Summer 1993 (2017)

Carla Simon’s autobiographic SUMMER 1993 has the lived in quality that few memory plays ever achieve. Simon’s recounting of what happened when her parents died and she was sent to live with an aunt and uncle is nicely unsentimental. More a warts and all retelling of what happened, or as close to what a six year old would feel and experience.

The film is the story of young Frida. She is, at the start a silent cypher. Something terrible has happened around her and she is being moved around by adults. We don’t fully understand what is happening because Frida doesn’t understand. Taken in my her aunt and uncle she now finds herself with a defacto sister, three year old Anna, on whom she vents her frustration and sadness. The love hate relationship results in Frida being viewed with caution by the adults.

This is a glorious slice of life.  Even in the darkness. Simon has made a film that lives and breaths and as if she had managed to capture a moment in time and show it to us

While the film is wonderful across the board I particularly love the scenes between Frida and Anna. The moments between these two children are incredibly powerful and don’t seem scripted. Watching the pair interact is like watching real children talk to each other. How the hell Simon managed to get them to transcend what had to be a scripted exchanges to be something taken from real life perplexes me. At no moment does it feel fake.

I love this film.

I original screened this film back at the start of the year when the film was playing at some festival or another. Because I was given access to the film late I was asked to hold off reviewing the film until it was released to theaters everywhere. While I groaned and stomped a bit because I soooo wanted to talk about the film I completely understand it because the distributor wanted someone to talk about the film when it would do the most good- at the time of release.

If you love good movies go see  SUMMER 1993.

Better yet go see SUMMER 1993 so that studios know and understand that people don't just want giant blockbusters but really good films of all sizes.

SIGN OF GLADIATOR

Head of the Roman legions allows himself to be taken prisoner by the army of Palmira. Tricking his way into meeting the queen he swears loyalty. Eventually they fall in love, complicating his mission to  crush the enemy army.

Decent sword and sandal film looks spectacular and has a good story. Better than many other similar films, this is one you'd probably watch a second time. While the film can be more than a bit soapy it remains compelling thanks to gorgeous wide screen photography.

Definitely worth a look.

Sinister Capsules CHINESE MACK and MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES

CHINESE MACK (1974) (aka Jue Zhao aka Martial Arts)
Young kid wants to learn martial arts. When he grows his family is threatened by gangsters...and you've bee  here before.  That said this is a really good martial arts film with a well told story and some killer action seuences which seem to pop up every couple of minutes. Highly recommended
(A word of warning the film does contain a dog fighting sequence about half way in)

MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES
Good looking but rather dull film has the kingdom where King Solomon's mines is located over thrown by greedy no good nicks. In desperation word is sent to Maciste to come and help. He arrives only to fall under a mind control spell- eventually breaking free and pitching the baddies. Lots of shots that would be better placed in a Tarzan film fill the running time. Its not bad but after a good first ten of fifteen minutes it becomes dull and a tad silly.

Talking CARGO with Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke and Kristina Ceyton

With the excellent horror film CARGO opening today in theaters in Australia and on Netflix in the rest of the world I wanted to share the interview I did with directors Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke and producer Kristina Ceyton. The interview took place one day short of one month ago when the film was playing at the Tribeca Film Festival and it was one of the coolest things I’ve done. I say that because everyone were so absolutely delightful I never wanted it to end. I think you’ll like it.

Before I turn you over to the interview I have to give you a couple of quick notes.

First thing you need to know is that the video was made because my audio recorder went on the fritz as I was setting up to do the interview. As a result I had to resort to my back up and use the video recorder. When I set everything up everyone was in the frame and then everyone shifted in their seats and Ben and Kristina drifted out of the frame. It really doesn’t make a great deal of difference since we simply talk. Additionally this is everything, unedited from start to finish

The other thing you need to know is that this is a VERY spoiler filled discussion. From the second question on we are talking about what happens, who lives and who dies and all sorts of other things relating to the film. If you don’t want to know then do not watch this video until after you see the film. If you haven’t seen the film then go watch it then come back and watch this.

Lastly, this is a spoiler filled discussion. I know I just said it but I don’t want to be accused of ruining things if you haven’t seen it.

