Festival season has begun...
...And with that, the Final Girls Berlin Film Festival, Berlin's premiere showcase of horror films directed and produced by women and non-binary filmmakers, has announced their full program of genre films, which will feature exciting flicks such as festival darling The Stylist!
The festival will be presented for the first time virtually from February 4th-7th, with a physical edition coming later this year around Halloween weekend. Feature films will be geo-locked to Germany, while several short blocks and all non-film programming will be viewable worldwide. Said festival co-director Eli Lewy, "Like many festivals confronting COVID-19, we thought long and hard about how to make our festival as safe and enjoyable as possible and decided to split our 6th edition...The February program includes a number of films about loneliness, technological reliance, and confinement that reflect our present-day reality in chilling ways.“ Check out the full lineup below, and for more information, head to the fest's website at https://www.finalgirlsberlin.com/festival.
FEATURE FILMS
FELLWECHSELZEIT (TIME OF MOULTING) -- Berlin premiere
Dir. Sabrina Mertens, Germany, 2020 Starring Zelda Espenschied, Miriam Schiweck In a small town in 1970s West Germany, Stephanie is an intelligent and lively child living an insular life with her parents. She senses that something is wrong in her family, something that cannot be put into words, and she pushes against it where she can. FELLWECHSELZEIT is a heavily atmospheric and harrowing portrait of the ways in which oppressive and repressed family dynamics can influence and infect the lives of younger generations-- not tangible, not namable, but inexorable.
LOS QUE VUELVEN (THE RETURNED) — Berlin premiere
Dir. Laura Casabé, Argentina, 2019 Starring Lali González, María Soldi, Alberto Ajaka South America, 1919. The indigenous peoples of the Guarani tribe have either fled, been exterminated, or reduced to servitude. Julia, the wife of a landowner, gives birth to her third dead child. Desperate, she begs Kerana, her Indigenous maid, to bring him back to life. The creature returns, but not alone.
BUIO (DARKNESS) — German premiere
Dir. Emanuela Rosi, Italy, 2019 Starring Denise Tantucci, Valerio Binasco, Gaia Bocci, Olimpia Tosatto 17-year-old Stella and her younger sisters, Luce and Aria, are locked inside their house with bars on the windows. Outside is the Apocalypse: two-thirds of humanity is dead since sunlight has become too strong and only men can venture outside. The girls stay locked in their house, alone, with no food until things begin to break down and puncture the delicate shell of their cloistered existence.
THE STYLIST— German premiere
Dir. Jill Gevargizian, USA, 2020 Starring Najarra Townsend, Brea Grant Everyone dreams of being someone else, but for Claire, that dream goes from an obsession to a living nightmare. Working as a hairstylist, Claire easily moves in and out of other people’s worlds and is able to seamlessly pursue her disturbing predilection. Her lonely life, gruesome hobby, and shocking secrets are thrown into turmoil when Olivia, her regular client, begs her to do her wedding hair. Could she have finally made a true friend, or is Olivia just like the rest?
12 HOUR SHIFT — German premiere
Dir.Brea Grant, USA, 2020 Starring Angela Bettis, Chloe Farnworth, David Arquette Nurse Mandy is desperate to make it through her double shift without incident. This proves to be particularly hard when you’re an addict and involved in black market organ-trading at the hospital. When her hapless cousin Regina messes up a kidney delivery, chaos descends on the Arkansas hospital as the two women frantically try to find a replacement through any means necessary. It doesn’t take long for things to spiral even further out of control when you throw in a dangerous convict, nagging patients, a well-meaning cop, and a whole lot of blood.
