It’s The End Of The World As We Know It.
“Hey! Over Here. What is this thing?”
“I don’t know. I can’t quite make it out. Help me clear some of the sand off of it”
“It looks……It looks like some kind of Blog. It looks like a Sitges Film festival Blog.”
“What’s the date of the last entry?”
“October 22nd 2011? That……that can’t be right can it?”
“Oh my God. We’re back. We’re home. All the time, it was… We finally really did it”
“You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
It’s surely unhealthy to be this excited this far in advance but the Organizers of The Sitges Film Festival have today announced the theme for 2012 and it doesn’t bode well for mankind.
Which apocalyptic classics will be revived from the past, and which Earth-shattering premiers will feature from the near-future? The countdown begins now.
Festival Daily Blog……..A Week Late
Yes, yes. We know how a festival blog should work. Up to the minute, breaking news snippets and exclusive Q&A sessions with hitherto undiscovered directors. Hot off the press Tweets from the back row of the Auditori proclaiming how “Awesome” the opening credits were for the latest Korean must-see movie “EXCUSE ME BUT YOU APPEAR TO HAVE MY CLAW HAMMER STUCK IN YOUR CRANIUM”
Our blog, on the other hand, is far from being hot off the press, contains no exclusive interviews and would only include the word “Twitter” if that happened to be a locally brewed Catalan beverage we’d recently discovered. However, it is our blog, and you can now find it here.
Meat But No Gravy
Scratch that last post. Why jump to the festival’s closing film and miss out on all the fun that takes place beforehand?
The organisers have now posted the complete festival line up HERE (with the official program available as a PDF download at the top right hand corner of the list)
We’ll be throwing up our previews for each film over the course of this weekend making Corridorstyle your one-stop, fun-filled, and rakishly handsome resource for all things Sitges
Go get ‘em tigers
The Thing We Love Most About The Sitges Film Festival
The organisers have today thrown up a few more of the titles showing at this year’s festival, and we now know that Matthijs Van Heijninjen’s prequel to John Carpenter’s classic will wrap up proceedings.
Freak out people.
Invasion Of Alien Bikini. The Festival Announces This Year’s Oriental Spice
The reputations of such highly regarded journalists as ourselves (stop laughing at the back) hang squarely on our ability to remain impartial during our extensive coverage across the many genres of the festival (I said quit sniggering). Good job we don’t give a flying roundhouse for our reps then as we love us some “Casa Asia”, especially if it comes with extra Kimchi.
The organisers have today announced their Asian selections for this year’s festival and the potential for moody, blood soaked scenes of serial killers is matched only by the hilarity of their (translated?) film titles.
BANZAI!!
Sitges. Von Trier. Soderbergh. Pow! Blam!
Generally speaking we swerve the more “mainstream” films presented at the festival as we can always catch them at the local multiplex. This in turn allows us more room in our Sitges schedule to watch Koreans have at each other with hatchets and claw hammers.
However, with the announcement today of the films to be screened as part of the festival’s Panorama Selection the organizers may have dangled us a mainstream carrot too tempting to pass up. Von Trier’s MELANCHOLIA, Soderbergh’s CONTAGION, and Nicolas Winding-Refn’s DRIVE to name just three.
Five films a day anyone?
Why We Keep Coming Back For More 2006
By the time 2006 and our fourth visit to the festival rolled around we were on the brink of adopting Korea as our mother nation and changing our names to Park and Lee, so impressed had we been by previous offerings from the likes of Park Chan-wook, Ryoo Seung-wan, and Kim Ji-woon. However, even with the impressive MEMORIES OF MURDER in his locker, Bong Joon-ho let the side down with the pretty abysmal THE HOST.
Fortunately for us, Europe stepped into the breach and delivered the goods with THE UNGODLY and LA CAJA KOVAK (Spain), THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP and RENAISSANCE (France), and PRINCESS (Denmark). The U.S actually stole the show (as they like to do) with Rian Johnson’s incredible debut BRICK, but they were all class acts in their own way. However, it’s RENAISSANCE and PRINCESS that we want to remember here as they fall into a category of Sitges we’ve still not fully got to grips with. Animation.
We’re certainly no connoisseurs of animated films and probably still guilty of calling them cartoons (something that would no doubt get us a kicking from all the 8 year old fan boys), but we’ve come a long way in a short time and that’s entirely down to the fact that the festival doesn’t exactly screen Tom and Jerry re-runs.
