Dir: Fernando Cortizo; 2010; Spain; Animation; Carlos Blanco, Paul Naschy; 80 mins
Following on from last year the festival will again be devoting a section to 3D cinema and first up is the premier of this Spanish stop-motion animation production.
It’s clear from the film’s official website that this labour of love, Spain’s first “crowdfunding” project to make it to the big screen, has pulled together some of the country’s finest artists, including the voice of the recently deceased Paul Naschy who will be receiving a special tribute from the festival with the screening of the documentary EL HOMBRE QUE VIO LLORAR A FRANKENSTEIN.
Sitges has the film’s premier so there’s little to go on other than the official synopsis:
A convict who escaped from jail takes off to a remote village to recover an old loot that was hidden years earlier. But what he finds there involves him in a fate much worse than the one he had been doomed to. Sinister old people, odd disappearances, spirits, a strange parish priest and even the archpriest of Santiago de Compostela will all meet in a tale full of terror, humour, and fantasy.
I’ve not seen any reference made but I wonder if the film’s title was chosen with a tip of the hat towards EL APOSTOL, thought to be the world’s first animated feature film.
We were quite excited at last year’s festival for the stop motion animation feature PANIQUE AU VILLAGE but that was more for the subject matter than the method of production. For all its craft and art it’s not really a style we admire here at CS. That same year Sitges screened another 3D stop motion production, CORALINE, but I remain unconvinced of the need for 3D in features of this nature and wonder generally whether the 3D “gimmick” will find its niche or pass as a fad.
Trailer:
corridorstylefilms.com 