their consequences; we wanted to reverse that”. He argues that the second part of the film needed a radical change of tone in order to respect the subject matter being depicted, even though “we are aware that many viewers would have preferred to continue with the more casual tone of the first part”. “We were supposed to come out of the pandemic as better people, but we all know that this was not the case”, said Gaztelu-Urrutia to close the press conference.

Also returning to this selection are Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the directors responsible for Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge. The Auditori was able to enjoy their new film, The Devil's Bath, an unsettling experience about female unease inspired by real events. It was precisely this screening that provided the highlight of the day: the presentation of the Honorary Time Machine Award to American filmmaker and showrunner Mike Flanagan for his unquestionable contribution to the genre audiovisual industry, both in film and television. But an awards ceremony wasn't enough to celebrate such an important event for the Festival. That's why the international premiere of V/H/S/Beyond, the new installment of the horror anthology saga -this time oriented towards cosmic horror- in which Flanagan participates as screenwriter of the episode directed by Kate Siegel, also took place today, this time at the Escorxador. Also directing episodes are filmmakers Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Christian Long, Justin Long, Justin Martinez and Virat Pal.

For years now, the Sitges Film Festival has been committed to series as the ideal medium for portraying nightmares, no matter what genre they are. Tramuntana proved it once again with the screening of the first two episodes of the third season of The Head, the international franchise from The Mediapro Studio. A daring experiment and five human guinea pigs are the only elements needed for this series directed by Jorge Dorado and starring John Lynch, Katharine O'Donnelly and Clara Galle to keep us glued to our seats. The project's team attended the press conference to talk to us about the difficulties of an always extreme shooting: “The biggest challenge was shooting in the middle of the Sahara Desert, each season takes place in a wild space where the location is the first thing that activates the storyline”, said the director. John Lynch, on whether he considers himself the villain or the hero of this story, acknowledges that his character “thinks he's a savior, but he's capable of doing anything for what he believes is right; I think he's the villain, but he would think that I am”. Regarding the references that mobilize the project, Dorado said that “I wanted to make sure that the audience understood that we knew John Carpenter's The Thing and that we were making a very different fiction, as much as we love the film”. 

The new Official Sitges Collection Section continues to present us with the best in current horror, on this occasion with the screening of ICK at the Auditori. Joseph Kahn, who has directed music videos for artists like Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Britney Spears or Lenny Kravitz, exposes us to another strange substance -no, this time it's not Coralie Fargeat- in this fast-paced tribute to The Blob and The Faculty that was crying out to be enjoyed on the big screen. Also worthy of highlighting was the revival of Fritz Kiersch's Children of the Corn, an iconic and festive cross between American gothic and folk horror based on a Stephen King story. As if the rediscovery of this American horror classic weren't enough reason for celebration, the screening was attended by Courtney Gains and John Franklin. Also magical was the presence of Antonio Díaz, better known as El Mago Pop, this magician who appeared this morning at the Auditori to pull out of his hat the world premiere of El Mago Pop Lands in USA, a documentary by Víctor Subirana about the ambitious adventure of exporting his show “Nada Es Imposible” to Broadway.

There are few better places for a “Sunday stroll” than all the spaces that the Festival offers you to enjoy between films. Remember that FOODTASTIC, an area where you can enjoy the best gastronomy at any time, ideal when free time between films is short, is now up and running. You can also visit the FANSHOP, a space where you can buy all kinds of merchandise related to horror movies. Rodatge Maleït, the free "passage of terror" that this year repeats in the MIRAMAR CULTURAL CENTER and that will be open every day of the Festival, is still available for all those brave enough to walk through it. We invite you to keep up to date with all the parallel activities here.