Escorts (2015)

British documentary about two escorts and their lives.

Okay film looks at making money from sex and fantasy in the modern world. While for adults it's not really purient and kind of makes the life, though not the money as something that just sort of is. I was five minutes in and was like "oh, thats it then?" and it kind of stayed in one place emotionally and went nowhere.

 Not bad but nothing special-which weirdly may mean it is something special- I'm not sure.

First Reformed opens Friday

Just a note or two at the start before I turn you over to the repost of my review 

This is the piece I wrote after the film World Premiered as a sneak preview at the New York Film Festival last October. It is sparse with details since it was the first time anyone had seen it and I don't want to spoil anything just yet.

It was written when my thoughts, passion and enthusiasm were in a fugue state after seeing it. The piece reflects that and I haven't tried to change it.

Paul Schrader sneak previewed his FIRST REFORMED at the New York Film Festival some seven months before it's US release- and the result was screening that ended with gasps, applause and the desire to spend the next two weeks talking about the film.

The film, which concerns a minister in a historic church in Upstate New York who has a crisis of faith and has to wrestle with demons, is a messy masterpiece. The film is clearly Schrader firing on all cylinders and making the film he wanted to make. It is deep discussion on the nature of faith, belief and what God wants from a man who has been pondering the question for the better part of the last half century.

If the film looks and sounds familiar it is because Schrader is in a way summing up. Openly pulling from a variety of sources and filmmaker Schrader is filtering everything he has wanted to say about all of the film's themes in one package. Schrader indicated at the post screening Q&A that a conversation with Pawel Pawlikowski, the director of IDA, that now was the time to make the film on faith that he always wanted to and he attacked it with wild abandon.

Schrader has made a one of a kind film. It's a film that you either go with, especially in the third act or you don't. Schrader is challenging us to go with him no matter how silly a couple of scenes are. He seems to know that not everyone will go with him but he is betting most will. There were some laughs at a couple of things but in the end the film was met with thunderous applause.

Schrader wonderfully upsets expectations. Where he goes and why is rarely where we expect. I don't think anyone was expecting the ending or the journey of how we get there. Schrader subverts our notions of storytelling and forces us to engage or "die".

Talking after the film I said this was the ballsiest film at the New York Film Festival this year and Nora Mandel suggested THE SQUARE and it's off beat scenes might, but I don't think so. To me THE SQUARE is a very messy and unfocused button pusher. Scenes like the dinner party, the You Tube video or the Tourettes while effective are much too calculating. Director Ruben Ostland is simply trying to provoke a reaction in scenes which aren't fully connected to the narrative. He wants the audience to react. In FIRST REFORMED Paul Schrader wants the audience to think. He is telling you a tightly wound story and he is doing it his way. He is well aware the film isn't going to work for everyone but he won't change his story to win people over.

I need to see the film again, preferably right before a dinner with the entire Unseen Films family because I want to see and hear the discussions that result. One of the first things Paul Shcrader said was that the film was going to be the subject of years of college papers- oh hell yea.People will be talking about this for years.

I am floored. It is a film that you can not ignore. It is a film you must see and must engage with.

I have no idea what anyone will think of the film but I know it will force you to react in ways you won't expect. I have no idea how it will play the second time but I can't wait to see what that is. (The fact that is going to provoke you to think and react makes it a film that I will treasure)

(Apropos of nothing - pair this with Scorsese's SILENCE for a really interesting double feature)

This was one of the coolest screening I've ever attended because just being part of the audience which had no expectations and got to react to the film blindly was just magical.

One of the best film at this year's New York Film Festival and of 2017.

Champion: Don Lee Arm-Wrestles

It takes a brave man to star in an arm-wrestling movie after the face-plant that was Over the Top. Ladies and gentlemen, that man is Don Lee (Ma Dong-seok). He is the one who brawled his way through a train car of zombies in Train to Busan. Believe it or not, his character even references the notorious Sylvester Stallone bomb as his inspiration. Yet, Lee manages to surpass his role model in Kim Yong-wan’s unabashedly earnest family sports drama Champion, which opens this Friday in New York.

