With director Lucky Mckee serving as Jury President (and presenting his latest, All Cheerleaders Die), the festival brings ten days of international mayhem to the beautiful Alsatian capital.
On hand will be the Dutch mayhem of Borgman and APP, the luchador mayhem in the El Santo and Our Heroes Are Dead Tonight, and some decade spanning monkey mayhem in their 35mm tribute to King Kong and its great ape brethren.
For our part, we'll be contributing some ScreenAnarchy mayhem to the mix with festival updates and reviews starting next week.
Check out the full lineup below, look out for upcoming coverage - and stay safe!
The 6th Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival opens on 13 September with a 10-day panorama of the latest in fantastic cinema productions, thrillers, revivals, competitions, and plenty of side events to enjoy. This year, as always, the Festival proposes an eclectic programme of auteur, classic and exploitation genre films; documentaries; and heritage revivals, to name but a few of the diverse choices that draw a wide range of viewers.
The Festival is pleased to announce that Lucky McKee is returning as president of the jury and to present the European première of his latest film, All Cheerleaders Die - a fast-paced and sexy horror film, co-directed with Chris Sivertson. Lucky attended the festival in 2011 as director of The Woman, which won the Grand Prix. Other jury members include: Carlos Areces, Spanish actor (I'm So Excited, The Last Circus); Julien Gester, film critic for the French daily Libération, journalist and musician; Tomas Lemarquis, Franco-Icelandic actor (Painless, The House of Nina, Errors of the Human Body); and Travis Stevens CEO of Snowfort Pictures (Big Ass Spider, Jodorowsky's Dune, Cheap Thrills, The Agression Scale).
The Festival welcomes New Zealand, Philippines and Paraguay in the lineup for the first time, contributing films that have a very distinct flavor, and which bear the indelible mark of their cultures. This year also marks the Festival's foray into transmedia story telling, as offered by the Dutch horror film App, the first film in the world to enhance the big screen with second-screen content, pre-downloaded on viewers' smart phones.
Two anniversaries will be celebrated this year: King Kong's 80th in the Monkey Business revival (12 35mm films) and Peter Cushing's centenary, with the maniacal Corruption, recently rediscovered in the Sony Pictures vault. Viewers will also discover the rare films of El Santo, an authentic Mexican folk hero and legendary luchador enmáscarado or masked wrestler, who made 52 superhero genre films in his career.
Eric Powell, author of The Goon comic book series will be on hand for a book signing and discussion on the occasion of an exhibition of his original plates and Michel Landi, poster artist, will be present at an exhibition of his posters and to talk about his career as a poster artist from the early 1960s to the end of the last century.
Opening and Closing Films
We Are What We Are US, 2013, Jim Mickle
Machete Kills US, 2013, Robert Rodriguez, EUROPEAN PREMIÈRE
International Competition
APP Netherlands, 2013, Bobby Boerman FRENCH PREMIÈRE
Bad Milo! US, 2013, Jacob Vaughan FRENCH PREMIÈRE
Big Bad Wolves Israel, 2013, Navot Papushado, Aharon Keshales
Borgman Netherlands, 2013, Alex van Warmerdam
Dark Touch France-Ireland-Sweden, 2013, Marina de Van
For Those in Peril UK, 2013, Paul Wright In Fear UK, 2012, Jeremy Lovering
Kiss of the Damned US, 2012, Xan Cassavetes
Love Eternal Ireland-Luxemburg-Netherlands-Japan, 2013, Brendon Muldowny
The Returned 2012, Spain-Canada, Manuel Carballo
The Station Austria, 2013 Marvin Kren
Uma Historia de Amor e Furia Rio 2096 - A Story of Love and Fury Brazil 2013, Luiz Bolognesi
Upstream Color US, 2013, Shane Carruth
Crossovers
7 Boxes Paraguy, 2012, Jan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori
Cheap Thrills US, 2013, E. L. Katz
Graceland Philippines-Canada, 2012 Ron Morales
Our Heroes Died Tonight France, 2013, David Perrault
Proxy US, 2013, Zack Parker
Tore Tanzt (Nothing Bad Can Happen) Germany, 2013, Katrin Gebbe
Wrong Cops US-France, 2013, Quentin Dupieux
Midnight Movies
The Battery US 2012, Jeremy Gardner
Big Ass Spider US, 2013, Mike Mendez
Frankenstein's Army Netherlands, 2013, Richard Raaphorst
Fresh Meat New Zealand, 2012, Danny Muheron
Go Goa Gone India, 2013, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK
Tik Tik: The Aswang Chronicles Philippines, 2012, Erik Matti
V/H/S 2 US, Canada 2012, Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sanchez, Greg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, Jason Eisener
Documentary Films
I Am Divine Jeffrey Schwarz
El Hombre detras de la Mascara (The Man Behind the Mask) Gabriela Obregon
Journey to Planet X (shown with We Will Live Again) US, 2012, Josh Koury
Rewind This US, 2013, Josh Johnson
We Will Live Again US, 2012, Myles Kane and Josh Koury
Special Screenings
All Cheerleaders Die US, 2013, Lucky McKee
Static US, 2012, Todd Levin
Cinema For The Young
A Letter to Momo Japan, 2012, Hiroyuki Okiura
Room on the Broom UK, 2012, Alicja Jaworski, Nils Skapans
Monkey Business Revival
King Kong 1933, USA, 35mm, Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Mighty Joe Young 1949, USA, 35mm, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Gorilla at Large 1954, USA, 35mm, Harmon Jones
Konga 1961, UK, 35mm, John Lemont
King Kong 1976, USA, 35mm, John Guillermin
The Mighty Peking Man 1977, Hong Kong, 35mm, Ho Meng Hua
King Kong Lives (King Kong II) 1986, USA, 35mm, John Guillermin
Link 1986, UK, 35mm, Richard Franklin
Monkey Shines 1988, USA, 35mm, George Romero
King Kong 2005, USA-New Zealand, 35mm, Peter Jackson
El Santo Retrospective
Santo vs. the Vampire Women 1962, Mexico, Alfonso Corona Blake
Santo vs. the Martians Invasion 1967, Mexico, 35mm, Alfredo B. Crevenna
Peter Cushing Centenary
Corruption 1968, UK, Robert Hartford-Davis