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Maria Photo: courtesy of Frightfest

One of the liveliest entries at this year’s Halloween Frightfest, Argentinian grindhouse thriller Maria is the story of a porn star who goes through a strange transformation and becomes a feminist avenger. It was written by Nicanor Loreti and directed by Gabriel Grieco, who kindly agreed to join me for a chat the night before he was due to fly to London for the festival. Readers should be aware that this interview contains a spoiler, though it’s one which you’re likely to guess pretty quickly when you start watching, and it doesn’t really spoil the fun.

Like many of the best grindhouse films, Maria mingles entertainingly trashy ideas with little slips which reveal the skill and cinematic knowledge of its creators. The first thing I shared with Gabriel was my first impression of the film: that it was drawing heavily on Fritz Lang classic Metropolis.

Attendees also noted Buenos Aires event is becoming more of a project development market than a sales market.

Genre and animation titles dominated at Latin America’s leading film and TV market Ventana Sur as business vied for attention with the World Cup in Qatar, where the progress of the Argentinian national side led by Lionel Messi has created a festive mood in Buenos Aires.

Of particular interest at the market, which ran from November 28-December 2 and hosted screenings, presentations, panels and meetings, was the new Fan Latina Blood Window sidebar dedicated to female creators. Argentinian titles such as Jimena Monteoliva...

Ventana Sur’s Blood Window has just announced the six Latin American titles which will feature in its Work In Progress sidebar offering, in what promises to be another year of spine-tingling genre fare not for the faint-hearted.

Titles cap the most powerful Blood Window lineup in its history, galvanised by new sections Fant.Latina, focusing on Latin American women genre directors, and Spanish Screamings, a selection of projects from Spain, whose genre auteur scene exploded into life around the turn of the century with Jaume Balagueró’s “The Nameless.” This mega offer coms as genre, despite challenges for theatrical distribution in many markets, is proving ever more a go-to choice for young filmmakers and international distributors.

The section offers producers, sales agents and distributors the chance to feast their eyes on projects close to finished and seeking post-production coin for final studio fix, or just international distribution. This year’s titles:

“The Horned Frog,...

Gabriel Grieco's thriller Respira (Breathe) had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival the other week. A brand new trailer for Repsira was just released. Find it below. “Breathe” is about a family that moves to the countryside, because the father got a job as a fumigator pilot in the soy fields. When he arrives at the place, he discovers that the previous pilot has disappeared. It is in a sinister situation, so the family will end up fighting to survive, trying to escape from this place. Respira was presented as a work in progress in 2018 at both Cannes' Upcoming Fantastic Movies section and Blood Window during Ventana Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Blood Window is where I caught...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The official poster and first stills for Argentine horror flick Respira (Breathe) have been released.    Respira (Breathe) is the third film by Gabriel Grieco (Still Life (2015) and Hipersomnia (2017)). It was one of the seven films selected to participate in the "Upcoming Fantastic Films" section at Marché du Film (Cannes Film Festival) this year.    Leonardo gets a job as a fumigator pilot in the soybean fields and moves with his family to the countryside. When he starts working, he discovers a dark secret that will put him and his family in danger.     A couple of familiar names are attached this project. Nico and Luciano Onetti, the brothers behind their final Giallo flick Abrakadabra and psycho family horror flick What the Waters Left Behind...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Ventana Sur’s Blood Window stands out as one of Latin America’s most important events for the promotion and advancement of genre filmmaking.

According to Blood Window coordinator Javier Fernández, genre filmmaking has become a Helms Deep-type bastion for independent filmmakers looking to create cinema on their own terms and with limited budgets.

“Genre is, in Latin America, where independent filmmaking is still happening,” said Fernandez. “Many independent filmmakers are turning to the fantastic to find a place in the market. Overall production for genre films has stayed steady, but more independent directors are turning to genre to save that independent nature of production.”

More than that though, it has provided a launchpad for a number of filmmakers looking to work internationally. Latin American genre provided the roots of filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro (“Cronos”), “Don’t Breath” director Fede Alvarez and “It” director Andy Muschietti, recently linked to...

