EURO BEAT: L'Etrange Festival Brings Horror to Paris, Plus Jean-Paul Belmondo Returns

September is shaping up to be a big month for genre fans in Paris. Not only will Pascal Laugier's (Martyrs) new film The Tall Man finally open at the beginning of the month, but the genre-celebration L'Etrange Festival will kick off September 6. Based on the initial lineup, it looks like it will bringing enough blood, guts and visions of the bizarre to make up for the rest of the year, which finds Paris cinemas more or less devoid of quality genre fare.

This year's festival includes a tribute to experimental film master Kenneth Anger, who will be given his own "carte blanche" program. It will also include a conversation between Anger and one of his biggest fans, Nicolas Winding Refn. Other guests include Ben Wheatley (whose latest, Sightseers, will screen along with Kill List and Down Terrace), Jan Kounen and Alexendar Vartanov.

The program is rounded out by a handful of international premieres including Juan Carlos Medina's Insensibles and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's Los Chidos, as well as a slew of acclaimed titles which have been playing festivals around the world, including Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral, Iron Sky and Soi Cheang's Motorway. Dredd will close things out. I'll be doing full coverage on the festival for ScreenAnarchy, so stay tuned! Scroll to the bottom of the page for the full lineup.

In Brief

Jean Paul-Belmondo, probably best known internationally for his iconic role in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, is getting ready to reunite with director Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman) for the film One-Armed Bandit. This will be Belmondo's fourth collaboration with Lelouch, following Les Miserables, Journey of a Spoiled Child and Love is a Funny Thing.

Still bummed about that Total Recall remake? So is Paul Verhoeven. Fortunately for us though, he still did a wise, hilarious interview with GQ upon the release of the film. My favorite moment:

GQ: Total Recall, Starship Troopers, and RoboCop are all being remade. Do you feel vindicated?
Paul Verhoeven: I feel completely depressed.

You and me both, Paul.

(DARK KNIGHT RISES SPOILER ALERT!!!) Most French newspapers and websites are currently obsessed with this Tumblr account making fun of the way Marion Cotillard dies in The Dark Knight Rises. And honestly, if you're killing time at work or home, there are worse ways to spend a few minutes. Have a look at People Dying like Marion Cotillard.

Box Office

No awards for guessing that The Dark Knight Rises dominated pretty much every European territory last frame, including the UK ($48 million to date), France ($11.9 million) and Germany ($11.6 million). Spain was the only territory that passed the number one spot on during the Dark Knight's second week, giving the crown instead to Madagascar 3 ($2.6 million), while Batman settled for second place.  But what of those poor territories where the Batman party hasn't yet arrived? Those found other American blockbusters to love! Specifically, Italy continued to patronize Snow White and the Huntsman, Portugal opted for Madagascar 3 and Greece stuck with The Amazing Spider-Man.

In a bit of overseas specialty news, Jaume Balagueró's excellent thriller Sleep Tight did quite well in Italy, pulling in $1,317 per screen, which was the highest per screen average of any film in the country, including Snow White and the Huntsman. In less happy news that suggests that the Third Window Films lament we published about the limited market for Asian cinema reaches wider than just the UK, Shion Sono's Guilty of Romance opened in France to a disappointing $334 per screen average. That said, given the extreme nature of the film, it's probably not the end-all litmus test for an Asian cinema market by any stretch.

L'Etrange Festival Line-Up
Note: List has been updated to reflect full lineup as of August 16. For further information and program updates, keep checking the official website.

OPENING PERFORMANCE
Cornée short film - Stéphane Blanquet
Wrong cops short film - Quentin Dupieux
Headhunters - Morten Tyldum
 
CLOSING FILM
Dredd - Pete Travis (International Premiere)

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
« NOUVEAU GENRE » Prize & Audience Award (Unreleased & Previews)

1 Black's game - Oskar Thor Axelsson (French Premiere)
2 Painless - Juan Carlos Medina (International Premiere)
3 God bless America - Bobcat Goldthwait
4 11.25 The day he chose his own fate - Koji Wakamatsu
5 Headhunters - Morten Tyldum
6 Iron Sky - Timo Vuorensola (French Premiere)
7 Citadel - Ciaran Foy (French Premiere) introduced by director
8 Vanishing waves - Kristina Buozyté & Bruno Samper (French Premiere)
9 Sightseers - Ben Weathley
10 Excision - Richard Bates Jr.
11 Motorway - Soi Cheang (French Premiere)
12 Los Chidos - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (European Premiere)
13 Bullet collector - Alexander Vartanov (French Premiere) introduced by director
14 Game of werewolves - Juan Martinez Moreno (French Premiere)
15 Antiviral - Brandon Cronenberg
16 Comforting skin - Derek Franson
17 The Thompsons - Butcher Brothers (French Premiere)
18 A chinese ghost story - Wilson Yip (French Premiere)
19 Redd Inc. - Daniel Krige (International Premiere)
20 A fantastic fear of everything - Crispian Mills & Chris Hopewell (French Premiere)
21 Berberian sound studio - Peter Strickland (French Premiere) introduced by director
 