“Mark” Baek Seung-min is big, but shy. He had a hard time of things during his formative years, so it is understandable. His desperately poor Korean mother gave him up for adoption, but his American foster parents died shortly after his arrival in the States, leaving him essentially on his own. Inspired by Over the Top, arm-wrestling became his only passion, but his professional career was cut short in America by a dubious scandal. His only friend, the sleazy (but possibly decent way deep down) Jin-ki has lured him back to Korea with the promise of managing his professional comeback.

To sweeten the deal, Jin-ki also offers up the address of Baek’s birth-mother, but the arm-wrestler soon learns she has recently passed away from cancer. However, he discovers he has a sister (Su-jin), a niece, and a nephew he never knew of. Suddenly, they have someone to chase away the mobbed-up bill collectors and fix things around the apartment, while Baek finally starts to feel a sense of belonging. Of course, his refusal to throw matches at the behest of a crooked sponsor will probably lead to trouble down the line, especially when the scummy sports bettors recruit Punch, a steroid-juicing, psychotic former contender to be their standard bearer, straight out of prison.

Lee, who was born in Korea, but grew up in America, graduating from Columbia State University, clearly understands where his character is coming from. He is acutely earnest as Baek, but he also looks like he could rip Stallone’s arm off. It is easy to see why he has already reached a significant level of stardom in Korea and is poised to do the same internationally when you see him interacting with Ok Ye-rin and Choi Seung-hoon, the young, ridiculously cute thesps playing his niece and nephew. The fact that he is not dramatically up-staged by them, pretty much says it all.

Lee also shares some nice chemistry with Han Ye-ri’s Su-jin and turns some rewarding third act scenes with Kwon Yool’s heretofore annoying Jin-ki. Unfortunately, Yang Hyun-min and Lee Kyoo-ho make rather generic villains, who really are not very enterprising. Plus, Kim’s screenplay manufactures a lot of bogus drama that starts to try our patience. Yet, we can’t help rooting for Baek and his potential new family, because they all look so good together.

So, to recap, if you need a sensitive hulk, Don Lee is your man. As good old Lincoln Hawk says: “The world meets nobody halfway. When you want something, you gotta take it.” To that end, Lee carries this film and thereby grabs leading man status. Nobody should have any illusions—Champion is shamelessly manipulative and sentimental, but it is an indomitable crowd pleaser—with distinctly Korean sensibilities. Recommended for fans of Don Lee and family-friendly triumph-over-adversity sports movies, Champion opens this Friday (5/18) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

A couple of quick words on End Trip (2018) Cannes 2018

Demented ride share driver is actually a serial killer in disguise.

While not breaking any new ground,Aaron Jay Rome's thriller is much better than you'd expect. Despite doing everything you'd expect it to the film manages to over come a sense of dejavu thanks to Rome's skill as a filmmaker. While very much a horror film, the film looks at times more like a film noir offshoot of Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER with a frequent use of style that makes the film worth seeing.

What I like abut END TRIP is that I actually wanted to see where this goes. More often then not with many recent inde- horror films I have to force myself to stay to the end. Sometimes I make and sometimes I don't.  With END TRIP I stayed to the end because I genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen. Sure I had an idea or two but at the same time I still cared enough to find out. That may sound like faint praise, and something that is going to make the filmmakers pull their hair out, but understand the ability to say this is a good and solid little film is a triumph. The fact that I can simply say "give the film a go it's good from start to finish" is actually better than my saying well this bit is good but the rest is crap.  Rome and his fellow filmmakers have made a film that entertains from beginning to end.

Worth a shot for anyone who likes small scale thrillers with lots of style.

DIRTY BOOKS (2016) and WHAT JACK BUILT (2015)

DIRTY BOOKS
Threatened  with the shut down of the school newspaper as a physical publication David seeks out a story to keep it alive, only he has to manufacture one.

Good little comedy hinges on whether how you feel toward David. A well meaning but obnoxious twit I really wanted to smack him around since his desire to keep the paper going as a physical entity  results in him being a little too insane, especially since he does his writing on a computer.

An amusing trifle.

WHAT JACK BUILT
Good little film is either too long for what it is or a proof of concept for a longer film that probably would kick serious ass.