Blood Window, Argentina’s rapidly growing Latin American genre film market, part of Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur meet-mart, will hold a showcase at Cannes Festival’s Cannes Film Market from March 11 – 14.

Seven works in progress, currently in post-production, will be presented as part of Upcoming Fantastic Films, where ten-minute clips will accompany the presentations. Three finished films will also screen, aimed at representing the best of recent genre Latin American genre filmmaking, with two more participating in the Market Screenings.

Although Blood Window’s beginnings are steeped in blood and gore, the current body of films representing the market goes far beyond the traditional slasher flicks Latin America has nearly perfected, with films of fantasy, science fiction and a slew of different thrillers now participating – an indication of the festival’s maturation and growth.

The three features which will screen at Cannes come from Uruguay and Argentina, Mexico, the latter...

Line-up includes films from Lee Yong-seung and Fukuda Yuichi.

Asia’s largest genre fest, the 21st Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan) today announced it will open with the world premiere of Room No. 7, the sophomore feature from award-winning Korean director Lee Yong-seung (10 Minutes).

Running July 13-23, the fest will hold its awards ceremony July 21 with closing film Gintama, the live action film directed by Fukuda Yuichi based on the popular manga by Sorachi Hideaki.

This year, Bifan will screen 289 films from 58 countries with 63 world premieres with encore screenings July 22-23.

The Bucheon Choice: Features competition will screen 11 films including the world premiere of Jeon Kyuhwan’s Korean film The End and the Asian premiere of Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson’s Us film The Endless.

Korean Fantastic: Features competition, which includes films like the recent Cannes Midnight Screenings title The Villainess, also has a socio-political slant with world premiering films such as Im Heung-soon’s North...

Genre festivals to attend in support of Iberoamerican selections.

The fourth Edition of the Blood Window Gala will run at the Marché du Film from May 19-22 and features a range of projects.

The showcase will present recent films from Ibero-America with the support of directors and programmers from Sitges, International Fantastic Film Festival from Catalonia, Mexico’s Morbido Fest, and Bifan in South Korea.

Upcoming Fantastic Films will show a selection of projects in development and titles include Los Olvidados (Argentina) from brothers Luciano and Nicolás Onetti, and Buenos Aires-set Necronomicon, The Book From Hell (Argentina) by Marcelo Schapces.

The roster features Infection (Venezuela-Mexico) by Flavio Pedota, Trauma (Chile) from Lucio Rojas, Belzebuth (Mexico) from Emiliano Portes; In Un Giorno La Fine (Italy) from Daniele Misischia; and Menéndez (Spain) from Santiago Alvarado.

Screenings include Hypersomnia (Argentina), the second film by Gabriel Grieco, Our Evil (Brazil) by Samuel Galli, and Jimena Monteoliva’s first film Clementine (Argentina...

The "Twelfth Doctor" Peter Capaldi will be in attendance at this year's Wizard World Minneapolis convention. Continue reading for more details on his appearance and the event itself. Also in today's Highlights: Night Visions Film Festival spring 2017 lineup, Jurassic Games production details, and trailers for Home Education and The Alienators.

Peter Capaldi to Appear at Wizard World Minneapolis: Press Release: "Minneapolis, March 30, 2017 – Peter Capaldi, who portrays the Twelfth and current iteration of "The Doctor" on the long-running science fiction series "Doctor Who," will make his Wizard World debut next month when he attends Wizard World Comic Con Minneapolis, May 6-7 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Capaldi will greet fans, pose for photo ops, sign autographs and conduct an interactive fan Q&A during the pop culture extravaganza.

Capaldi has appeared as the title character in the BBC program since being introduced in the 50th Anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor" and the 2013 Christmas episode,...

We’re nearing September, which means we’re getting close to Alamo Drafthouse’s 10th annual Fantastic Fest. The film festival held in Austin, Texas is one of the most interesting and exciting fests around. Catering to hardcore cinephiles with a little bit of an interest in the strange, Fantastic Fest features a bevy of some of the best new horror films, indie thrillers, dark comedies, and low-budget sci-fi. Last year some of the best films included at the fest were Afflicted, Borgman, Jodorowsky’s Dune, The Sacrament, Blue Ruin, Grand Piano, We Are What We Are, A Field in England, The Congress, and Big Bad Wolves. In 2011 Fantastic Fest was one of the places to see Adam Wingard’s amazing You’re Next before it was shelved until it’s official release just last year.

