MotelX 2023: Lisbon's Horror Film Festival Announces Lineup

Lisbon hosts the best of today's, yesterday's, and tomorrow's horror cinema.

Brandon Cronenberg (USA), Gabriel Abrantes (PT), Anurag Kashyap (India), Paul Urkijo Alijo (Spain), Winnie Cheung (USA), and more.

 

Countdown to the highly anticipated 17th edition of MOTELX - Lisbon International Horror Film Festival.

 

From September 12th to 18th, Lisbon is the proud host of the best of the past, present and future of the most terrifying productions for the big screen.

 

The official kick-off begins with the screening of “The Animal Kingdom”, the second feature film by Frenchman Thomas Cailley, starring Romain Duris. With body horror elements, it's a journey of a father and son in a country under siege, devastated by a relentless virus that transforms humans into animals. At the closing ceremony on September 17th, chaos is once again caused by natural causes in the new eco-terror film from Parisian director Just Philippot, “Acid”, where human selfishness is revealed in a moment of absolute panic as black clouds of acid rain invade the skies of France.

 

During the 2023 edition of MOTELX, there are more natural disasters to premiere, such as “Lovely, Dark, and Deep”, a Portuguese and American production filmed in Portugal, directed by Teresa Sutherland, with Rui Poças as the cinematographer and Georgina Campbell (“Barbarian”) in the lead role. The Room Service section, spanning five continents, features the tense odyssey through the violent underworld of the outskirts of Casablanca in the Moroccan movie “Hounds” by Kamal Lazraq. Also, the new visual delirium from French director Bertrand Mandico, “Conann”, and the medieval “Irati”, based on the history of the Basque Country, by Paul Urkijo Alijo. The Spanish filmmaker returns to the Festival to meet the audience and joins forces with the king of Bombay neo-noir, Anurag Kashyap, who presents another epic gangster film titled “Kennedy”, blurring the lines between a hitman and a serial killer, along with Brandon Cronenberg, who himself will be presenting the director's cut of “Infinity Pool”, on September 15th. Also, in the “boudoir”, there's an overwhelming feast of Asian cinema, with solid representation from South Korea - “New Normal”, “The Childe”, and “Project Wolf Hunting” - and from Hong Kong - “Yum Investigation”, “Mad Fate”, and “Detective vs. Sleuths”.

 

Alongside the most anticipated Portuguese film “Amelia’s Children” by Gabriel Abrantes, making its European debut (on the 16th), there are two world premieres in the Méliès d'Argent - Best European Feature Film competition: the love story between a young corpse transporter and a zombie in “The Funeral” (Turkey) by Orçun Behram, who will be presenting at the Festival, and the witch hunt in “Hood Witch” (France) by Saïd Belktibia. “Pensive” from Lithuania, “Raging Grace” from Britain, “Smother” from Austria, and “Superposition” from Denmark complete the competition lineup.

 

The Doc Terror section continues to impress with the already announced “Mister Organ” by David Farrier (“Tickled”), but also with “[REC] Horror Without a Pause” by Diego López, which delves into the legacy of “[REC]”, one of the greatest Spanish horror classics, 15 years after its release, and “We Kill for Love”, a definitive and unmissable work about the rise and fall of American erotic thriller, directed and written by Anthony Penta. Shining a spotlight on the forefront of terror, SectionX highlights another feature film: “Residency” by Winnie Cheung, a delirious DIY punk journey to hell, with the director presenting it at the Festival.

 

On September 18th, MOTELX and the FILMar project prepared a unique celebration of the 100th anniversary of “Os Olhos da Alma” by Roger Lion, with the original soundtrack specially composed and performed live by camp Portuguese musician Surma. The cine-concert commemorates the centenary of this unknown Portuguese epic, written and produced by a pioneer of Portuguese cinema, Virgínia de Castro e Almeida. The session is part of a set of 10 feature and short films, from the Lost Room section, in collaboration with the FILMar project, operated by the Portuguese Cinemathèque.

 

The 9th edition of GUIÕES - Festival do Roteiro de Língua Portuguesa (September 13th to 17th), which runs parallel to MOTELX, not only reveals the winner of the MOTELX GUIÕES Award for the best Portuguese horror screenplay but also features a masterclass with Brazilian producer Rodrigo Teixeira and a discussion about the impact of the “Scream” sequel, moderated by female activists and movie professionals Tota Alves and Fernanda Polacow, associates and leaders of MUTIM - Mulheres Trabalhadoras das Imagens em Movimento. The program also includes a debate on artificial intelligence (AI), moderated by Paulo Portugal and featuring José Pacheco Pereira, Rui Neto Pereira, Patrícia Akester, and Bruno Carnide, in partnership with the Portuguese Association of Scriptwriters and Playwrights (APAD).

 

Another not-to-be-missed event within the MOTELX Lab is the exclusive presentation of the artistic collective Liquid Sky, led by German musician and producer Ingmar Koch (AKA Dr. Walker), whose cutting-edge studio is located in Baixo Alentejo, Portugal. On September 16th, they will unveil the concept of their next project, which combines sustainability and AI: a television program, “On Bloody Paths”, produced 100% in Portugal, with the Alentejo landscape as a backdrop, resulting from a blend of Dadaism, Surrealism, terrifying mystery, and pulsating modern techno-pop art.

 

As expected, the MOTELX amuse-bouche is served in the Warm-Up days previous to the Festival - from September 7th to 9th: “The Birds”, Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, celebrating its 60th anniversary in an open-air screening at Largo José Saramago (Campo das Cebolas garden); a tribute to director William Friedkin through the screening of “Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist” by Alexandre O. Philippe - an essay on “The Exorcist” (a significant classic of horror promised at the Festival, celebrating its half-century this year) -, at Goethe-Institut Lisboa garden; and the invasion of Palácio do Grilo, with a literary performance and a late-night party, are the perfect appetisers for the intense programming ahead. Admission is free, except for the party, which costs €10 (online) and €12 (at the venue).

 

All info on the programme and ticketing at www.motelx.org.

 

From September 12th to 18th, in Lisbon, horror is the haunting special of the day.