Fantasia si prepara per The Reckoning
di Marta Bałaga
- Il leggendario regista John Carpenter riceverà il Fantasia Lifetime Achievement Award nel corso dell'edizione online del festival
Questo articolo è disponibile in inglese.
While predictably focusing on the new, the Fantasia Film Festival will also celebrate its 24th edition by acknowledging those who have paved the way, starting with a Lifetime Achievement Award for John Carpenter, who attended the event back in 1998. “He’s such a brilliant storyteller on every front and his works have inspired legions of filmmakers, cinematographers and composers. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that he is one of the most influential filmmakers of the last 45 years”, co-director and head programmer Mitch Davis tells Cineuropa. The late José Mojica Marins, a past recipient of the award, will be commemorated with showings of his three films, and a live talk with Dennison Ramalho, co-screenwriter of his 2008 horror Embodiment of Evil. “As the history and future of Brazil’s cinema is currently under threat in unconscionable ways, we feel it especially urgent to present a talk of this nature, both out of love for Mojica and in solidarity with Brazilian artists and the hardships they face,” stated the organisers.
Although opting for an online edition, there will be no shortage of films. “We’d fallen in love with so many strong works since we began our programming last fall, we really wanted to be able to support them, and to be there for our audience at a time where everyone’s feeling so anxious and destabilised. We realised that we could bring a lot of happiness,” adds Davis. “Speaking for myself, I’m positively jonesing to go to a cinema, but until there’s an effective treatment for C-19, if not a vaccine, there’s no way, and I would never try to convince our audience to go either, let alone our staff or volunteers. Sitting in a large, interior space for over two hours, breathing circulated air, is just not safe right now. Besides that, with physical distancing measures in place, the actual film-going experience would be far from joyous, with everyone being forced to sit away from their friends, worrying if someone with allergies sneezes.”
With Kiel McNaughton’s The Legend of Baron To’a set to close the festival, the likes of You Cannot Kill David Arquette will surely generate some interest: a documentary showing the actor’s further dive into wrestling following his controversial WCW World Heavyweight Championship win. But European productions and co-productions will be given their moment as well, with Neil Marshall’s The Reckoning chosen as the opening film, summed up by Davis as “a cannonball of fury and tears.” “European genre cinema is always something to be excited about, and this year is no exception. A particular theme that we’re seeing reflected on in a number of the films is an eerie sense of countries and cultures in decline, addressed most vividly in Chino Moya’s incredible Undergods [+leggi anche:
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In the Cheval Noir section, Sidharth Srinivasan’s Kriya (United Kingdom, India) will celebrate its world premiere, while Daria Woszek’s Marygoround [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Daria Woszek
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intervista: Zoé Wittock
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intervista: Tim Mielants
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intervista: Jeanette Nordahl
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Estonia’s The Old Man: The Movie [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Johan von Sydow
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The festival will take place from 20 August to 2 September.
(Tradotto dall'inglese)
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