Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) impresses every year with its consistently exciting line-ups of stellar genre treats. In addition to the films on offer, an impressive array of guests has graced the festival’s stage over the years including John Carpenter, Miike Takashi, George Romero and more. For this year’s 18th edition, the Swiss film event has outdone itself yet again; master filmmaker and body-horror innovator David Cronenberg will be gracing the lakeside town with his presence.
As announced today, Cronenberg will take up the role of President of the Jury, selecting one film from the festival’s 16 in competition on which to present the HR Giger ‘Narcisse’ award for Best Feature. In addition, the Canadian director has chosen four films to be screened as part of a ‘carte blanche’ programme, and as expected they’re dark gems that offer up everything from sci-fi spectacle to surreal psychological horror. Jack Arnold’s The Incredible Shrinking Man, Teshigara’s Woman in the Dunes, Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf and Fellini’s Toby Dammit segment from the Spirits of the Dead omnibus film will all be on display.
Furthermore, with Cronenberg recently turning writer with the publication of his first novel, Consumed, a free public conference will be hosted at which the director talks “about his relationship with literature through the films he adapted from written material, and his own career as a writer.”
NIFFF will take place from 6 - 14 July 2018. For more information visit the website here.
DAVID CRONENBERG, A PRECURSOR OF MODERN GENRE FILMS
David Cronenberg takes his first steps as a director in 1967 in the realm of exploitation cinema, a genre he explores through his first few short and feature films. In spite of the restricted budgets allocated to his early projects, he proves himself an auteur capable of encapsulating his personal vision with powerful images. His first features STEREO (1969) and CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (1970) are already vehicles for the themes that will define his filmography, such as science, impulses, the body, and the darkest corners of the human soul.From 1975 to 1996, Cronenberg makes his mark on the history of fantastic films with works such as SHIVERS (1975), RABID (1977), THE BROOD (1979), SCANNERS (1981), and VIDEODROME (1983). These unique films notably stand out because of the splendour of their radicalness and visual violence. His more mainstream efforts — THE DEAD ZONE (1983), THE FLY (1986), DEAD RINGERS (1988) — cement his position internationally. During the following ten years, he directs three mesmerizing and essential films, namely NAKED LUNCH (1991), CRASH (1996) and EXISTENZ (1999). Both auteur and genre pieces, they also foreshadow the direction contemporary aesthetics are about to take. Now a revered artist, he chooses to explore new grounds with the striking HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005), EASTERN PROMISES (2007), COSMOPOLIS (2012), and MAPS TO THE STARS (2014).