With the 48th Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia a mere week away, this morning Festival Director Àngel Sala, accompanied by Ferran Mascarell, Minister of Culture for the Catalonian autonomous government’s Generalitat, and Miquel Forns, Mayor of Sitges, introduced the latest additions and developments for this year’s Festival.
Running from the 9th until the 18th of October, this year’s festival promises an authentic banquet of diverse genre film expressions and trends from all corners of the globe. Something regular Sitges attendees can confirm is that the festival consistently serves up a veritable kaleidoscope, bringing together renowned names with long track records in genre and up and coming filmmakers and this year will be no different. The Festival – adding a new cinema and extending the number of screens this year – will also become a rendezvous for the Catalan film industry, providing opportunities for production proposals presented by young filmmakers.
Sitges 2015’s line-up includes some of the most authentic horror from around the world, represented by some of the latest American productions and fantastic genre projects emerging from countries that have firmly established themselves as true genre powerhouses. The festival will be showcasing the latest trends in Asian fantasy genre and the new wave of American B movies, as well as a complete selection of Catalan genre productions. The Festival’s multidisciplinary ethos is topped off with a wide variety of sections that include a painstakingly selected range of documentaries and the best TV shows the goggle box has to offer of late.
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Sitges 2015 pays tribute to the film Seven, the star of the poster for the 48th edition, the psycho thriller by David Fincher that set a precedent by magnificently combining the crime film genre with horror. To mark the occasion, the Festival has published the book “Seven. Los pecados de David Fincher” (Seven, David Fincher’s Sins), with contributions from various authors and which addresses the influence the film has had on horror and thrillers in recent years.
The whopping grand total of 169 films making up this year’s sections feature names that are a firm guarantee when it comes to genre cinema. This is certainly the case with the likes of Alex van Warmerdam, Takashi Miike, S. Craig Zahler, Can Evrenol, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Marcin Wrona, Andrzej Zulawski, André Turpin, Robert Carlyle, Patricia Rozema, Cédric Anger, Ryoo Seung-wan, Terry Jones, Paolo Sorrentino, Charlie Kaufman, Takeshi Kitano, Rick Alverson, Joe Begos, Sebastian Schipper or Jaco Van Dormael. The Festival will be screening films lovingly nurtured by these masters starring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Kurt Russell, Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Ewan McGregor, Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Bacon, Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenneger, Taissa Farmiga, Sam Rockwell, Robert Carlyle, Emma Thompson, Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, Elijah Wood, Robert Pattinson, Vincent Cassel, Joseph Fiennes, Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, Ron Perlman, Mads Mikkelsen, Winona Ryder and Eva Green, to name but a mere few.
The Festival’s cinematic indulgence will be rounded out with a wide variety of cultural activities and events, new venues and the debut of a new cinema: the Tramuntana Room. This venue has been added to the other three regular cinemas: the Auditori, the Retiro and the Prado. Said venue – which, up until now, hosted presentations and side events – has been fitted out as a cinema and will play host to a significant number of screenings, as well as some essential master classes. In addition to these four cinemas, the Festival has also included other venues for screenings and events: the Escorxador (hosting, once more, the Brigadoon section, presenting 46 feature length films and 40 shorts), the Hotel Avenida Sofía (hosting two different Serial Sitges sessions, sponsored by FNAC), Maricel Palace (presenting a Game of Thrones special), the Movistar+ Zone (a free venue down at La Fragata Square with various screenings over the opening weekend of the Festival) and Hort de Can Falç (which, for the third year in a row, will be having free, al fresco screenings on both weekends).
An open door to industry and universities:
This year, Sitges debuts four initiatives aimed at highlighting its role as a rendezvous for the film industry and Catalan talent. On the one hand, Sitges Pitchbox has been curated as a tool for the Festival and the Filmarket Hub platform, offering opportunities for possible feature length genre productions and for which 170 projects have been signed up. On the other, the Industry Meeting Point – installed at Hotel Melià – will pool together actions and initiatives by Catalan professionals and industrialists. At the same time, the Blood Window Red Carpet this year brings a panel of actors and actresses with an international trajectory, selected by a jury from the Catalan Film Academy, the Catalan Association of Professional Actors and Directors of Catalonia and industry professionals. And finally, this year’s Festival debuts the Sitges Campus 2015, a forum on thrillers in collaboration with Catalan universities and film schools.
For the third year running, Sitges will be holding the ESCAC Week, a programme of activities and screenings where hundreds of film school students participate as part of the Festival. This experience will allow them to appreciate this artistic and industry-related event from the inside, as accredited Sitges Festivalgoers, providing insight into international fantasy genre filmmaking and participation in Spain’s professional network.
And just like every other year, the Festival will also host the SGAE Nova Autoria screenings, a selection of short films by Catalan film and audiovisual schools that are eligible for the SGAE Nova Autoria Awards for best screenplay, best director and best music.
