A festival needs the right setting. Of course, this applies to the framework programme as well as the supporting programme. The latter, or the former - depending on how you want to read it - refers to parties, concerts and so on. The former (or latter), on the other hand, refers to the films that frame a festival. For example, there is the opening film. It's supposed to introduce you gently, build up and then hit the shit out of you. The task is to get you up to operating temperature. The closing film, on the other hand, should keep you warm for the whole year, reward you and be the grain of rice in your wheat beer. May it bubble eternally. But what's the deal with the Sunday show? Well... read on.
Too much to read? Here is the assessment of our media partner Deep Red Radio. Listen!
IT FOLLOWS, Alexandre Aja's MANIAK, WE ARE STILL HERE or SUMMER OF 84. Many great films have already opened the festival. Others are big but have not yet been fully discovered. Our opener this year is a bull's eye and "discover" is a verb that fits UNEARTH in many ways. For discovered in this wonderful and utterly nasty eco-horror film is something that is pumped up from the depths of the underground by fracking. It disintegrates the individual and society alike. What begins leisurely intensifies as the film progresses with outstanding sound design, extremely menacing photography and great acting. UNEARTH oscillates between body horror and BODYSNATCHERS and presents uncomfortable subtexts that clearly make it this year's discovery. What a prelude to the festival in the Corona year!
On the final evening, the corks should pop. Good humour is on the agenda and we always had it, even if it might have been too much for one or the other guest. We are not at a children's birthday party. That could change this year when an alien warlord banished for eons is finally freed. But only halfway, because two earthly kids are holding an artefact that the creep is bound to. That and the stupid nickname PSYCHO GOREMAN don't exactly help when a horde of emissaries from all over the galaxy show up to piss off the warlord. PSYCHO GOREMAN is infantile murder at its best. The signs point to blood, beer and fun. Exactly what we need this year!
And what was that about Sunday afternoon? Regulars know and the word is getting around, but let's play a little guessing game anyway. Let's count down: SAVING SALLY, DAVE MADE A MAZE and ACHOURA. Ring a bell? Yep. Those are the three crowd favourites from the last few years and they all ran, that's right, in that very ominous Sunday afternoon slot. Here we go: We proudly present Adam Rehmeier's DINNER IN AMERICA. The Sundance hit is a film as if Wes Anderson and GG Allin had teamed up to unleash a drugged-up punk rock coming-of-age firework after another Juno sighting. This film is entertaining, high-energy and so fucking stupid it's a joy to watch. Fuck me! This is exactly our "taste"!
With these three films in hand, the anticipation increases enormously. The only downer is that PSYCHO GOREMAN is the final film and is only available to cinema audiences. All other films announced so far will also be available for streaming. We'll tell you more soon. But if you're already feeling a bit tingly, we promise you pure ecstasy with the next block!