Now at its 22nd edition - the second of which to be directed by Pierre-Yves Walder - the NIFFF (Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival) remains an audacious, multidisciplinary and avant-garde event. Showcasing a total of 124 films hailing from 44 countries, the festival which is unspooling between 30 June and 8 July looks set to be varied and incredibly tantalising. Jostling among the selected directors are those who belong to a brand-new generation, determined to drive a radical and original genre forwards, alongside major players within the fantastic film genre, such as the American director and producer John McTiernan, who created cult action films along the lines of Die Hard, and Japanese director Katsuhito Ishii. The president of the International Competition Jury will be French actress and screenwriter Josiane Balasko, a surprising choice which highlights the festival’s desire to explore fantastic film in all its forms. She’ll be joined by John McTiernan, Austrian director and screenwriter Veronika Franz, comic book illustrator and author Charles Burns, and French director and screenwriter Olivier Babinet.

An impressive number of European productions and co-productions are set to battle it out for the prestigious Narcisse H.R. Giger within the International Competition (composed of 14 films). These include first feature films Animalia [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sofia Alaoui
scheda film] by Sofia Alaoui - an intriguing and apocalyptic film rewarded at the Sundance Festival - and Amanda Nell Eu’s unhinged movie Tiger Stripes [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Amanda Nell Eu
scheda film], which clinched the Grand Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. France will also be in attendance with Tropic [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Edouard Salier, which follows a pair of twins as they get ready to head into space, and Vincent Must Die [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Stéphan Castang
scheda film] by Stéphane Castang, which was presented in a Special Screening in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. Returning to the NIFFF, Jennifer Reeder will unveil her surrealist and haemoglobin-filled film Perpetrator [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] to festival-goers, while Christopher Smith will be presenting his mystical-horror Consecration in a Swiss premiere. European films gracing the International Competition include the supernatural thriller El Cuco [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Spanish director Mar Targarona; Paolo Strippoli’s Italian-Belgian co-production Flowing [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which is a gory thriller-come-horror describing the unexpected effects of a mysterious vapour drifting up from the Roman sewers; White Plastic Sky [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Tibor Bánóczki, Sarolta Sz…
scheda film] by the Hungarian directorial duo composed of Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó; the futurist detective film Restore Point [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Robert Hloz
scheda film] by Czech filmmaker Robert Hloz; Danish movie Superposition by Karoline Lyngbye; and British film Raging Grace by Paris Zarcilla, revolving around a Filipino immigrant who witnesses terrible secrets.

Alongside the festival’s competitive sections, Third Kind will also be presenting countless films in Swiss premières, including Normale [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by jury member Olivier Babinet, who casts Benoit Poelvoorde in the role of a flamboyant father; Omen [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Baloji
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intervista: Andrea Di Stefano
scheda film] by Andrea Di Stefano; UFO Sweden by the Swedish collective Crazy Pictures; and the dark drama When It Melts [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Veerle Baetens
scheda film] by Veerle Baetens. The Ultra Movies section, especially for thrill-seekers, is set to host world premieres of Ian Hunt-Duffy’s Irish movie D [+leggi anche:
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Last but not least, the opening film of this year’s event will be French-American director Sophie Barthes’ sci-fi-tinged comedy The Pod Generation [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], while an international premiere of the French-Belgian film Acide [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], directed by Just Philippot and starring Guillaume Canet and Laetitia Dosch, is set to close the festival.