Catalan Productions
Once again the 48th Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is committed to Catalan productions and is a gateway for the latest national genre projects. Six Catalan productions are included in the Sitges 2015 line-up: The Corpse of Ana Fritz, Vulcania, Segon Origen (Second Origin), Summer Camp, La Novia and Sacramento.
So that’s what’s going to be happing in just one week’s time and we’ll be there to report all the shenanigans so keep watching this space. Now, without further a do, take a look at the guest list that can best be described as behemothic:
JURIES AND AWARDS GUESTS
Official Fantàstic Jury
Jarod Neece (producer)
Kier La-Janisse (producer)
Carlos Areces (actor)
Javier Ruiz Caldera (director)
Fernando Ronchese (director)
Noves Visions Jury
Evrim Ersoy (director)
Alexandre Philippe (director)
Toni Espinosa (producer)
Blood Window / Panorama Jury
Tom Davia (producer)
Romain Roll (actor)
Nicolás López (director)
Meliès Jury
Luis Rosales (critic)
Uri Aviv (director)
Manuel Carballo (director)
Focus Àsia – Anima’t Jury
Jongsuk Thomas Nam (programmer)
Pierce Conran (producer)
Me Me Lai (actress)
Òrbita Jury
Giorgio Gosetti (journalist)
Josep Parera (critic)
Brigadoon Jury
Mónica Murguía (makeup artist)
Víctor García (director)
Omar Parra (programmer)
Phonetàstic Jury
Can Evrenol (director)
Thierry Philips (director Liège Festival)
Domingo López (critic)
Grand Honorary Award
Oliver Stone (director)
Time Machine Award
Nicolas Winding Refn (director)
Rick Baker (F/X specialist)
Andrzej Zulawski (director)
Sion Sono (director)
Terry Jones (director)
Honorary Maria Award
Simon Yam (actor)
Nosferatu Award
Rossana Yanni (actress)
FILM LINE-UP GUESTS
The Witch
Robert Eggers (director)
Anya Taylor-Joy (actress)
Short Nivel 7
Santiago Segura (director)
Enrique Villén (actor)
Baskin
Can Evrenol (director)
Muge Buyuktalas (producer)
The Hallow
Corin Hardy (director)
Joe Neurater (producer)
Knock Knock
Eli Roth (director)
Yakuza Apocalypse
Takashi Miike (director)
Misako Saka (producer)
Shigeji Maeda (producer)
Hideaki Iwamoto (producer)
Love
Gaspar Noé (director)
We are Still Here
Ted Geoghegan (director)
The Invitation
Karyn Kusama (director)
Phil Hay (producer)
Le tout noveau testament
Jaco Van Dormael (director)
The Boy
Craig William Macneill (director)
Endorphine
André Turpin (director)
Luc Dery (producer)
Kim McGraw (producer)
The Devil’s Candy
Sean Byrne (director)
Vulcania
José Skaf (director)
José Sacristán (actor)
Aura Garrido (actress)
Miquel Fernández (actor)
Ginés García Millán (actor)
Ana Wagener (actress)
Sílvia Abril (actress)
David Matamoros (producer)
Ángeles Hernández (producer)
Gerard Rodríguez (producer)
Bone Tomahawk
S. Craig Zahler (director)
Frankenstein
Bernard Rose (director)
Turbo Kid
François Simard (director)
Anouk Whissell (director)
Yoann-Karl Whissell (director)
Benoit Beaulieu (producer)
The Gift
Edu Grau (cinematographer)
Ludo
Quashiq Mukherjee (director)
Victoria
Laia Costa (actress)
What We Become
Bo Mikkelsen (director)
Louis Tisné (producer)
Troels Lyby (actor)
The Survivalist
Stephen Fingleton (director)
The Corpse of Anna Fritz
Héctor Hernández Vicens (director)
Xavier Atance (producer)
Albert Carbó (actor)
Alba Ribas (actress)
Cristian Valencia (actor)
Bernat Samuel (actor)
Oriol Maymó (producer)
Alberto Aranda (producer)
Marta Carbó (producer)
Summer Camp
Alberto Marini (director)
Andrés Velencoso (actor)
Maiara Walsh (actress)
Àlex Monner (actor)
Jaume Balagueró (producer)
Absolutely Anything
Terry Jones (director)
Bemn Timlett (producer)
Green Room
Jeremy Saulnier (director)
Cop Car
Jon Watts (director)
Martyrs
Kevin Goetz (director)
Michael Goetz (director)
Segon Origen
Carles Porta (director)
Oscar Rodríguez (producer)
Andrés Batista (actor)
Ibrahim Mané (actor)
Blood Red Carpet
Suzane Smith (casting director)
Juliette Ménager (casting director)
Vicky Luengo (actress)
Laia Costa (actress)
Alejo Saura (actor)
Álvaro Cervantes (actor)
Peter Vives (actor)
