The Baztán's new child grows up in Sitges along with the fantastic genre's young talent honored in the Blood Red Carpet

'Le daim', 'Come to Daddy', 'The Cleansing Hour', 'The Wild Goose Lake',  'Huachicolero', and 'Swallow', today’s long-awaited premieres

The Blood Red Carpet's award ceremony was backed this year by Goya Toledo, one of the most internationally applauded Spanish actresses

Eight photocalls, two press conferences and two red carpets on an intense Thursday that, in addition to a long list of presentations in the Festival’s different sections, enjoyed the world premiere of Legado en los huesos starring Marta Etura and Imanol Arias, the genre projects that will soon become a reality were presented in Sitges Coming Soon and the Blood Red Carpet’s fresh young fantastic genre talent took center stage at a Sitges that closed out the day celebrating the excellent health of genre films at the eagerly awaited Mistinguett party, held overlooking the sea at ??the Vivero Beach Club.

Today, the Festival become the stage for world premieres, presentations of films eagerly awaited by all fantastic genre fans and the day that each year, Sitges dedicates to promising genre talent with the celebration of the fifth edition of the Blood Red Carpet. The rainy morning began with the press conference for Legado en los huesos, the second installment of the successful Baztán literary trilogy (El guardián invisible, Legado en los huesos y Ofrenda a la tormenta) by Dolores Redondo. The film, directed once again by Fernando González Molina (Palm Trees in the Snow, Brain Drain), who is also in charge of the third and final part of the saga, retraces the steps of Inspector Amaia Salazar (Marta Etura ) in a film with high doses and suspense that puts the calmest nerves to the test. Etura is joined by Leonardo Sbaraglia, Imanol Arias, Ana Wagener and Francesc Orella in this thriller that will be resolved in theaters at the end of next year. As its producer, Adrián Guerra, commented this morning, we shot the second and third installments of the trilogy at the same time, in 19 weeks with no chronological order, the first time this has been done in Spain. Marta Etura spoke about changes in roles and in society and that women are finally part of the job market, as in the case of her character in the film, who goes through an intense change and faces problems with an even greater strength as a result of her new motherhood. In this regard, González Molina emphasized that this evolution of the character has been reflected in a second installment that is more open and emotional than the previous one, in an action thriller where the characters' stories become important.

A complete and intense day in Sitges where the fresh new fantasy genre film talent was seen on its streets. On the one hand, with Sitges Coming Soon, the section where genre projects which will soon become a reality are presented, and where, among other clips, Baby was presented, produced by the Basque filmmaker Juanma Bajo Ulloa, and Orígenes secretos, presented by Antonio Resines. And on the other hand, today was the fifth anniversary of the Blood Red Carpet program. This program, promoting the Festival’s talented young actors and a pioneer in the entire country, selects two young actresses, two young actors and two young filmmakers who have shown a promising career in their country of origin to be presented to the industry and to the international media outlets. At this edition, the selected candidates were actresses Claudia Trujillo and Mireia Oriol, actors David Solans and Pol Monen, and in the directors section, Rudy Riverón and Sergi Páez. During the day, they were accompanied by the international casting directors Nancy Bishop and Stéphane Foenkinos, invited to meet the young actors and finally, at 6 p.m., following a busy red carpet appearance, they received their awards at the Auditori as future promises from the hands of Goya Toledo, godmother of the gala, before the screening of Le daim (Deerskin).

In the in-competition Official Fantàstic selection today, was the presentation of five films eagerly awaited by all of the Festival’s followers. From France, Quentin Dupieux’s latest production, Le daim (Deerskin), was presented, one of the big hits at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and one of the French films with this year’s best reviews, which confirmed the director’s loyalty to Sitges. We also got to see the directorial debut of Ant Timpson-the Kiwi producer of ABCs of Death, Turbo Kid or The Greasy Strangler- with Come to Daddy, a black comedy starring Elijah Wood that explores the surreal experience of having lived with your fathers’ dead body in a long interment of seven days. Another long awaited surprise was the presentation of The Cleansing Hour, where director Damien LeVeck and co-screenwriter Aaron Horwitz adapt their original short is a piece of demons and exorcisms between millennials and entrepreneurs.

Thriller and horror were also featured in the selection. Swallow, the film directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis, constructs a dark thriller revolving around the body, based on a disorder that will lead the protagonist to a transformation that’s hard to digest. And in Les particules (Particles), the Franco-Swiss production directed by Blaise Harrison, it’s clear that being in the midst of adolescence and, at the same time, surrounded by the largest particle accelerator in the world isn’t the best option to cross through this highly complex age.

In the Òrbita Section, we finally had the chance to see Huachicolero, directed by Edgar Nito, a reflection on the social reality of Mexico and the big winner at the Tribeca Festival in New York, as well as the long-awaited The Wild Goose Lake, directed by Diao Yinan, at a special screening, a movie with a frenetic and stylized rhythm that Quentin Tarantino stood up to applaud at the Cannes Festival.