Heidi who returns to take revenge on a horrible gruyere magnate in a gore version, unicorns exploding teddy bears (and vice versa), an Iranian exorcism film… the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival returns from this Friday, September 23 with an eclectic program, and director Christophe Gans as guest of honour.
For its 15th edition, the Strasbourg festival, which had welcomed more than 33,000 spectators during the last pre-Covid edition, in 2019, is offering until October 2 thirteen films in the international competition category, eight in “crossovers” and eight in animated films, as well as numerous events.
Diabolikby the Manetti brothers, will be broadcast at the opening on Friday evening before the jury decides between the thirteen films of the official selection, including the disturbing family dinner by Peter Hegl, Our ceremoniesby the young French director Simon Rieth, or the black tale You won’t be aloneby Goran Stolevcki with actress Noomi Rapace.
Among the highlights, French director Christophe Gans will be the festival’s guest of honor and will give a masterclass on Sunday September 25 before the screening of his film. The Pact of the Wolves in 4K restored version. Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro will also be present for the screening of the restored version of The City of Lost Children world premiere on September 24.
Gore lovers will stick around for the late screenings of the “Midnight movies” selection, with the bloody Mad Heidiby Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfenstein, the vertiginous fallby Scott Mann, or Dark Glasses, by Dario Argento, with his daughter, actress Asia Argento, in the credits. The “Crossovers” section will offer a great diversity, between The Rascalsby French director Jimmy Laporal-Trésor, Zalava from the Iranian Arsalan Amiri, or Pamfirby Ukrainian filmmaker Dmytro Sukholytkyy.
Fans of nanars won’t miss the quirky night, “in partnership with the Cinémathèque Française, which entrusts us with its worst films“, smiles again Daniel Cohen, the artistic director of the festival. An eccentric night often taken by storm, during which will be broadcast The island of naked women, Dracula, sexual vampireand The strong arm of Wang Yu. A breakfast is then offered to the brave ones who stayed until the end.
At the end of the festival, Hunt will keep viewers spellbound. “It’s a film by Korean Lee Jung-jae, cult actor of the series Squid Games, who is both an actor and director here. The film features blistering action scenes and is a bit reminiscent of Heat by Michael Mann“, enthuses Daniel Cohen. And Greg Lauert, in charge of programming short and feature films, to highlight “the dexterity of Koreans in the representation of action, violence“.
On the sidelines of the festival there will unfortunately be no “Zombie March” this year, the traditional costumed parade through the streets of Strasbourg of zombies, bloody monsters and other vampires, long one of the highlights of the festival: “It was fun to have fun on the theme of a post-pandemic world, but today reality has surpassed fiction: after two years of Covid it is no longer a fantasy, today’s world has caught up with the concept“, regrets Daniel Cohen.
15th Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival – from Friday September 23 to Sunday October 2, 2022 – Full program on the FEFFS website.