On October 5, the Sitges Festival will open its 56th edition with Sister death, by Paco Plaza. And until Saturday the 15th, the contest directed by Ángel Sala will be nourished by a powerful program with the best and newest of current fantasy cinema, such as poor creatures, by the Greek Yorgos Lanthimos, recently awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. This gothic fable of female empowerment with Emma Stone as a young Frankenstein eager for knowledge and sex will be in the official out-of-competition section.
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During the press conference held this afternoon at Casa Seat, Sala announced the various titles that will be part of this year’s various sections. “It will be a great tribute to cinema in theaters,” he said, accompanied by Mónica Garcia, general director of the Sitges Foundation. The closing film has yet to be revealed.
Among the films that will be part of an official section characterized by a great connection with current issues there are several Spanish productions. After Advantages of traveling by trainAritz Moreno will return with Flies, an intense thriller that begins with the discovery of a disfigured corpse tied in the trunk of the protagonist’s car. Pablo Berger will bring the lively Robot dreams, which caused a great sensation at the Cannes festival. And F. Javier Gutierrez will compete with The wait.
‘Robot dreams’, by Pablo Berger
The Pakistani in flames tells a disturbing story of oppression; Tiger Stripes focuses on bullying; Salem illustrates the situation in the French banlieus. Also from the neighboring country comes vermin, directed by Sébastien Vanicek and starring poisonous spiders. There will be big names like the veteran Takeshi Kitano with KUBI, a samurai film set in the 16th century that is “very gory and violent.” Austrian Jessica Hausner will come with her food dystopia Club Zero and from the United States it arrives Divinity“a black and white nightmare in stop motion.”
Once out of competition, they will be screened The boy and the heronthe new and long-awaited gem by Hayao Miyazaki; Awarenessby Daniel Benmayor; Blood by Brad Anderson, by Brad Anderson; either God’s bulletby Nick Cassavetes. Among the winners are Juan Antonio Bayona, who will present his latest film The Snow Society and will receive the Time Machine award, an award that will also go to director and animator Lee Unkrich, Oscar winner for toy Story 3 and Coconut and who will also offer his research on The glowand the Japanese director Hideo Nakata, author of the cult film The ring.
‘The Snow Society’, by JA Bayona
On the other hand, the Honorary Awards will go to Phil Tippet, master of stop motion and winner of two Oscars as supervisor of the special effects of Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Parkand Jan Harlan, executive producer of Stanley Kubrick films.
Ángel Sala has remembered the late William Friedkin, “a luxury guest at the 50th edition” and his famous The Exorcist, “the most vomited film in the history of cinema”, which has now celebrated half a century since its release and which will be seen at the fantastic film festival in 4K version. Same as the long version of The glow. Sitges will also have a powerful selection of documentaries such as the Spanish Women without censorshipby Eva Vizcarra, or Living with Chuckyabout the saga of the diabolical doll.
Shelley Duvall in ‘The Shining’
The series also have their place in Sitges. Álex de la Iglesia will present season two of 30 coins and it will be seen Romance, Amazon Prime horror series with Belén Cuesta and Alba Flores, inspired by the universe of García Lorca. Alberto de Toro and Javier Ruiz Caldera will do the same with The other sidehorror comedy with Berto Romero.
The Órbita section will be full of Korean titles and will showcase Black flies, with Sean Penn, seen in Cannes. Noves Visions turns twenty years old and its thematic axis will be very fantastic, with titles starring vampires and a tribute to The contempt, by Godard. Panorama, dedicated to hard core horror fans, will screen ghost and exorcism stories such as The Eastfield Exorcism, Blackoutor the Mexican Rage.
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