The plot of the film has Jack building something in his basement that has something to do with what is in the woods. I can't say more since the film is not really specific.

While I like what is here, I felt that this either disappointed me for being a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing as the short, or its a really cool appetizer for a feature. For some reason I'd be much happier if this was supposed to be going somewhere, even if I never got to see the where than if this was all there is.

In either case this is worth a look.

Island Zero (2017)

On an island off the coast of Maine there is a sudden change for the worst. The fish are suddenly gone and the ferry to the mainland has stopped running. No one is able to contact the outside world.  People who try to make their own way off the island either disappear or turn up dead. Something is killing, and seemingly devouring every living thing.

Low key horror film doesn't show much but has a great deal of tension as we and the characters, struggle to figure out what is going on.  The keeping the reveals to a minimum works wonders since by not seeing the creatures or the violence so we have to fill in the gaps with our own imaginations which creates things probably more terrifying than the filmmakers could have come up with. This is a film where, for the most part less is more.

While I recommend ISLAND ZERO and I find that I like the film more than I love it. Its not so much that there is anything wrong with the film on it's own terms it's more there is a point approaching the final third where the momentum should be kicking it to take it in high gear to the end and the film misses the optimal window and the film deflates slightly as the tightly wound tension is released. We are still engaged but not quite as scared as we should be.

Regardless of my quibble ISLAND ZERO is worth a look especially if you like suggestion and less graphic horror films.

ISLAND ZERO is being released on VOD nationwide by Freestyle Releasing today

A few brief words on ASTRO (2018) Cannes 2018

Super rich billionaire who has his own space ships  brings an alien to earth and causes all sorts of problems.

Ultra low budget science fiction film feel like a weird mash up of some of the ultra inde sci-fi films of the 70's and 80's  mixed with the recent crop of low budget indes to create a film that is more interesting for what it's trying to do rather than what it really is. 

The problems being that the ultra low budget results in an uneven cast as well as an uneven look as some bits look funded and other bits look anemic. While I always try not to review the budget, here it's hard not to since sadly it's hard not to think "if only..." on more than a couple of occasions.

The other problem is the film is much too long at 105 minutes, and while it does it allow things not to be rushed, it also results in a frequent feeling that they should just get on with it.

While I can't say I'm a fan, I like the film enough that I am mentioning it here at Unseen Films instead of letting it disappear unnoted.

Worth a look for forgiving science fiction fans

Have Sword, Will Travel Sun May 27, 1.00pm at the Quad

For this month's edition of our ongoing series co-presented and programmed by the New York Asian Film Festival, we present Chang Cheh's eponymous Have Sword, Will Travel followed by Lu Chun-ku's surreal wuxia classic Bastard Swordsman (aka Reincarnate Swordsman)

Have Sword, Will Travel
Chang Cheh, 1969, Hong Kong, 101m, DCP
A young couple, both master bodyguards, escort a shipment of silver when they encounter a mysterious vagabond. Intrigue ensues, leading to a cavalcade of martial arts dynamics in this Shaw Brothers wuxia Western.

In Mandarin with English subtitles

Don't miss our upcoming Chang Cheh retrospective, starting May 23!

Followed by...

Bastard Swordsman (aka Reincarnate Swordsman)
Lu Chun-ku, 1983, Hong Kong, 89m, 35mm
While the head of the Wu Tang tries to master the “Silkworm” sword style, lowly clan member Yen is mocked and barred from learning martial arts. But a mysterious masked man teaches him in secret until he rises to turn the tables on the perpetrators of treachery in this surreal, brain-melting wuxia classic.

In Cantonese with English subtitles

Saving Brinton (2017) opens Friday

When Indiana Brinton passed away all of the material, books, posters and movies that she had collected over the years was taken by her executor who had hoped to sort out its historical significance. It seems she and her husband has spent decades touring the Midwest of America screening films in the true infancy of motion pictures. What she left behind was a vast collection that related to film prior to 1910. When the executor died he still had the collection which was taken over by Michael Zahs who kind of sat on the material for another 30 years. With the need for room Zahs turned the material over to the University of Iowa’s Special Collection and wondrous things were discovered.

