Lovecraft's universe soars over Sitges with 'Color Out of Space', Richard Stanley's return

'Cuerdas (Ropes)' has its world premiere in Sitges and is the fifth Spanish debut feature presented in the Official Selection

'Yves' and 'Samurai Marathon', among the new premieres in the in competition Official Fantàstic Selection to face a mind-blowing weekend

Sam Neill, who will receive the Festival's Honorary Grand Award tomorrow, attended to media outlets at the press conference, film editor Mary Jo Markey has offered a master class on the editing of Star Wars, Katharina Kubrick presented the screening of Eyes Wide Shut In Sitges Classics, while the crews responsible for Color Out of Space and Cuerdas have walked the red carpet in the start of the final weekend, loaded with premieres, visits, presentations and industry activities. The day also had its most emotional moment with the presentation of the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award to Luis Gasca, one of the most proactive scholars and writers in Spain’s cinema and comics.

The lines around the Auditori first thing this morning confirmed the expectations created around Color Out of Space, the return to directing of filmmaker Richard Stanley, who in 1990 surprised the Sitges Festival with Hardware and returned to the Festival for the presentation of the world premiere in the Official Fantàstic Selection of this work based on the mythical by HP Lovecraft and starring Nicolas Cage, Honorary Grand Awards winner at Sitges 2018. At the press conference, Richard Stanley highlighted the cinematography work and music as a fundamental role for the audience to perceive how imperceptible the fourth dimension is with his new fiction feature film after so many years.

Another premiere, in this case worldwide, sparked the interest of the audience and the media outlets today was the fifth Spanish debut feature presented this year in the in competition Official Selection: Cuerdas (Ropes), the feature film debut directed by the Tarragona-born José Luis Montesinos, winner of the Goya for the short film El corredor. At the press conference this morning, the director and the lead actors, actress Paula del Río and Miguel Ángel Jenner talked about this work done from the freedom and effort of an independent production that admirably plays with closed spaces, horror and suspense. “It is a story of survivors where we didn’t want to veer away from reality. It is domestic terror, which can happen to anyone and that is what makes it so very interesting.

Also in the in competition Official Fantàstic Selection, the day had two more surprises to keep in mind: the presentation of Samurai Marathon, directed by Bernard Rose who came to Sitges to present this film inspired by a race that is held every year In Japan that exhibits action, epicness and intrigue, between samurais, feudal lords and infiltrated ninjas; and direct from Cannes, the extremely funny Yves, by Benoit Forgeard, the story of a smart refrigerator addicted to the song presented in Eurovision.

Today two women stole the limelight and interest at the Festival. On the one hand, Katharina Kubrick presented the screening of Eyes Wide Shut at the Prado Theater, the movie that her father shot in 1999 and that was screened this year in the Sitges Classics section. And the other moment of the day signed by a woman was the master class by this year's Official Fantastic Jury Member, Mary Jo Markey, Editing 'Star Wars VII-The Force Awakens, editor of the movie who explained the best kept secrets of the saga’s editing process.

Serial Sitges joined the great fantastic genre celebration today in all its formats and expressions. Movistar + has presented the premiere of three new episodes of Capítulo 0, the series that parodies television genres and formats, with a subsequent Q & A with the creators of the series, Joaquín Reyes and Ernesto Sevilla, and its screenwriter, Miguel Esteban. And afterwards was the presentation of Terror.app, the teen horror series from Flooxer (Atresmedia), where cell phone applications take control of teen fears, with the presence of the five lead actresses.

And tonight, with the full moon illuminating all of Sitges’ stars, will be the Festival’s eagerly awaited gastronomic event at the Òpera Bistro Sitges: Sitges Bacanal, a menu designed by Chef Albert Jubany, who reinterprets the Mad Max leitmotif in a unique experience alongside the 52^nd edition’s most exclusive guests. And meanwhile, the biggest music lovers will be enjoying the special concert by Hermann Kopp and Nightcrawler in the Melià’s Noray Marquee, a concert for lovers of the disturbing and captivating atmospheres of the horror movie soundtracks.