Now the initial lineup for the 2014 festival has been announced and as always it looks very promising.

Our favorite film festival in the world is nigh. Later next month, Austin, Texas will host hundreds of genre fans for Fantastic Fest 2014!! We have the full list which includes the Us Premiere of Tusk as well as the World Premieres of ABCs of Death 2 and Horsehead. These won’t be all the films that will play the 10th anniversary of the film festival but it would be enough if it was. Look forward to more announcement waves of programming and don’t forget to follow up with our predictions that we made last week. I have added trailers above the film titles, if available. If the trailer is not available, there will be a still above the title.

From the Press Release

Fantastic Fest Celebrates 10 Years Of Chaos And Destruction With Us Premiere Of Kevin Smith’S “Tusk”, Leonard Maltin, The Meltdown With Jonah And Kumail And “ABCs Of Death 2...

A podcaster is slowly turned into a walrus, skaters are hunted by a cult, and 26 different ways to die are revealed. Yes, Fantastic Fest is adding some horror to their 10th anniversary this September. The first wave of programming for the festival has been announced and Kevin Smith’s Tusk will be screened, as well as the horror anthologies V/H/S Viral and ABCs of Death 2.

Fantastic Fest will open with the Us premiere of Tusk and will later feature the Us premiere of V/H/S Viral. ABCs of Death 2 will make its world debut at the festival taking place September 18th-25th in Austin, Texas. We have a press release with more details and the first wave’s full listing of films, as well as the festival’s official Mondo poster:

Austin, TX – Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - “Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to...

It's that time of year again, isn't it? There is no greater party on Earth for fans of genre films than Austin's annual Fantastic Fest, and ten years in, they just keep making it better. "In 2014, we are taking no prisoners. This festival is going to set new boundaries of decadence, destruction and debauchery." - Tim League As much as I love events like Cannes, Sundance, or Toronto, I can't imagine the directors of those festivals ever issuing that statement. The scary thing is that Tim League isn't kidding. Fantastic Fest is special because it's much more than just movies being screened. Every day is packed with events that elevate the entire festival, and with this year taking place at the new Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar, complete with the brand-new Highball, it feels like it's going to be a blow-out the likes of which even the most avid Fantastic...

Fantastic Fest 2014 kicks off September 18th, and the first wave of programming has been announced. With films like Tusk, V/H/S Viral, The Babadook, and ABC's of Death 2 on the menu, it's one not to miss!

From the Press Release:

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the first wave of events, special guests, and film programming for Fantastic Fest 2014, taking place September 18-25 in Austin, Texas, at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.

Fantastic Fest is thrilled to open the fest with the Us Premiere of Kevin Smith's dark horror-comedy Tusk. Smith will be in attendance for a red carpet gala screening and Q&A.

Immediately following Tusk, the world premiere of ABCs Of Death 2 will unveil 26 devilishly diabolical tales at Fantastic Fest with multiple directors from the horror anthology sequel in attendance, including Alejandro Brugués, Robert Boocheck, Lancelot Imasuen, E.L. Katz,...

The Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest has a stellar rep around these parts, and it’s not hard to see why when you consider some of the indie titles that have played there in recent years. Last year alone saw Coherence, Grand Piano and Septic Man make their world premieres, and films like Blue Ruin, Afflicted, Witching & Bitching, The Sacrament and Borgman all land in the U.S. for the first time.

This year doesn’t look to be any different, with a terrific lineup of indie titles including boatloads of promising horror. We’ve got sequels like The ABCs of Death 2 and V/H/S Viral, and originals like Kevin Smith’s anticipated Tusk and The Babadook. Keep in mind this is only the first wave of film announcements for Fantastic Fest 2014 – we’ll keep you posted as more titles are confirmed for the festival, which runs in Austin,...

Screenings started last night and continue through Tuesday.