SAVING BRINTON is a curate's egg of a film. On one hand it is a beautifully rendered portrait of Michael Zahs who happened upon the belongings of the Brintons, but on the other hand the film doesn’t show us a hell of a lot of what was in the collection. I absolutely loved the film but was left kind of unsatisfied the film.

As a film on its own terms it’s a kick ass film. A wonderful portrait of Zahs, a gregarious raconteur with a drive to collect, the film is a film fans delight. Watching Zahs talk about the collection and its history is just damn awesome. As a film lover and a man with celluloid in my veins I ate up everything that was on screen. This is the sort of a tale that film fans always talk about. I mean we watch the discovery and restoration of a lost George Melies film, which is just incredibly cool. I mean it even impressed the legendary film historian Serge Bromberg who is seen being physically moved by the discovery. If you love film this film will make you want to dive into the collection with wild abandon to see what else is there...

Which brings me to the problem with the film, we don’t see a hell of a lot of the collection. We see some posters, some photos, a projector and a couple of clips. We are not allowed to really wade into more of the material. We see the covers of the various books, catalogs and pamphlets but we don’t see inside them. There are posters but we only get a look at a few. And then there are the films which are discussed as being ripe with possibilities, but what are they exactly? We really don’t know. While we get to see the missing Melies, we don’t really see anything else, worse I don’t think we’re even told much, if anything about, any other films other than in passing. . There is a moment where a historian describes the find as not just finding gold on a shipwreck, but also the bills of lading and all of the backstory it as well. The problem is we see one bar of gold and none of the backstory

And before anyone points out that the condition of the items and the films in the collection I have to say that know some stuff is in rough shape. At the same time we should have been shown as much of the collection as possible and not just followed Zahs around. He’s an interesting guy but how many times do we need to see him eating at a social?

Of course I’m nitpicking. I mean I love the film, but there was this point about an hour in when I suddenly realized that the one thing I wanted, which was to see more of the collection, wasn’t going to happen and I kind of deflated. I wanted to feel like Serge Bromberg and look at these wondrous things but we didn’t get the chance.

Despit my reservations SAVING BRINTON is a must, more so if you’re like me and bleed moving images.

Total Performance (2015)

Cori is an actress who works for a company that hires actors and actresses out to act as verbal sparring dummies for people who are going to have  to go into difficult situations.However complications arise...

Really good little short score bonus points for taking things into an unexpected and natural direction. I didn't really see how this was going to go with the film, which is often the case but where many short filmmmakers create turns for effect and to be noticed,  writer director Sean Meehan instead makes the flow of the story feel natural.

Bravo.

I really liked this film a great deal and recommend it if you can track it down.

Expect the Unexpected (1998)

Johnnie To and his partner in madness Ka-Fai Wai produced this totally insane riff on relationship dramas and brutal cops and robbers films.

When a jewelry store robbery goes bad this accidentally puts the police on the trail of a bunch of psycho killers. Meanwhile the various police officers attempt to work out affairs of their heart.

The title says it all, nothing in this film is expected. Every plot turn is completely and utterly out of  the left field from two blocks over. Ten minutes in as the ugly violence switched gears to a lyric romance I was left stunned. There was no way to know how this would go and in a lot of ways we are better for it. We are forced to pay attention because not to  could mean ending up hopelessly lost. The most amazing thing is it all feels organic- nothing is forced- even the "what in the holy F#$@!!!!" ending strangely feels right.

I don't dare say anything else because I don't ant you to expect anything. (Though I will say there is nothing not real)

Wow. Wow and wow.

Track this one down.

Here Lies Joe (2016)

Joe is a suicidal man who meets a young woman at a support group who changes the way he sees life.

Nice little short over comes it's slight over length by kicking it on every other level. From the casting to the look, to the score this film is top notch. Its the sort of film that  should open doors for writer/director Mark Battle because its clear from this film that he has an voice we need to hear in a feature project or two.

The best thing I can say about Mr Battle's talent is HERE LIES JOE has me fishing around for his other films.

