01/07/2021 - The Sitges Film Festival is promoting this hybrid initiative that seeks out partners and co-producers for fantastical films, sponsored by seven festivals specialising in the genre

The Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, in partnership with the Cannes Marché du Film and the head of International Relations at the INCAA, Bernardo Bergeret, is presenting the third edition of Fantastic 7, a programme that aims to provide a boost to upcoming global productions belonging to the fantastical genre, thus helping these titles connect with international distribution and production representatives. It will unspool on Sunday 11 July, between 12 pm and 2 pm, both in person and online (via the marchedufilm.online platform).

The event will showcase seven offerings presented by the same number of festivals from all around the globe, all of which proudly boast the fantastical genre as one of their main distinguishing features. Alongside Sitges, the other gatherings that form part of the initiative are: the Toronto Film Festival (Canada), South by Southwest (USA), the New Zealand International Film Festival (New Zealand), the Guadalajara International Film Festival (Mexico), the Cairo International Film Festival (Egypt) and the Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN), in South Korea. All five continents are therefore represented in this initiative.

This year, the event’s “godmother” will be Mary Harron, the director of American Psycho and a leading figure in the fantastical genre. Her involvement is also a reflection of the mission to make the role of women filmmakers more visible through the Sitges Film Festival’s WomanInFan programme.

The projects taking part in this edition are as follows: The Passenger [+see also:
trailer
interview: Raúl Cerezo and Fernando Go…
film profile] by Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez (Spain), sponsored by Sitges; Polaris by Kirsten Carthew (Canada), courtesy of the Toronto Film Festival, an adventure film about a young woman brought up by a polar bear, who chases her destiny after escaping the clutches of a group of brutal warriors who try to kill her mother; Don’t Peek! by Julian Terry, presented by South by Southwest, a horror flick that tells of how a teenage boy, trapped in a town that prohibits the use of most electronic devices, finds a hidden 8-bit video game system, only to be sucked into a nightmare during which he finds out that some gadgets should never, ever be turned on; The Rule of Jenny Pen by James Ashcroft, in conjunction with the New Zealand International Film Festival, a psychological thriller whose synopsis outlines how a sick judge, confined to a remote retirement home, has to stop an elderly tyrant who uses a children’s puppet to abuse the other residents of the home, leading to deadly consequences; Fiebre, a film for children who are not afraid of fire, according to its helmer, Mexico’s Elisa Eliash, backed by the Guadalajara Film Festival; The Legend of Zeinab and Noah by Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt), from the Cairo Film Festival, a movie steeped in magical realism that portrays how, in order to put off her mother’s funeral, a teenage girl and her friend steal the corpse, escape from their town and embark on a road trip; and Lay the Ghost by Yu Eunjeong, put forward by the Bucheon Film Festival (South Korea), in which we will see how Suan, thanks to her ability to see the gateway to the afterlife, brings back the ghost of her dead sister – but soon, a girl called Jaein appears in her life, who eerily resembles the deceased.

Here is the full list of projects:

The Passenger [+see also:
trailer
interview: Raúl Cerezo and Fernando Go…
film profile] - Raúl Cerezo, Fernando González Gómez (Spain)
Producer: José Luis Rancaño

Polaris - Kirsten Carthew (Canada)
Producers: Max Fraser, Kirsten Carthew, Paul Cadieux, Alyson Richards

Don’t Peek! - Julian Terry (USA)
Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Majd Nassif, Pavel Bozhkov 

The Rule of Jenny Pen - James Ashcroft (New Zealand)
Producers: Orlando Stewart, James Ashcroft

Fiebre - Elisa Eliash (Mexico)
Producer: Clara Taricco

The Legend of Zeinab and Noah - Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt)
Producer: Ali El-Arabi

Lay the Ghost - Yu Eunjeong (South Korea)
Producer: Park Doohee

(Translated from Spanish)