The fantastic fable and adrenaline coexist at Sitges 2018

?Happy as Lazzaro? and ?Nancy? bring polyhedral visions to the Official Selection, while ?Dragged Across Concrete? shatters political correction

Sitges 2018 reaches the halfway point of its space odyssey on a day marked by activities dedicated to the audiovisual industry, the meeting of de fantastic film festivals and the screenings of the fantastic fable Happy as Lazzaro and the mystery drama Nancy, in the Official Selection, plus the American film Dragged Across Concrete and the Filipino movie BuyBust in the Órbita Section.

In the times of political correction we live in, where racists comments, brutality or openly sexist stances are usually avoided, it?s a real treat to be able see a film at a Festival like Dragged Across Concrete, the most recent audiovisual adventure conceived by American filmmaker S. Craig Zhaler, who last year presented Brawl in Cell Block 99 in Sitges. Only a director like him is capable of shooting a film featuring two corrupt cops, the magnificent Mel Gibson and Vince Vaugh, who become victims due to the twisted methods they use. The movie was seen as part of the Órbita Section, which today also presented BuyBust, a descent into the underworld of drugs, shot by Filipino filmmaker Erik Matti.

Following yesterday?s première of the first episode of the 9^th season of The Walking Dead, coinciding with its premiere in the United States, Greg Nicotero, creator of special effects, producer and director of some of the series? episodes, confessed that ?when I received the Time Machine Award in Sitges in 2005, I didn?t know why they were giving it to me. It was as of the moment I received the award that my career took off and brought me to here?. Greg Nicotero referred to the direction that the storyline of The Walking Dead is taking: ?we want to get back to the roots that made the series so big among fans. Returning to seasons like the second, third or fourth, where the relationships between characters were the episodes? main storyline?. In a convo with a devoted audience, Nicotero hinted that the series still has a way to go: ?We haven?t discussed shutting it down yet. There are more characters and storylines to come?.

The Official Selection had a feminine accent with the screenings of Happy as Lazzaro and Nancy. From Italy comes Happy as Lazzaro, the third film by screenwriter and filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher, which delighted Cannes, where she picked up the award for best screenplay. It?s a film that?s halfway between a tale, magical realism, social drama and science fiction. Tomorrow, actor Sergi López will be at the Festival for the film?s presentation at the Retiro. Meanwhile, Nancy is the debut film by American director Christina Choe ?that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival early this year?, featuring a woman who spends her time inventing Internet personalities.

Today was completed with the celebration of the General Assembly of the European Association of Fantastic Film Festivals, which promotes the visibility of genre films not only in Europe, but all around the world. The event also dealt with the educational uses of the audiovisual sector within the law at the roundtable Pirate Schools. Also today, Festival Director Ángel Sala met with the VIP Seat audience, a great exchange of experiences.