Recommended

Brief thoughts on Love Always, Mom (2018) Bentonville Film Festival

Tricia Russo and Craig E. Shapiro's LOVE ALWAYS,MOM charts the course of Russo's path to motherhood. Diagnosed with breast cancer Russo has to put off having children because she needs to fight the illness. However when the disease spreads she and her husband have to decide if it's worth the risk of her going off the chemo to harvest her eggs so that a surrogate can carry their child.

Made up of footage shot during Russo's struggle, the film has a very real "you are there" vibe because we really are there. We are so much in the thick of things that you begin to feel as though everyone is part of our family.  There are very few taking heads, simply live as lived, with the result that the film trumps every other similar film I've run across.

Forgive me for not going into too much discussion,but this is a hard film to critique. Not because it's bad but rather it's life lived and it's nigh impossible to criticize someone's life lived. This is a film more about being in the moment with the people on the screen than it is about being in a movie, which is what a documentary should be about.

LOVE ALWAYS, MOM is going to make you feel good. It is a film about striving to get what you want and some how finding away. As Russo says never give up, just keep following plan B or D  or Z or whatever will get you closer to your goal.

While this wouldn't have been my first choice of a film, the subject is not something I'm really interested in, it is a film that I really liked a great deal once I sat down to see it.

While the Bentonville Film Festival screenings are done, the film is worth seeing and very recommended when it hits the next bunch of festivals and it's eventual theatrical run.

The Sadist (2015)

When I spoke to director Jerimiah Kipp in connection with his film THE DAYS GOD SLEPT we discussed his work on the film THE SADIST. Going into the project as a gun for hire he brought along his crew which included cinematographer/editor Dominick Sivilli and a great enthusiasm for the project. However despite a final cut clause in his contract the film was pulled from him just as he had finished the first cut and he was shut out of the creative process. He  said that he bore the producers no ill will and had been directing distributors toward them in the hope of getting the film released.

When we spoke in 2013 Kipp had no idea when the film would see a release, despite being shot in 2010. Having fallen in love with Kipp's short horror films I kept an eye out for some sign of his first feature horror film. Despite a couple years of looking I failed to find anything and it was only after seeing word on his latest film BLAKE WAKE, that I discovered that THE SADIST had been released in 2015 and was on Amazon Prime.

The plot of the film has a young man and his uncle go off o their annual hunting trip. However things turn bad when an escaped maniac (Tom Savini) decides to play a game of cat and mouse with them.

I'm of several minds concerning THE SADIST. Containing some truly great sequences and a great performance by Savini, the film never quite hangs together.  I suspect a large portion of the problem is due to the film being pulled from Kipp and Sivilli who based on their other work and the sequences that work here knew what they were doing. almost all of the sequences with Savini shine and make what should have been a standard issue madman on the loose film something more. Once we get outside of those sequences things become uneven as performances seem to go up and down depending on the take that the producers chose to use. I say this because there are scenes where some of the actors who are perfectly fine everywhere else suddenly are just bad as if they couldn't pick the right take.

On the other hand the Savini sequences are masterful,as you would expect from Kipp, who is in my opinion one of the greatest horror directors working today. There is an almost tactile quality to the fear such as the opening sequence when Savini walks into a barn and does nasty things with a pitchfork.  You can feel his delight at the pain he is inflicting and it is frightening. Later on as the battle between Savini and the others escalates you slip toward the edge of your seat simply because there is great filmmaking afoot.

Is THE SADIST worth watching? Maybe. Its definitely more of interest as a project that might have been had it not been interfered with than as a wholly successful film.

FANTASPOA ANNOUNCES FINAL WAVE OF 2018 FILM SELECTIONS, EVENTS, AND MARKET PROJECTS

Porto Alegre, Brazil - May 11, 2018 - Brazil's Fantaspoa, the largest genre film festival in Latin America, is proud to reveal the final lineup for their upcoming fourteenth edition, running from May 17th through June 3rd. In addition to its numerous film premieres, the celebrated genre festival also delighted to announce its special events and project selections for its inaugural production market, FantasMercado.

