There are still more programs to come but the 2008 edition of the Sitges festival - the largest genre film festival in the world - announced both the competitive and non-competitive parts of their official selections today. And it's one hell of a list. Sidebar programs are still to come but you can find the Official Selections lists below the break.
In the out-of-competition Official Fantàstic Selection you will be able to enjoy movies that complement the in competition selection, becoming instant cult movies, reviewing classics or using narrative and/or visual formats bordering on fantasy.
OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC SECTION OUT OF COMPETITION
Dachimawa Lee, Ryoo Seung-Wan
JCVD, Mabrouk El Mechri
Long Weekend, Jamie Blanks
Mongol, Sergei Bodrov
Repo! The Genetic Opera, Darren Lynn Bousman
RocknRolla, Guy Ritchie
Soy un pelele, Hernán Migoya
Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman
The Informers, Gregor Jordan
The Warlords, Peter Chan
Transsiberian, Brad Anderson
The best in competition fantasy cinema 13/09/2008
The in competition Official Fantàstic Selection is made up of a wide choice of the best fantasy films from around the world, focusing on current genre tendencies. The resurrection of Asian fantasy films far removed from the coordinates of ghostly horror, the confirmation of a new wave of British horror movies, the return of intelligent and original North American B movies or the interest of European auteur films in fantasy are some of this year's most outstanding features.
OFFICIAL FANTÀSTIC SECTION IN COMPETITION
Absurdistan, Veit Helmer
Blindness, Fernando Meirelles
Crows-Episode 0, Takashi Miike
Eden Lake, James Watkins
Fighter, Natasha Arthy
Hansel and Gretel, Yim Phil-sung
La possibilité d'une île, Michel Houellebecq
Let the Right one in, Tomas Alfredson
Martyrs, Pascal Laugier
Prime Time, Luis Calvo Ramos
Red, Trygve Allister Diesen, Lucky McKee
Sexy Killer, Miguel Martí
Surveillance, Jennifer Lynch
Tale 52, Alexis Alexiou
The Broken, Sean Ellis
The Burrowers, J.T. Petty
The Chaser, Na Hong-jin
The Cottage, Paul Andrew Williams
The Good, The Bad, The Weird, Kim Jee-woon
The Sky Crawlers, Mamoru Oshii
Tokyo!, Bong Joon-ho, Léos Carax, Michel Gondry
Vinyan, Fabrice du Welz
Your Name Here, Matthew Wilder
City of Ember, closing film
10/09/2008
City of Ember, by Gil Kenan and starring Tim Robbins, Bill Murray and Martin Landau, will be the film closing this year's 41st edition.
Caroline Thompson, Tim Burton's regular collaborator, adapts Jeanne Duprau successful novels revolving around a legendary city situated inside the Earth. Spectacular art direction for a family fantasy movie with dark tones directed by the person responsible for the magnificent Monster House (2006).
Folks are in for some pretty slick and high-end genre stuff. Blindness, Let The Right One In, Synecdoche, Vinyan, JCVD, Transsiberian, Mongol. Oi. Wow!
I've heard they show some good shorts, too... *cough*
This will be my sixth visit to Sitges and having seen the line up I'm as excited as ever. We're around all week from the 4th Todd so, if you're attending this year and have a full-on schedule, you can take this as an official invite to kick-back for 5 minutes and shoot the breeze over a beer.