Mayhem in Switzerland! Neuchatel Announces Full Festival Line-up
The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival heads into its 14th edition this July, and unlike any of us, it is gliding into adolescence with remarkable style.
We've already reported that festival Guest of Honor will be former Beauty and the Beast writer George R. R. Martin (what has he done since then?), but today we have the pleasure to announce the full festival lineup, and boy is it a doozy.
Joining Martin at the lakeside festival is indie staple and newfound horrormeister Kevin Smith, who will be feted with a special tribute, and will be screening his own work and some of his favorite films.
The International Competition reunites two of our very favorite films out of Cannes, David Robert Mitchell's spookily inventive It Follows and Kornél Mundruczó's allegorical bit of dogsploitation White God. Also in the mix, there's the Kiwi black comedy Housebound, the surrealist character study Blind and of course the latest from the indomitable Takashi Miike, the yakuza comedy The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji, among several others.
Ti West's The Sacrament, Gareth Evans' The Raid 2 and Gregg Araki's White Bird in a Blizzard look to be particular highlights of the festival's Ultra Movies, New Cinema From Asia and Films of the Third Kind selections. The tribute to H.R. Giger will be an all too timely look at the Swiss artist's singular career, and the screening of Fabrice Du Welz' Alleluia should only cement the unanimous acclaim his hymn of murderous love has been garnering across French Europe.
The festival runs July 4 - 12th, and we will be onsite to keep you up to date. In the meantime, get yourself to Switzerland!
The NIFFF 2014 (July 4 to 12) boasts a prestigious and high-quality official selection, an abundance of premieres and, for the first time, an Asian short film program. The festival continues to sharpen its expertise through its fantastic competitive and non-competitive sections, featuring highlights such as the Histoires du Genre program and the special Imaginary Japan section. This year's parallel events take on an ever-increasing importance thanks to the Imaging The Future symposium, the New Worlds of Fantasy literary forum as well as the special TV Series Storyworlds - Writer's Room conference. In addition, the festival is paying tributes to the 2014th edition's guests of honour Kevin Smith and George R.R. Martin.
The NIFFF in a few key figures
With a total budget of 1'600'000 CHF, the NIFFF 2014 represents 9 days of screenings, 5 cinemas and a simultaneous capacity of 1,824 seats. 138 public screenings will present 80 features and 28 shorts from more than thirty different countries. International Competition With 14 films, the International Competition offers a panorama of worldwide fantasy production, beginning with the surrealist, violent and intimate Blind, by Norwegian Eskil Vogt. Next up are gothic horror Controra, by Italian director Rossella De Venuto and Der Samurai, a film by young German prodigy Till Kleinert. Among the most anticipated films are It Follows, by American David Robert Mitchell, who brilliantly plays with the codes of horror and The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji, by director Takashi Miike, who needs no introduction. The thematic diversity of the best of current production will also be showcased by the irresistibly funny mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, by New Zealand filmmakers Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, huge stars back home, Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó's atypical and original event movie White God, which won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes this year, and finally Late Phases, a powerful reinterpretation of the werewolf myth, by Mexican Adrián García Bogliano.
New Cinema from Asia
Showcasing the quality and characteristics of popular Asian cinema, the 2014 selection is characterized by its diversity, evidenced by Yasmine, the Kingdom of Brunei's first martial arts film, by directors Siti Kamaluddin and Chan Man-Ching.
Also at center-stage is Monsoon Shootout, a surreal thriller by Amit Kumar, a member of the new wave of independent Indian cinema, Live, the new concept film by Japanese troublemaker Iguchi Noboru, and Onat Diaz's Kung Fu Divas, a colourful feature that follows in the tradition of Filipino action movies. Last but not least, Raid 2: Berandal, Gareth Evans' Action hyper stylized and extremely effective thriller.
Swiss shorts competition
In order to measure the pulse of the next generation of Swiss filmmakers, a selection of 9 Swiss shorts from independent production companies and film schools will compete at the NIFFF. The brand new Taurus Innovation Award will reward the most promising Swiss director.
Films of the Third Kind and Ultra Movies
The Films of the Third Kind section features movies that aim to attract an eclectic and cinephile audience. Don't miss The Harvest the latest very personal offering by John McNaughton, the director of the cult Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (USA, 1986). Aficionados of transalpine cinema will be mesmerized by La Santa, the new thriller from director Cosimo Alemà. iNumber Number, Donovan Marsh's latest feature will delight fans of police stories.
To enliven festivalgoers' evenings, the NIFFF also offers midnight screenings of some of the most extravagant and extreme examples of genre cinema. Starting with a bang, Tommy Wirkola carries on the adventures of his Nazi zombies Dead Snow II: Dead vs Red, funnier, bloodier and more gory than the first instalment, which was screened at the NIFFF in 2009; The Sacrament by Ti West, the brilliant American director behind House of the Devil and V / H / S (NIFFF 2010, 2012) and finally Discopathe, Quebec-born Renaud Gauthier's a black comedy that's sure to delight both fans of slashers and... disco music!
Histoires du genre
This year, the Histoires du Genre program offers the audience the chance to (re)discover some of the crazy feature films that turned Taiwanese cinema upside-down in the 70s and 80s. Thanks to the explosive documentary Taiwan Black Movies (Hou Chi - January 2005) and uber-rare films such as, Never Too Late To Repent (Chun Ouyang, 1981) The Lady Avenger (Yang Chia-yun, 1981) and Woman Revenger (Chun Ouyang, 1980), immerse yourself in an insane made in Taiwan world!
In addition, the program will look at genre cinema over the years through a geographical and artistic voyage through time featuring documentaries including Beyond Clueless (Charlie Lynn, UK), a look at fantasy teen movies that defined the genre, I Tarantiniani (Maurizio Tedesco and Steve Della Casa, IT) about the kings of Italian B-movies that inspired Tarantino and Super 8 Madness! (Fabrice Blin, FR), the extraordinary story of France's first Super 8 festival in the 80s.
Tribute to Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith, one of the key figures of American independent cinema of the 90s is the 14th edition's guest of honour. He will be presenting some of his most significant works, including the infamous Clerks, Clerks II and the acerbic critique of American evangelical circles Red State, as well as a carte blanche of films that have inspired him.
Opening and closing ceremonies
To open and close this 14th edition, the NIFFF will host the Swiss premieres of The Zero Theorem, NIFFF favourite Terry Gilliam's highly anticipated latest offering, which shares some DNA with Brazil (USA, 1985), and Young Ones, American Jake Paltrow's post-apocalyptic western featuring a stellar cast including Elle Fanning and Michael Shannon.
Side Events
A few of the most notable events: the 9th edition of the Imaging the Future symposium, a multidisciplinary event dedicated to the latest developments in digital images in video games, film and new media, featuring more than 20 conferences, round tables and master classes; New Worlds of Fantasy, a literary forum attended by George R.R. Martin; the TV Series Storyworlds - Writer's Room conference, organized with support from the Federal Office of Culture and aiming to cast a keen eye both on successful international productions such as Game of Thrones, Sherlock and Métal Hurlant Chronicles, as well as the state of current Swiss production. On 5 July, NIFFF INVASION 2014 reiterates last year's outdoor family investigation with Sherlock Holmes: Mist Hunters, which will see the city overrun by big and small would-be detectives.