The Cannes Marche is partnering with Blood Window, the Latin American Fantastic Film Market, on a series of midnight galas market screenings running through Tuesday.

The films screening at Star 1 are:

Gabriel Grieco’s Still Nature from Argentina (screened last night, presented by Blood Window);

The Incident by Isaac Ezban from Mexico (tonight, presented by Austin Fantastic Fest);

Fallen Cape by Santiago Alvarado from Spain (Sunday, presented by Sitges);

Darkness By Day by Martin Desalvo from Argentina (Monday, presented by Puchon);

The House At The End of Times by Alejandro Hidalgo by Venezuela (Tuesday, presented by Frontieres).

Set to kick off on May 14th, this year's Cannes Film Festival will see the premieres of many hotly anticipated genre flicks, and today we've gotten word of an exciting collaboration between Cannes and other top festivals that brings even more exciting genre fare to the event.

Per Variety, Ventana Sur's genre film market Blood Window will team with the world’s top six fantastic film fests for five Blood Window Midnight Galas of Latin American genre movies.

Four event partners collaborate to select one film each at the Blood Window Galas: Austin’s Fantastic Fest, Spain’s Sitges-Catalonia Festival, the Puchon Fantastic Fest, and the Frontieres Co-production Market, a joint venture of Montreal’s Fantasia Fest, Vision-in-Motion, and Brussels Festival.

The first Blood Window Midnight Galas line-up includes two sci-fi movies – The Incident and Fallen Cape – plus a rabies outbreak movie with Sapphic undertones: Darkness by Day.

The Incident...

Argentina’s Natural Sciences (Ciencias Naturales), directed by Matías Lucchesi, on Friday (December 6) won Ventana Sur’s main Primer Corte Award, the competitive section of films still in post-production.

The story of the journey of a girl in search of her father was honoured by the European sponsors of the fifth edition of the Latin American film market held in Buenos Aires. Cine + Club, Titratvs and Eye On Films supported the most senior prizes in Primer Corte this year through post production services and support for distribution in Europe.

Natural Sciences received an award for distribution, which represents €15,000 for the French company that acquires the title. The film will also benefit from post-production services at Titratvs of France (including €4,000 in digital copies and a bonus of €2,000 for colour grading if the film does its post at Titratvs.) There is also a €2,000 prize offered by Eye On Film to the French distributor of the film.

Max Zunino’s Open...

Blood Window, the first Latin American Fantastic Film Market, has been attracting plenty of interest at the fifth edition of Ventana Sur (Dec 3-6) in Buenos Aires.

Dedicated to the genre in all of its diversity, the new section presents 56 films produced between 2011 and 2013, including works-in-progress and projects.

“The idea is to offer a space for Latin American ‘fantastic’ films where distributors, sales agents, directors and festival programmers from the five continents can have access to all the productions in different stages,” said Blood Window coordinator Javier Fernandez.

The so-called ‘fantastic’ cinema is particularly vibrant in Latin America. “In countries like Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Brazil, this genre grew strong thanks to the creation of film schools and specialised festivals such as Morbido in Mexico, Fantaspoa in Brazil and Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre in Argentina,” added Fernandez.

Renowned directors to come up through the movement, according to Fernandez, include Adrian Gracia Bogliano from Argentina who directed Ahi Va...

Thanks to the growth of the audience for horror, sci-fi, the bizarre and thrillers, Blood Window, the first Latin American Fantastic Film Market, has been added to this fifth edition of Ventana Sur that runs from December 3-6 in Buenos Aires.

Dedicated to the genre in all of its diversity, the new section presents 56 films produced between 2011 and 2013, including works-in-progress and projects.

“The idea is to offer a space for Latin American ‘fantastic’ films where distributors, sales agents, directors and festival programmers from the five continents can have access to all the productions in different stages,” said Blood Window coordinator Javier Fernandez.

The so-called ‘fantastic’ cinema is particularly vibrant in Latin America. “In countries like Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Brazil, this genre grew strong thanks to the creation of film schools and specialised festivals such as Morbido in Mexico, Fantaspoa in Brazil and Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre in Argentina,” added Fernandez.

Renowned directors...