UNRELEASED / PREVIEWS: FICTION FILMS
1 Hated - Lee Madsen (French Premiere)
2 The second death - Santiago Fernandez Calvette (French Premiere)
3 Dead Sushi - Noboru Iguchi (French Premiere)
4 The fourth dimension - Harmony Korine, Alexey Fedorchenko & Jan Kwiecinski (French Premiere)
5 Dead shadows - David Cholewa (World Premiere) introduced by director & team
6 Paradies : Liebe - Ulrich Seidl
7 Afterschool midnighters - Hitoshi Takekiyo (European Premiere)
8 Henge - Hajime Ohata (French Premiere)
9 La chispa de la vida - Alex de la Iglesia
10 Maniac - Franck Khalfoun
11 Gyo - Takayuki Hirao (French Premiere)
12 Eega - SS Rajamouli (French Premiere)
13 Ernest & Celestine - Benjamin Reiner, Vincent Patar & Stéphane Aubier introduced by directors
14 Resolution - Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead (French Premiere)

UNRELEASED / PREVIEWS: DOCUMENTARIES
1 Practical electronica - Ian Helliwell (French Premiere)
2 Road dogs - Shane Aquino (International Premiere)
3 Marina Abramovic The Artist is Present - Matthew Akers & Jeff Dupre
4 Room 237 - Rodney Ascher
5 How to start your own country - Jody Shapiro
6 Blank City - Céline Danhier
 
SHORT FILMS / INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
(Audience Choice & Canal+Award)
45 films / 5 programs
 
A "CARTE BLANCHE" TO JAN KOUNEN
1 Three Supermen at the Olympic Games - Yavuz Yalinkiliç
(live audio commentary by Jan Kounen)
2 Blood freaks - Steve Hawks & Brad F.Grinter
3 Crimewave - Sam Raimi + Ultimate fucking - Jan Kounen
4 Man with the movie camera - Dziga Vertov
5 Koyaanisqatsi - Godfrey Reggio + PANSHIN BEKA WINONI - Jan Kounen

A "CARTE BLANCHE" TO KENNETH ANGER
1 Beyond the forest - King Vidor
2 The outlaw - Howard Hughes
3 Freaks - Tod Browning
4 Peeping Tom - Michael Powell
Program number 5 « The occult program » is included in musical evening L'Étrange Musique

PÉPITES DE L'ÉTRANGE / ODDITIES ON THE ROCKS
1 Subconcious cruelty - Karim Hussain
2 Las Edades de Lulú - Bigas Luna
3 De Noorderlingen - Alex Van Warmerdam (new copy - 20th anniversary)
4 I, Pierre Rivière... - René Allio
5 Tawk al hamama al mafkoud - Naser Khemir
6 The freakmaker - Jack Cardiff
7 Self defense - Paul Donovan & Maura O'Connell
8 Remote Control - Jeff Lieberman
9 The loved one - Tony Richardson
10 Inserts - John Byrum

BEN WHEATLEY FOCUS
Down terrace (French Premiere)
Kill list
Sightseers (Also participating the International Competition!)

MATHIEU SEILER FOCUS
Stefanies Geschenk + 2 short films
Der Ausflug (French Premiere)

RON FRICKE FOCUS (hosted by Jan Kounen)
Baraka
Samsara (French Premiere)

ZOMBIE NIGHT
Zombie ass - Noburu Iguchi (French Premiere)
Cockney Vs zombie - Matias Hoene (French Premiere)
Gangsters, Guns & Zombies - Matt Mitchell (French Premiere)
Ozombie - John Lyde (International Premiere)

CANAL+CINEMA NIGHT "NEW BRITISH GENERATION"
Attack the block - Joe Cornish
Grabbers - Jon Wright (French Premiere)
Tower block - James Nunn & Ronnie Thompson (French Premiere)
God save the films - David Périsseire (documentary)

RETOUR DE FLAMME
The Phantom of the Opera - Rupert Julian (restored version with color inserts)

MOTORPSYCHO THEME
1 Gone in 60 sec - H.B Toby Halicki
2 Motorway - Soi Cheang (Also participating the International Competition!)
3 The Driver - Walter Hill
4 KKK - Kenneth Anger + Motor psycho - Russ Meyer
5 Knightriders - G.A Romero
6 Freebie & the Bean - Richard Rush
7 The Iron Horse - Pierre William Glenn  - introduced by director

EXHIBITIONS
ADN Inside at Galerie Cabinet des curieux (12 September - 27 October)
60 United Dead Artists curated by Stéphane Blanquet at Galerie Artsfactory (7 September to 6 October)
«Kenneth Anger» at Galerie du jour agnès b. (13 September - 3 November)
 
L'ÉTRANGE MUSIQUE / MUSIC ON FILMS
A tribute to Kenneth Anger:
Black Mass Rising (French Premiere) by Sayona (Shazulla Nebula + Ernesto of Sylvester Anfang II)
7 weeks plays  Dead of Night - Bob Clark
+
"Technicolor Skull" - Kenneth Anger & Brian Butler (French Premiere)
+ "The occult program" (International Premiere)
Inauguration of the pleasure dome (Kenneth Anger, 1954, 38min)
Brush of Baphomet (Kenneth Anger, 2009, 7 min)
Night of Pan (Brian Butler, 2009, 7 min)
Union of Opposites (Brian Butler, 2012, 10 min)