Still a genre that’s a bit hit-and-miss for us (Oh how you enjoyed GHOST IN THE SHELL and GENIUS PARTY Shaun. Ahem!) but here are a few that hit harder than an ACME anvil:
Artificial Intelligence A.I Confirmed As The Inspiration For Sitges 2011
So it’s now official. This year’s program will draw inspiration from the world of artificial intelligence, something we’re very familiar with here at Corridorstyle. Being artificially intelligent.
Not a great deal of additional information to go on for now (below) but, Holy Kimichi!, the first thing that does jump out is the inclusion of HWANGHAE (The Yellow Sea), Hong jin-Na’s follow up to 2008′s masterpiece THE CHASER. Having captured incredible performances from Yun seok-Kim and Jung woo-Ha in his first film, it will be great to see Na pitch them both into battle again.
SITGES 2011, an edition inspired by artificial intelligence
EVA, by Kike Maillo, will be opening the festival’s 44th edition
Why We Keep Coming Back For More 2005
Although we were already hooked 2005 gave us yet another reason to love Sitges. This was the year the festival moved from its temporary December slot back to its original October date and with that came the bonus of glorious weather. Sun, sea and sand obviously the perfect combination to then go and spend 8 hours a day in a darkened theatre.
2005 served up some classic Sitges films too. Still staggering around in a daze from the previous year’s Korean baptism and OLD BOY, Wook again nocked us off our feet with the vengeance trilogy closer SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE. However, it was his compatriot Kim Ji-woon and the simply brilliant A BITTERSWEET LIFE that stole the Korean limelight. If this film doesn’t grab you in the first 60 seconds then you best have the nearest person check to see if you have a pulse.
We can pretty much take all the graphic violence the Koreans can throw at us but when it comes to jumps and scares we’re the biggest pair of girls at the festival. We therefore must have been drunk when we decided to take in THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE. Skirts held over our eyes for most of the film. Equally uncomfortable in subject matter but with more left to the imagination HARD CANDY had us cringing and wincing to all manner of testicular threats.
We don’t know much but we already knew what we’d be doing come October 2006.
And we can’t leave 2005 without including a look back to the absolutely f*cking bonkers film from Shinya Tsukamoto, HAZE.
Artificial Intelligence : AI Will Serve As The Theme For Sitges 2011
Though not yet officially announced on the festival website it looks like Sitges will this year pay tribute to the Steven Spielberg film ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:AI which marks its 10th anniversary this year.
This actually appears to be a continuation of the festival’s love affair with Stanley Kubrick rather than a hat-tip to Spielberg’s disappointing sci-fi effort. This post over at Sitgesbarcelona.com makes reference to the Brian Aldiss short story “Super-toys last all summer long”, which served as the inspiration for the Kubrick developed script that eventually ended up in Spielberg’s lap.
If previous festivals serve as any guide then the organizers will likely only afford the film itself a small corner of the program, however, its inclusion as the festival’s theme does suggest another sci-fi slant to the program which is something to get excited about.
Why We Keep Coming Back For More 2004
Having liked what we saw in 2003 we were quick to book our return to the festival, even attempting to prepare somewhat with a little research into the films on show. The problem with Sitges is that a little knowledge can be dangerous as we soon found out with THE BIRTHDAY. Shaun’s taking the rap for this one as he called it based purely on the involvement of Corey Feldmen. A return to former 80′s glory for Corey this wasn’t.
Fortunately for us and the festival 2004 was also the year of OLDBOY, PRIMER, THE MACHINIST, & ARAHAN. Four absolute belters and the films that would go on to define our love for the festival. For pure indulgence we’ve also included the opening scene from Johnnie To’s BREAKING NEWS. In the subsequent years Mr To has done his best to alienate us but perhaps it’s down to this 7 minute uncut introduction to his style of Hong Kong action that we keep giving him another chance.
Why We Keep Coming Back For More 2003
Our previous post referred to Corridorstyle beginnings and Oldboy (2004) but technically we lost our cherry to the 2003 festival. Although an amateur assault (only a 7 film program) compared with our recent efforts it was nonetheless an accurate thin-slice of what the festival is all about.
In HAUTE TENSION we had a bloody, brilliant example of Sitges shit-scares, and with SO CLOSE we were treated to sumptuous Asian ass (kicking). After seeing the latter, I remember how The Ocho (Santiago) couldn’t stop singing “Why do birds suddenly appear” causing me to nearly go “haute tension” on his ass (personally, I couldn’t stop thinking about the shower scene).
