06/03/2015 - The 33rd BIFFF will unspool from 7-19 April, boasting its usual rock-solid programme and, for the first time, a European Genre Film Market

Big Game by Jalmari Helander

The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival will once again give genre-film lovers the chance to get their fill of (or perhaps OD on) all those well-hidden gems or certified blockbusters. On the tantalising programme for this edition, audiences will have high hopes for the return of Joe Dante, and even Big Game [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile], the biggest Finnish co-production to date, starring Samuel L Jackson and Jim Broadbent in the leads, and directed by Jalmari Helander, whom we have to thank for Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jalmari Helander
film profile], the winner of the Audience Award at the BIFFF in 2011.

The BIFFF boasts several competitions that a number of European films will be taking part in. In the international competition, we find the Austrian film Goodnight Mommy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Severin Fiala and Veronika …
film profile] by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz; in the Thriller competition, we have The Ice Forest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claudio Noce
film profile] by Claudio Noce (Italy), The Ignorance of Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Manuel Gomez Pereira (Spain) and El Nino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Monzón
film profile] by Daniel Monzon (Spain); while the 7^th Orbit competition includes Dealer by Jean-Luc Herbulot (France), Fantasticherie di un passagiatore solitario [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Paolo Gaudio (Italy), Lisa the Fox Fairy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Karoly Ujj Mészáros
film profile] by Karoly Meszaros (Hungary) and True Love Ways by Mathieu Seiler (Germany/France). Lastly, the BIFFF is also organising a European competition, which will see ten features battling it out.

However, the BIFFF also aims to contribute to the development of the genre-film industry. In an increasingly complex marketplace, which has simultaneously been opened up to a great extent and given a vigorous shake-up thanks to the digital revolution, the future lies in transnational, multiplatform distribution. And so the gathering will for the second time host the Frontières international co-production market and, for the first time ever, the European Genre Film Market, which openly admits to having the long-term objective of turning Brussels into a veritable global hub for genre film.

(Translated from French)