Hugo Pratt, the comic artist behind Corto Maltese, is the designer of this year’s BIFFF poster, the 30th time Brussels holds its Festival of Fantastic Film.
The 2012 edition will run from 5 April to 17 April or, in movie time, from The Raven starring John Cusack to The Cabin in the Woods, the brainchild of the man who wrote Cloverfield and the man who’s responsible for Buffy.
As always there will be a Vampire’s Ball, so any creatures of the night who’re up for some dance moves should keep the night of 13 April available. Fans of silly glasses should rejoice in the fact that the BIFFF has managed to equip with Masterimage 3D technology: I literally have no clue of what I’ve just written, but I do know there’ll be a gigantic increase in 3D movies. Hmm.
It should be said that the programme of this year’s festival looks quite diverse: even though quite some movies seem to resort to gory gadgets, you won’t have to search too long to find a Korean version of X-men, a dystopian future, some drama, a sci-fi romcom and many other subgenres.
Equally diverse is the origin of the movies, there are quite a few American movies, but other countries thrown in the mix include the Philippines, Norway, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Denmark, the UK, South Korea, Germany and Spain. That’s what we call a fortnight-long trip around the world in horror and fantasy.
At this point, I have no clue as to whether I’ll have the chance to see at least one movie (let alone do a full day session like many years ago), but like me, that shouldn’t stop you from checking out the website. Even if you can’t make it, almost every movie contains a trailer and it’s a nice way to find out some interesting releases you may want to get your hands on if they appear on tv, dvd or whatever your desired medium is these days.
Points for the most dystopian trailer go to Carré Blanc (a Belgian-French co-production), the most endearing fantasy film appears to be the Swiss The Sandman, but the prize for best trailer (surely, “teaser” should be more appropriate) has to go to The Butterfly Room, which manages to boast with a cast including Barbara Steele, Heather Langenkamp and Camille Keaton. That alone should make you want to look at this trailer, even if none of these women feature in it.
Avenue Kurtodrome 