But it was TWENTYNINEPALMS that had the most lasting effect that year. By most measures of a film it was the biggest, steaming pile of sheeite imaginable and it was testament to our novice status and accompanying enthusiasm that we sat through it to the end. However, it was the ending that chinned us and that’s been a sort of touchstone for us and the festival ever since. Don’t write a film off as pants after reading the synopsis, just go and see it because it’s the one in ten gem that you’ll remember for a long time (memory of the duds tends to fade by the time the first bottle of vino has been drained)
(You’ll have to accept the dubbed version here because it’s the visuals we’re interested in)
The Sitges Film Festival. Why We Keep Coming Back For More
It’s that time of year where the collective minds of team Corridorstyle start to wander as the distant, siren-like chimes of the Sant Bartolomeu bell tower grow louder, beckoning us to return once more to our cinematic home. To be honest, the calling is there pretty much all year round but we’ve yet to come by the means necessary for Corridorstyle to remain permanently on-location in Sitges.
While we need no reminding of what it is that keeps us coming back for more, we thought we’d take a walk down memory lane in the lead up to this year’s event to give you pitiful souls who’ve yet to experience the festival a taste of what it’s all about.
And for Corridorstyle there’s only one place to start. The beginning.
In A Mediterranean Town Far, Far Away
Although some may regard the town of Sitges as nothing more than the venue for the worlds greatest film festival, jetting in for the red carpet premier, being whisked away once the champagne is drained, there are others such as ourselves who have long since realised there is another, equally fantastic world beyond the flash of the paparazzi’s camera.
And while we try to cram as much “Sitges-time” into our relatively brief visit during the festival we know that life in the town continues after the curtain has fallen so we like to keep an eye on what’s going on between Octobers. Sitgesbarcelona.com allows us to do just that.
We’re hoping that Obi Funk Kenobi will again be performing at the Lizard Club when October comes as the festival buzz usually has us reaching for vino and vibes wherever Sitges cares to lay it on.
But We Like It Because It Looks Cool.
While we’re semi-aware of the hidden textural layers many movies may weave, generally speaking a film rarely has to dig deeper than slick visuals and claw hammers to keep team Corridorstyle happy. And although we really don’t need any new reasons to stick OLDBOY, BITTERSWEET LIFE, or THE CHASER in the DVD for the umpteenth time, Andrew Lowry at The Guardian has an interesting take on a possible catalyst for Korean cinema’s recent love for bloody revenge.
We Didn’t See The Devil.
Well, we didn’t see it at the festival anyways as it was screened on the final day when we were both too hung over and too pushed for time before our flights home.
However, as I SAW THE DEVIL brought together two of our favourite Korean actor’s, Byung Hun-lee and Choi Min-sik, we were not to be denied and have since managed to catch the pair at their bloody best in this unflinching revenge thriller from Kim Ji-woon.
Head over to Twitch for an interview between Diva Velez and the film’s director.
Whichever Angel You View It From. Enough Already!
We thought this matter would soon be Shaun of the dead and buried when it first raised it’s head, but it appears that those sacred gatekeepers of our moral gardens feel they need to jangle their keys a little louder and longer.
We’re reluctant to give this ridiculous scenario any more of the blogosphere than it’s already consumed but as we’re the festival’s top two biggest fan’s with zombie film titles for Christian names we felt we should swing our weight around (plus it’s an opportunity to put up a photo of Angel hanging with the man we lovingly refer to as Rick Skywalker)
Nothing Concrete But Could Brad & Bale Be Back?
Perhaps our disappointment at Brad Anderson’s latest effort VANASHING ON 7TH STREET can again be traced back to that vintage Sitges year of 2004, where three directors promised so much and yet only one (The Wookie) has delivered any kind of follow up to date.
That year we were mightily impressed by Anderson’s THE MACHINIST, however, in going over our 2004 notes we can see that it was more the combination of Brad and Bale that left us wanting more. Good news then with this piece over at Jo Blow where the word is that the dynamic duo could soon be reunited on the J.G.Ballard inspired CONCRETE ISLAND.
A Horrible Way To Die (Starring Jim Bowen’s Son)
Cinematic horticulturists that we are we like to follow our Sitges seeds as they grow. Sometimes they eventually wither and die, while other times they seem to magically burst forth into life, a bit like Nic Cage’s hair. Either way, once they’re planted during the festival we like to see how they blossom come spring.
While cyber-stalking A.J Bowen we stumbled over this piece at Twitch where Michael Guillen gets to talk with the cast and creators of one of our Sitges 2010 favourites, A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE.
