Our friends at Blood Window in Argentina are once again preparing to roll into the coastal town of Pinamar, a little south of Buenos Aires, for the sophomore run of The Fantasy and Horror Film Festival Blood Window Pinamar.
Lee Cronin’s Christopher (The Hole in the Ground) will open the festival, the story of a mother and her son, whose strange behavior may be linked to a sinkhole in the forest. A couple of titles that have obviously come by way of our friends at Yellow Veil Pictures, I Trapped The Devil and Harpoon, will play at the fest. And Joe Cornish’s The Kid Who Would Be King is coming to the festival as well. Other international titles playing at the festival include In Fabric, Mandy and The Evil Within.
Speaking of forests, Blood Window Pinamar will host outdoor screenings of horror and fantastic classic on inflatable screens at two locations around the Pinamar pines. Attendees can look forward to a complete festival atmosphere as well. Embracing the full meaning of festival there will also be live shows, theme parties, cosplay contests and makeup tents.
Back to film, local Argentine titles playing at the festival include giallo flick Abrakadabra from my friend Nico Onetti and his brother Luciano, the post apocalyptic flick Soy toxico (I Am Toxic) from Pablo Parés and Muere, monstruo, muere, by Alejandro Fadel, the only title of those three I do not believe I have seen yet.
Finally, a very cool experience for giallo and horror fans awaits them at the festival. Sergio Stivaletti, filmmaker and special effects artist who worked with Argento (Opera and Phenomena) Bava (Dèmoni and Dèmoni 2) and Soavi (Dellamorte Dellamore) will attend the festival and speak with fans about his work in fantastic cinema. What a treat.
The full press release and festival trailer is below.
The Fantasy and Horror Film Festival Blood Window Pinamar will hold its second edition between April 17th and 20th, with a prominent national and international selection of new genre films and night screenings outdoors in the Pinamar woods. It will also feature the participation of the renowned figure of giallo Sergio Stivaletti, panels with the latest Argentine cinema, book presentations, live shows, cosplay contests, artistic make-up sessions, and virtual reality immersive experiences;Organized by National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA), together with the Government of Pinamar and the support of SITGES International Film Festival of Catalonia, this year the activities extend to the Pinamar woods (Avenida Bunge and Camino de los Pioneros). The woods will be the venue for outdoor activities, with a giant inflatable screen, where horror and fantastic classics from all times will be screened. Each day will feature live shows and theme parties, with artistic makeup tents, cosplay contests, a virtual reality space with the latest national and international immersive cinema, and a food court with food trucks.The INCAA Space Teatro de la Torre will be the main venue, where 16 titles will be screened, including national and international pre-releases and a prominent outlook on international fantastic films awarded at festivals. The programme is curated with the support of SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.The opening will be the Argentinean premiere of Christopher, by Irish director Lee Cronin, which will be released in our theaters on July 11th. The film, featuring Seána Kerslake and James Cosmo, takes place in a rural area of Ireland, where a young woman lives alone with her little son who begins acting strange, awakening strongly justified paranoia in his mother. During the festival, it will also take place the release in our country of The Kid Who Would Be King, the new film by Joe Cornish (celebrated director of Attack the Block), with Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Rebecca Ferguson and Patrick Stewart, in which a teenager who is the victim of bullying finds a strange sword that might be King Arthur's Excalibur. In addition to these 2019 releases, I Trapped the Devil, by Josh Lobo, in which one of the protagonists swears to have trapped the Devil in person; and Harpoon, a bloody, acid black comedy, with three characters adrift at sea, directed by Rob Grant, will also be presented.Among the national films taking part in the schedule, stands out the pre-release of Crímenes imposibles, directed by Hernán Findling, with a cast headlined by Carla Quevedo and Federico Bal. In this film, Lorenzo Brandoni is an experienced detective who, after losing his family in an accident, finds himself investigating a series of crimes with impossible logical solution, until a young nun who believes to be the murderer behind the crimes introduces herself. Among the Argentine feature films that will be screened also are Abrakadabra, by Luciano and Nicolás Onetti, Soy tóxico, by Pablo Parés, and Muere, monstruo, muere, by Alejandro Fadel.The schedule will be completed with instant cult films such as the dark textile fable In Fabric, by Peter Strickland, starred by a murderous dress, with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Gwendoline Christie and Steve Oram; the lysergic descent to Nicolas Cage's hells in Mandy, by Panos Cosmatos, and a film that may be referred to as cursed: The Evil Within, by Andrew Getty, a nightmare impossible to wake up from, not only due to the presence of the always excellent Michael Berryman.The special guest will be filmmaker and special effects artist and representative of the giallo Sergio Stivaletti, who will share with the audience about his work with directors Darío Argento (collaborator in the films Opera, Phenomena, The Mother of Tears -La terza madre-, and Il Cartaio, among others), Lamberto Bava (first two films in the Demons saga: Dèmoni and Dèmoni 2... l'incubo ritorna), and Michele Soavi (La chiesa and Dellamorte Dellamore). In addition, Stivaletti will present his most recent production, Rabbia furiosa: Er Canaro, made in 2018, and still not release in our Argentina.The “Teatro de la Torre”, special activities will take place before the screenings, including panels and talks, the presentation of two films which are still filming and in post-production stage: an advance of Bruja, by Marcelo Páez Cubells, with the presence of protagonists Erica Rivas, Leticia Brédice and Ana Páez; and Los que vuelven, by Laura Casabé, who will be accompanied by actress María Soldi and producer Alejandro Israel. Other activities will be the presentation of the book "Giallo: Crime, sexuality and style in Italian genre cinema", a thorough study of several aspects of one of the most respected varieties of genre cinema, with the presence of its editors, Álvaro Bretal and Natalio and Carlos Pagés.