Eighteen additional Fantaspoa 2018 features are being announced today, which will screen alongside the 37 previously-announced feature films. Titles announced in our previous two waves include Vampire Clay (Sôichi Umezawa, Japan), The Endless (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, U.S.), The Ranger (Jenn Wexler, U.S.), Ederlezi Rising (Lazar Bodroza, Serbia), Mohawk (Ted Geoghegan, U.S.), Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund, U.K./U.S.), and Les Garçons Sauvages (Bertrand Mandico, France).

The final round of fantastic features selected for Fantaspoa 2018 are:

27: El club de los malditos (Nicanor Loreti, Argentina) - Brazilian Premiere

All You Can Eat Buddha (Ian Lagarde, Canada/Cuba) - Brazilian Premiere

Black Hollow Cage (Sadrac González-Perellón, Spain) - Latin American Premeire

The Crescent (Seth A. Smith, Canada) - Latin American Premiere

Four Hands (Oliver Kienle, Germany) - Latin American Premiere

Framed (Marc Martínez Jordán, Spain) - Latin American Premiere

Funôhan (Kôji Shiraishi, Japan) - Latin American Premiere

Hagazussa (Lukas Feigelfeld, Germany/Austria) - Latin American Premiere

Hostile (Mathieu Turi, France) - Brazilian Premiere

Kyrsyä - Tuftland (Roope Olenius, Finland) - Latin American Premiere

The Laplace’s Demon (Giordano Giulivi, Italy) - Latin American Premiere

The Man with the Magic Box (Bodo Kox, Poland/Italy) - Latin American Premiere

One Cut of the Dead (Shin'ichirô Ueda, Japan) - Latin American Premiere

Prodigy (Alex Haughey and Brian Vidal, U.S.) - Brazillian Premiere

Rabbit (Luke Shanahan, Australia) - Latin American Premiere

Sanî/32 (Kazuya Shiraishi, Japan) - Latin American Premiere

Trauma (Lucio A. Rojas, Chile) - Brazillian Premiere

Trench 11 (Leo Scherman, Canada) - Latin American Premiere

In addition to its 100+ features and shorts, Fantaspoa 2018 will host nine masterclasses taught by - among others - Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, Mick Garris, William Lustig, Elina Löwensohn, Jenn Wexler, and Pedro Rivero.

Fantaspoa’s inaugural production market, FantasMercado, is proud to announce its selected projects, which showcase the best and brightest in upcoming Latin American genre talent. They are A Casa do Girassol Vermelho (Eder Santos, Brazil), Bestiario (Giovanni Longo, Chile), Corpo Seco (Rodrigo Aragão, Brazil), Cosa e Mandinga (Fabian Forte, Argentina), El Muglúr (Lucila Las Heras, Argentina), La Vuelta del Malón (Laura Casabé, Argentina),Marlon Brando, Whiskey, Zumbis e Outros Apocalipses (Paulo Biscaia Filho, Brazil), Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas (Rodrigo John, Brazil), MÍA(Daniel Rodríguez Risco, Peru), Nebular (Iuri Minfroy, Brazil), Nocturna (Gonzalo Calzada, Argentina), O Braço (Ian Abé Santiago Maffioletti and Jhésus Tribuzi Lula, Brazil), Sangre Vurdalak (Santiago Fernandez Calvete, Argentina), Skull - A Máscara de Anhangá (Kapel Furman, Brazil), and Snatch My Eyes (Damian Rugna, Argentina).

The festival will kick off with an opulent Opening Night Party inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 masterpiece Eyes Wide Shut, complete with ornate masks. Its epic Closing Night Event will ferry partygoers out onto the Guaiba River, the breathtaking, massive waterway that bestows the "Port" on the beautiful city of Porto Alegre.

