Lund Fantastic 2022: Full Lineup of 28th Edition Revealed

Opening night film - PIGGY (Carlota Pereda, Spain, 2022)

Piggy raises key universal questions around justice, family, trauma and self-love in a powerful yet subtle way that eschews easy answers. This brave, lonely journey towards self-acceptance, forgiveness and liberation is masterfully captured by Carlota Pereda in this beautiful slasher riff that takes us back to classics such as Carrie or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but does so with its own twisted flavor.

LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE (Martika Ramirez Escobar, Philippines, 2022)

Leonor Will Never Die is a genre-bending meta story about a retired filmmaker who gets knocked on the head by a television and falls into a deep coma. Leonor’s body may be still but in her mind she is welcomed into her currently unfinished film, reminiscent of the glory days of Filipino action movies. Blending fantasy and reality as Leonor re-edits her film and life, this passionate debut will leave you feeling inspired and grateful to be alive.

WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD (Natalia Sinelnikova, Germany / Romania, 2022)

A presumed utopic safe-haven starts to show its cracks and slowly becomes dystopian in this impressive graduation film. We Might As Well Be Dead spins a tale of encroaching paranoia, peer pressure and the ‘danger’ of non-conformism as mob mentality takes hold and a ‘happy home’ turns hellish. A shrewd social satire that tackles xenophobia, Sinelnikova’s uncanny debut leaves viewers with a powerful reflection: ‘belonging or not belonging - which is worse’?

DEADSTREAM (Vanessa & Joseph Winter, USA, 2022)

Flavored with the whole spectrum of jump-scares, haunted houses, blood and silly-but-scary ghostly creatures, Deadstream is wonderfully wrapped in a Gen Z parodical social commentary while taking you for a creepy spook-house ride. A fun take on The Blair Witch Project made with love and stuffed with eerie suspense, Deadstream is the found-footage horror-comedy you need in your life this Halloween.

SALOUM (Jean Luc Herbulot, France / Senegal, 2021)

An energetic rollercoaster from Senegal, Saloum is an inventive calling card for writer-director Jean Luc Herbulot: a hybrid of a gangster movie and a western that tips its hat to mainstream international action cinema while being deeply rooted in African specificity, mysticism and the oral traditions of folk and tall tales. Saloum is a crime caper in which badmen try to make their great escape yet find their get-rich-quick scheme thwarted by a supernatural menace.

GOOD MADAM (Jenna Cato Bass, South-Africa, 2021)

Ghosts from the past are front and center in post-apartheid horror Good Madam. Jenna Cato Bass’ haunting film explores the lingering legacy of South-African segregation and the almost casual, everyday racism that’s pervaded an affluent white suburb where a Black housekeeper’s family is allowed to move in on the condition that everyone respects the rules of the house. Confrontational and creepy, this historical horror film seeks to exorcize South-African trauma.

Classics - CANDYMAN (Clive Barker, USA / UK, 1992) - 30th anniversary

Chillingly adapted from Clive Barker’s short story, The Forbidden, Bernard Rose’s seminal take on urban legends stands tall as a film that sees a story take on a life of its own and tests the power of belief. Let yourself be transported to the Cabrini-Green Projects to the orchestral gloom of Philip Glass’ foreboding, gothic score and witness how the past is always present during Lund Fantastic’s 30th anniversary screening of Candyman.

Classics - TRICK 'R TREAT (Michael Dougherty, USA, 2007) - 15th anniversary

Michael Doughtery’s quintessential cult classic about the lore and legends of All Hallow’s Eve and Halloween is finally making its way to cinemas to celebrate the film’s 15th anniversary. A horror anthology full of autumnal delights and rich in holiday atmosphere, Trick ’r Treat spins a total of five deliciously interconnected tales about the do’s and don’ts on Halloween night, and the price one pays for not honoring tradition.

KING ON SCREEN (Daphné Baiwir, France / USA / Belgium, 2022)

Daphné Baiwir’s passion for Stephen King shines through in King on Screen, a two-hour tour through some of the brightest stages in King’s film journey. Memorialized through the analytic lens of iconic film directors such as Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) or Mick Garris (The Shining mini-series, The Stand), these conversations bring to light the secrets to King’s unrivaled and long-lasting on-screen success, a legacy that will only continue to grow as years go by.

Classics - CARRIE (Brian De Palma, USA, 1976)

Based on Stephen King’s novel and directed by a young Brian De Palma, Carrie tells the chilling story of a shy, alienated teenage girl living under the overbearingly authoritarian hand of her mother, who claims to be protecting her through the practice of her religious ways and rules. Carrie presents a gentle yet blood-curling portrait about the mental persecution social outcasts suffer from walking down their high school halls all the way into their homes.

THE TIMEKEEPERS OF ETERNITY (Aristotelis Maragkos, Greece / UK, 2021)

The Timekeepers of Eternity rewrites Stephen King's story ‘The Langoliers’ through the most impressive collage edit: a compelling reinterpretation of the already produced media made by printing Tom Holland’s original mini series into previously printed paper and re-composing it with the use of animation, new editing techniques and VFX. The result is a hypnotic and fascinating experimental experience, which will absorb you in the narrative’s turmoil in ways the original never managed to find.

MISSING (Shinzo Katayama, Japan / Korea, 2021)

A distinct riff on the serial killer formula that ponders the value of life and what it means to truly live, Katayama Shinzo’s ambitious sophomore feature, Missing, is a stark, stylish hybrid of a thriller and a drama that benefits from engaging performances, a three-act narrative that disrupts chronology to heighten its elusive mysteries and an unusually tense, singular climax that plays out over a memorable game of ping pong.

GHOSTING GLORIA (Marcela Mata & Mauro Sarser, Uruguay, 2021)

An inventive rom-com with a unique take on a lost woman’s pursuit of happiness, Ghosting Gloria shows a woman’s unconventional path towards self-discovery and personal expansion by the hand of a giving lover who will show her what real pleasure feels like; there’s only one complication: her newfound lover is a ghost! Expect to break all boundaries and be elevated to uncharted realms of spiritual connection, where the film will take you through a heartfelt journey full of entertainment.

THE PASSENGER (Raúl Cerezo & Fernando Gonzalez, Spain, 2021)

A well-executed love letter to our beloved genre classics, The Passenger is a unique kind of buddy comedy and sci-fi creature feature presented through a wonderfully polished look and badass special effects. All of it comes wrapped in 80s Spanish-culture nostalgia and with a sweet character arc that gradually reveals things are not always as they seem.

BABY ASSASSINS (Hugo Sakamoto, Japan, 2021)

A coming-of-age action film about talented teenage assassins who are trying to figure out how to fend for themselves and get swept up in a violent showdown with yakuza thugs. Hugo Sakamoto’s Baby Assassins is as much an inspired comedy about the difficulty of growing into one’s own self as it is a polished martial arts flick that gives John Wick-style fight choreography a run for its money during its super-charged, life-or-death climax.

Closing night film - SOMETHING IN THE DIRT (Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, USA, 2022)

Benson and Moorhead’s latest tour de force, constructs an intricate cosmic puzzle that draws on various theories, pseudo facts, paranoid conspiracies and speculative science to further extend the idiosyncratic microcosm that this creative pair have crafted for themselves within a broader Lovecraft-verse. A heartfelt love letter to the power of storytelling, Something in the Dirt is a delirious head trip and a terrific allegory that captures the need for creative expression as it celebrates art as something vital that gives meaning to life.