15/09/2016 - The Catalan event has announced what’s new for this year; top of the bill are the honorary awards set to be given to these two monsters of acting

Actors Max von Sydow and Christopher Walken

Ángel Sala, the director of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, was in Madrid yesterday to unveil some mouth-watering details of this unmissable rendezvous for any self-respecting fan of horror and fantasy film, which will unspool in the Catalan coastal city between 7 and 16 October. Christopher Walken – the unforgettable star of a number of films by the late Michael Cimino – will receive a Grand Honorary Award at the gathering, as will Max von Sydow, who played the brave Father Merrin in The Exorcist.

The 49th edition of the event, with a programme packed to the rafters with 200 titles, will kick off with Inside [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Miguel Ángel Vivas and will be brought to a close by The Limehouse Golem [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a British film directed by Juan Carlos Medina, starring Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke and María Valverde. In addition, there will be a retrospective of Soviet fantastic films made between the 1950s and 1970s, including titles such as Solaris, Planet of Storms and Test Pilot Pirx.

Movies competing in the official section include the recent and controversial Sundance sensation Swiss Army Man, starring British actor Daniel Radcliffe; Desierto [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (a co-production between Mexico and France) by Jonás Cuarón; Raw [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia Ducournau
film profile] (France/Belgium) by Julia Ducournau; the UK title The Autopsy of Jane Doe [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by André Ovredal; The Neon Demon [+see also:
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trailer
Q&A: Nicolas Winding Refn
film profile] (USA/France/Denmark) by Nicolas Winding Refn, already a familiar face at this festival; Pet (Spain/USA) by Catalan director Carles Torrens; the Spanish title El ataúd de cristal, the feature debut by Haritz Zubillaga; and the French-Belgian title Mon ange by Harry Cleven, which will be having its world premiere.

Audiences in the special sessions will be able to enjoy the French film Ares [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jean-Patrick Benes, Salt and Fire [+see also:
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film profile] by seasoned director Werner Herzog; The Darkness [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France/Mexico) by Daniel Castro Zimbrón; Mine (Spain/Italy/USA) by Fabio (Guaglione) and Fabio (Resinaro); The Next Skin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isa Campo, Isaki Lacuesta
film profile] by Isa Campo and Isaki Lacuesta (which was premiered at Málaga in 2016), the disturbing May God Save Us [+see also:
film review
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interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
film profile] by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Colossal [+see also:
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interview: Nacho Vigalondo
film profile], the new romp by Nacho Vigalondo, and A Monster Calls [+see also:
film review
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interview: Juan Antonio Bayona
film profile] by J A Bayona. Incidentally, the last three of these will also be screened at the San Sebastián Film Festival, which gets going tomorrow.

(Translated from Spanish)