Godeliv Van der Brandt (actress)
Into The Forest
Patricia Rozema (director)
Niv Fichman (producer)
La próxima vez apuntaré al corazón
Cédric Anger (director)
Slow West
John McLean (director)
Mr. Right
Paco Cabezas (director)
Max Landis (screenwriter)
Jeruzalem
Rotem Levim (producer)
Nir Miretzky (producer)
Brand New U
Simon Pummell (director)
Janine Marmot (producer)
The Pack
Michael Robertson (producer)
El eslabón podrido (The Rotten Link)
Valentín Javier Diment (director)
Sebastián Cortés (screenwriter)
Macarena García Lenzi (producer)
The Demolisher
Tianna Nori (actress)
Los Parecidos
Isaac Ezban (director)
Alena
Daniel DiGrado (director)
Alexander Rönnberg (producer)
Amalia Holm (actress)
Felice Jankell (actress)
Rebecka Nyman (actress)
Molly Nutley (actress)
Kim W. Andersson (screenwriter)
Inner Demon
Ursula Dabrowsky (director)
Sarah Jeavons (actress)
The Mind’s Eye
Joe Begos (director)
Nina Forever
Ben Blaine (director)
Chris Blaine (director)
The Shelter
John Fallon (director)
Night Fare
Julien Seri (director)
Pascal Sid (screenwriter)
Writer’s Retreat
Chris Fairbank (actor)
Robert Muston (producer)
Dan Lincoln (film editor)
Goddess of Love
Alexis Kendra (actress and screenwriter)
Smoke and Mirrors
Tom Savini (F/X specialist)
Lost Souls
Richard Stanley (actor)
I am Your Father
Toni Bestard (director)
Marcos Cabotá (director)
Paula Serra Magrané (producer)
Miquel Verd Cañellas (producer)
Diana de la Cuadra (production manager)
Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World
Sandra Beretta (producer)
Entertainment / The Comedy
Rick Alverson (director)
Der Nachtmahr
Akiz (director)
Blind Sun
Joyce A. Nashawati (director)
Vincent Brançon (producer)
Lionel Gudej (producer)
Francesca
Luciano Onetti (director)
Nicolás Onetti (producer)
Juan María Onetti (actor)
Evangelina Goitia (actress)
Ni le ciel ni la terre
Clement Cogitore (director)
Haruko’s Paranormal Laboratory
Lisa Takeba (director)
Lace Crater
Harrison Atkins (director)
Evolution
Lucile Hadzihalilovic (director)
Sacramento
Carlos Cañeque (director)
Maite Grau (art director)
Fermí Reixach (actor)
Tony Corvillo (actor)
Angelica
Mitchell Lichtenstein (director)
Joyce Pierpoline (producer)
The Maidroid
No Zin-Soo (director)
La novia
Paula Ortiz (director)
Leticia Dolera (actress)
Imma Cuesta (actress)
Alex Lafuente (producer)
Luisa Gavasa (actress)
Anabel
Antonio Trashorras (director)
Extraordinary Tales
Raúl García (director)
The Thief & The Cobbler
Richard Williams (director)
Imogen Sutton (producer)
The Crimson Whale
Hyemi Park (director)
Dyke Hard
Bitte Andersson (director)
Ninja War of Torakage
Yoshishiro Nishimura (director)
Takumi Saito (actor)
Bite
Chad Archibald (director)
Christopher Giroux (producer)
Cody Calahan (producer)
Bite
Alberto Sciamma (director)
Deathgasm
Jason Lei Howden (director)
Sarah Howden (producer)
Sendero
Lucio AQ. Rojas (director)
Andrea García-Huidobro (actress)
Stung
Benni Díez (director)
Benjamin Munz (producer)
German Angst
Michael Kosakowski (director)
Andreas Marschall (writer/director)
Andrea Staerke (producer)
Darkside Witches
Gerard Diefenthal (director)
Simone Jacoella (producer)
Haman
Tetsuya Okabe (director)
Nonoka Baba (actress)
Yumi Hasegawa (cinematographer)
Soledad Miranda
Pepe Flores (director)
Paco Millán (director)
Francisco Prieto López (producer)
Point Zero
Arthur Cauras (director)
Cédric Hachard (producer)
Jirón
Christian Cueva (director)
Fury
Kevin A. McCarthy (director)
Freak Out
Boaz Armoni (director)
Amit Ginton (editor)
Endtime
Yotam Ishay (actor)
The Simon’s Jigsaw
Luís Esquinas (director)
Ninja Eliminator 4
Mathieu Berthon (director)
Umbra
Brin Tilly (director)
Go to Sleep
Javier Barberá (director)
Alien Inside
Alfonso García López (director)
Djävulen
Francisco González Prada (director)
Javier González Prada (director)
Caradecaballo
Marc Martínez Jordán (director)
La Hora del Baño (Bathtime)
Eduardo Casanova (director)
Jealousy
David Barrera (director)
Silente
Paco Ruiz (director)
Secuestro
Blanca Portillo (actress)
