Fantasporto has new offerings for 31st edition

by Vitor Pinto

22/02/2011 - Although the official kick-off date of the 31st Fantasporto is Friday, February 25, a warm-up of the festival already began last night with the local premiere of Danny Boyle’s Oscar nominated 127 Hours [trailer]. US title The Resident, directed by Finland’s Antti Jokinen, is the official opening film.

Through March 5, over 300 short and feature films will screen in the event’s various sections, which include Fantastic Cinema, Director’s Week and Orient Express. This year’s edition has a particular theme, Fine Arts and Cinema, which definitively confirms the expansion of the festival’s original fantasy leanings to other genres.

Fantasporto is organised by Cinema Novo, which with the University of Porto’s Fine Arts faculty and the Catholic University film students co-produced 17 documentaries on prominent personalities of the local art scene, among others, Júlio Resende, Albuquerque Mendes and Francisco Laranjo. These will be shown out of competition.

Also new this year at the festival are two awards for Portuguese cinema: the Grand Prize and the Emerging Director Prize (for filmmakers under 30).

There will be a tribute to local producer Paulo Trancoso, with the screenings of some of some of his most important co-productions: Leonel Vieira’s A Selva, Bille August’s The House of Spirits and Patrice Chéreau’s The Queen Margot.

As for European titles, Fantasporto offers an eclectic selection throughout its sections, including Srdjan Spasojevic controversial A Serbian Film (Serbia), Julius Kemp’s Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre [trailer] (Iceland), Luc Besson’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec [trailer] (France), David Verbeek’s R U There [trailer, film focus] (Netherlands), Edoardo Leo’s 18 Years Later [trailer] (Italy) and three Spanish films: José Luis Alemán’s The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow [trailer], Manuel Carballo’s Exorcismus and Secuestrados [trailer] by Miguel Ángel Vivas.