For more information, please visit:

www.fantaspoa.com

facebook.com/Fantaspoa

The festival’s 2018 trailer is available at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhRp-qXUyZE

Hammer's House of Horror Part I: The Classic Years 1956–1967 at the Quad

May 30 - June 19


It's a chilling season at the Quad! Brace yourself for mummies, vampires, werewolves, and more with our extensive two-part retrospective celebrating Britain's genre studio powerhouse, Hammer Films

With 32 titles in the first installment (22 on 35mm), including Frankenstein Created Woman, The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, and The Quatermass Experiment

Look forward to Part II (1967-76) this July, with highlights including: Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde, and The Vampire Lovers

Throughout film history, many countries have had their own point-of-pride movie studios; Britain can claim several, whether as backlots or sites of creative capital. In Hammer Films, a genre-oriented counterpart to Ealing Films, the UK could boast of one with all that and more; Hammer’s output in the second half of the 20th century sent aesthetic and sensory frissons throughout the nation while influencing pop culture and world cinema. Although synonymous with horror, the Hammer library was stocked from the beginning with films of all kinds. Founded in November 1934 as Hammer Film Productions and based in London, the studio came out of the gate with dramas and then specialized in “B” pictures and homegrown tales, pausing only for WWII. A turning point came in the mid-1950s with a move into genre fare with an accent on the Gothic, and this first crop of titles in the Quad’s extensive two-part Hammer retrospective demonstrates that—as Universal Pictures had found in the 1930s—famous monsters were a good (and generally inexpensive) way to expand your industry footprint. Hammer finally made its first color movie in 1954; a good thing, too, since what would the next quarter-century of movies have been like without all that scarlet sanguinary screen imagery?

"If we saw the logo of Hammer Films, we knew it was a very special picture. We knew it was a certain kind of film. A surprising experience, usually—and shocking." — Martin Scorsese

The Abominable Snowman
Val Guest, 1957, UK, 91m, 35mm

The Brides of Dracula
Terence Fisher, 1960, UK, 85m, 35mm

The Camp on Blood Island
Val Guest, 1958, UK, 82m, 35mm

Cash on Demand
Quentin Lawrence, 1961, UK, 89m, 35mm

The Curse of Frankenstein
Terence Fisher, 1957, UK, 83m, 35mm

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
Michael Carreras, 1964, UK, 81m, 35mm

The Curse of the Werewolf
Terence Fisher, 1961, UK, 93m, DCP

The Damned (aka These Are the Damned)
Joseph Losey, 1962, UK, 96m, DCP

The Devil Rides Out (aka The Devil's Bride)
Terence Fisher, 1968, UK, 95m, 16mm

Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Terence Fisher, 1966, UK, 90m, 35mm

The Evil of Frankenstein
Freddie Francis, 1964, UK, 84m, 16mm

Fanatic (aka Die! Die! My Darling)
Silvio Narizzano, 1965, UK, 97m, 35mm

Frankenstein Created Woman
Terence Fisher, 1967, UK, 92m, 35mm

The Gorgon
Terence Fisher, 1964, UK, 83m, DCP

Horror of Dracula
Terence Fisher, 1958, UK, 82m, 35mm

The Hound of the Baskervilles
Terence Fisher, 1959, UK, 87m, 16mm

Hysteria
Freddie Francis, 1965, UK, 85m, 16mm

The Mummy
Terence Fisher, 1959, UK, 88m, 35mm

The Nanny
Ian Holt, 1965, UK, 93m, 16mm

Never Take Sweets from a Stranger
Cyril Frankel, 1960, UK, 91m, 35mm

One Million Years B.C.
Don Chaffey, 1966, UK, 100m, DCP

The Phantom of the Opera
Terence Fisher, 1962, UK, 84m, 35mm

The Pirates of Blood River
John Gilling, 1962, UK, 87m, 35mm

Quatermass and the Pit (aka Five Million Years to Earth)
Roy Ward Baker, 1967, UK, 98m, 35mm

The Quatermass Experiment
Val Guest, 1955, UK, 82m, 35mm

Rasputin: The Mad Monk
Don Sharp, 1966, UK, 92m, 35mm

The Revenge of Frankenstein
Terence Fisher, 1958, UK, 91m, 35mm

The Stranglers of Bombay
Terence Fisher, 1959, UK, 80m, 35mm

Ten Seconds to Hell
Robert Aldrich, 1959, UK/US/West Germany, 93m, 35mm

The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
Terence Fisher, 1960, UK, 88m, 35mm

X—The Unknown
Leslie Norman, 1956, UK, 81m, 16mm

Yesterday's Enemy
Val Guest, 1959, UK, 95m, 35mm