One annual film festival that we’re all big fans of here at AITH is the upcoming Sitges Film Festival, which kicks off on October 6th. So with that being said some news broke today on the official selections for the fesival’s Official Fantàstic Panorama Selection, complementary to Official Fantàstic in Competition section.
The Official Fantàstic Panorama Selection demonstrates the paranoia experienced by today’s society, an after effect of the September 2001 bombings in the USA and prompted by the obsession for this date in the year 2012. So what’re the lucky films that’ll be part of this paranoia extravaganza? Well the two studs here are:
Steven Soderbergh’s CONTAGION: Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. Directed by: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard (below), Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, John Hawkes and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Lars Von Trier’s MELANCHOLIA: Justine and Michael are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister and brother-in-law. Meanwhile, the planet, Melancholia, is heading towards Earth… MELANCHOLIA is a psychological disaster movie from director Lars von Trier. Directed by: Lars Von Trier. Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgård, Alexander Skarsgård, Brady Corbet, Jesper Christensen and Udo Kier.
Joining those two highly anticipated films in the Official Fantàstic Panorama Selection will be Béla Tarr’s THE TURIN HOUSE, Troy Nixey’s DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, Mary Haron’s THE MOTH DIARIES, Kim Ji-hoon’s SECTOR 7, Cary Fukunaga’s JANE EYRE, Jaume Balagueró’s MIENTRAS DUETMES (SLEEP TIGHT), Eric Koo’s TATSUMI and Nicolas Winding-Refn’s DRIVE.
So there you have it folks! Ten more reasons to be stoked for this year’s Sitges festival, which runs from October 6th to October 16th.