And yes, he IS still Jim Bowen’s son.
Confessions, Dogtooth, And Oscar
Great to see that two Sitges favourites have made the list of nine nominees for best foreign language film at the upcoming Oscars.
It seems like an age since we saw DOGTOOTH (KYNODONTAS) at Sitges 2009 but its weirdness is unlikely to have diminished over time or repeat viewings so it’s a little surprising to see it make “The Show”.
CONFESSIONS was a visual feast at this years festival but the stunning slow-mo and soundtrack combinations could have made it all too easy to miss the masterful tale of revenge bubbling beneath the surface. Good to see that it didn’t slip by Oscar.
The list of nine will be whittled down to five final nominees prior to the big event but making it this far is already recognition of a job well done. Recognition too for Sitges and their continuing success at programming some of the best films around.
Time Traveling Shane Carruth Loops Sitges 2004 & 2006 Together
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“They took from their surroundings what was needed… and made of it something more.”
What Shane Carruth did was take $7000 Bucks and made of it something a hell of a lot more.
We were already falling over ourselves at Sitges 2004 having been blown away by PRIMER but when we subsequently found out that the film had been pulled together for less than the price of a Nicolas Cage hair-piece we immediately wanted to know what other projects Mr Carruth was involved with.
We guess it must have been tiring for Shane to write, produce, direct, edit, fund, score and act in PRIMER because it’s taken him Seven years to get back in the game (couldn’t he have just duplicated himself in the box and halved the work?), but it’s great to see that he’s chosen to return with Rian Johnson, director of one of our other Sitges favourites, 2005′s BRICK.
Badassdigest reports here that Shane has joined Johnson on his third film LOOPER to help “with some effects for the time travel sequences”.
While it’s great to see Carruth back working in the industry in any capacity, we really want to see him back weaving his own brand of magic. During the last couple of years via various Tweets and Blog posts he’s been linked with a film known as A TOPIARY, most notably in this piece over at ThePlaylist where a big chunk of the script/plot is divulged. The project was said to be stalling due to funding issues but it appears that they may now be resolved with the film moving into pre-production.
With Carruth out and about twiddling knobs and levers on LOOPER we can only hope that this is a sign he’s had his fill of basking in PRIMER’s glory and he’s ready to put his genius hat back on.
It’s Teddy Robin & The Playboys
We absolutely loved GALLANTS at this year’s festival so it’s great to hear how it all came together from one of the film’s directors Clement Cheng. Check out the following interviews over at Twitch:
Clement Cheng: The Gallants Interview (Part 1)
Clement Cheng: The Gallants Interview (Part 2)
La Casa Muda Gets Tickets To The Dance
While we were impressed with the finish quality LA CAS MUDA achieved using nothing but sticky back plastic and old Fairy liquid bottles, we felt the film itself fell somewhat short. Shooting in one continuous 80 minute take (has that been verified yet?) is pretty cool, but it was 80 minutes of a girl crawling about on all fours moaning and groaning………hold on! That sounds pretty cool.
What the hell do we know?!
As reported over at Bloody-Disgusting Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, the creative team behind 2003′s OPEN WATER, obviously saw the film’s potential and decided to remake it as THE SILENT HOUSE.
In rapid fashion, and with the help of ELLE DRIVER (that’s the production outfit behind one of this year’s Sitges favourites RUBBER, not the Hattori Hanzo sword-wielding Daryl Hannah from KILL BILL), the team have wrapped in time to show the film in the Midnight Section of Sundance 2011 next month. That’s a mere 8 months after Gustavo Hernandez’s original first attracted attention at Cannes.
And before we go, has anyone seen star of THE SILENT HOUSE Elizabeth Olsen and THE WIRE’s Felicia “Snoop” Pearson in the same room? The hair braids aren’t fooling us.
CHRYSALIS Director Julien Leclerq Is Up For L’ASSAUT
2007 was a pretty good Sitges year and a 33 film festival marathon for team CS. One of the films to come out of nowhere was France’s Sci-Fi answer to Jason Bourne, CHRYSALIS. The stylish near-future production combined with old-school, bone-crunching fight sequences meant this was a festival hit for the team.
Good news then to hear that CHRYSALIS director Julien Leclerq is ready to tackle his second feature L’ASSAUT, based on the real life highjacking of Air France Flight 8969 on December 24th 1994. The account of the highjacking reads like a script written for Bruce Willis which should suit Leclerq who certainly has “action” in his directorial locker.