SHORT FILM PROGRAMS
I. IT’S COMING FROM INSIDE THE SCREEN: CYBER HORROR
Fragile.com
SPYGLASS / Dir. Javi Prada, Producer: Beatriz Hernandez & Fran Moral, Spain, 2020
DON’T TEXT BACK! / Dirs. Kaye Adelaide & Mariel Sharp, Canada, 2020 FRAGILE.COM / Dir. Alison-Eve Hammersley, USA, 2020 HOME SWEET HOME / Dir. Agata Puszcz, Poland, 2020 KALLEY’S LAST REVIEW / Dir. Julia Bailey Johnson, USA, 2020
II. AN EYE FOR AN EYE
The Fourth Wall
THERE WILL BE MONSTERS / Dir. Carlota Pereda, Spain, 2020
GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT OF BODY / Dirs. Hillary & Courtney Andujar, USA, 2020 THE HUNT / Dir. Amy Fajardo, Spain, 2020 RONG / Dir. Indira Iman, Indonesia, 2019 NJOUKCAMAT (THE TONGUES) / Dirs. Marja Bål Nango & Ingir Bål, Norway, 2020 SCOUT / Dir. Kodie Bedford, Australia, 2020 THE FOURTH WALL / Dir. Kelsey Bollig, France, 2020
III. BUSTING A GUT - COMEDY HORROR
Melted
STREAM / Dir. Eve Dufaud, Canada, 2019
GROWTH / Dir. Allison Miller, USA, 2020 HEAT / Dir. Thessa Meijer, Holland, 2020 YOU DON’T KNOW ME / Dirs. Isabelle Giroux & David Emond-Ferrat, Canada, 2020 THE MOTHER / Dir. Hope Olaidé Wilson, USA, 2020 MAKE A WISH / Dir. Dinh Thai, USA, 2019, Producer: Josephine Chang, Edward Hong & Diane Foster WAFFLE / Dir. Carlyn Hudson, USA, 2020 DING-DONG / Dir. Suki-Rose, USA, 2019 THE CLAW / Dir. Lael Rogers, USA, 2020 MELTED / Dir. Nikki Chapman, USA, 2020 YOUR MONSTER / Dir. Caroline Lindy, USA, 2020 DANNY’S GIRL / Dir. Emily Wilson, USA, 2020
IV. YOUNG BLOOD
She-pack
THE ROUGAROU / Dir. Lorraine Caffery, USA, 2020
SHE-PACK / Dir. Fanny Oveson, Norway, 2018 THE LITTLE DEMON / Dir. Carol Van Hemelrjick, UK/Belgium, 2020 THE CURSE / Dir. Ellie Stewart, Canada, 2020 BAKEMOTO / Dir. Sumire Takamatsu, USA, 2020 CERULIA / Dir. Sofia Carrillo, Mexico, 2017 FISH WHISKERS / Dir. Roney, Canada, 2020
V. CABIN FEVER - ISOLATION HORROR
Lose It
NOW THAT YOU’RE MINE / Dir. Petra Lumioksa, Finland, 2020
LOSE IT / Dirs. AJ Taylor & Maximilian Clark, Producer: Ann Lowry, USA, 2020 A DINNER PARTY / Dir. Michèle Kaye, Canada, 2020 FAT HENRY / Dir. England Simpson, USA, 2020 STUCCO / Dir. Janina Gavankar, USA, 2020
EVENTS
WRITING YOUR FIRST HORROR SCREENPLAY
Hosted by Alison Peirse, Author and Film Academic, Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre Have you always had a secret desire to write your own short film - but don't know where to start? In this interactive and supportive workshop, we will focus on creating horror films led by women and nonbinary characters. You will learn how to create stories, imagine new characters, and how to plot and structure your ideas. By the end of the workshop, you will have the beginning of your screenplay, and a plan for how to finish it. The Miskatonic Institute & Final Girls Berlin Film Festival co-present: GHOULS TO THE FRONT: RETHINKING WOMEN’S HORROR FILMMAKING Hosted by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Author and Film Critic, 1000 Women in Horror While researching and writing her book 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018, Australian film critic and author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas was struck by the scope of women’s horror filmmaking. That scope leads to some important – and sometimes difficult – questions: are horror films made by women necessarily ‘feminist’? What do we mean when we talk about ‘feminism’ anyway? Do women make necessarily different kinds of horror films to men and represent violence in different ways? And who has told us which women horror filmmakers’ matter – and, through their omission from popular memory, which ones don’t? Rather than presenting a singular alternate history of women’s horror filmmaking, Heller-Nicholas seeks to blow open the way we think about this subject more broadly, looking at a range of examples from around the world in order to think through ways we can collectively rethink the history of horror more broadly to be more inclusive, more representative, and more fun. IF ROSEMARY COULD RUN: WOULD YOU KNOW IF YOU WERE IN A CULT? Hosted by Seriina Covarrubias & Susie Kahlich An exploration of cults in horror and cults in real life, how they actually work, and how to know if you're in one (and what to do about it). Discussion and Q&A led by Pretty Deadly Self Defense founder Susie Kahlich and religious and cult studies expert, and Pretty Deadly Coach, Seriina Covarrubias. GIRLS GONE WILD: AUTONOMY, SEXUALITY, AND RESISTANCE IN REPRESENTATIONS OF YOUNG WOMEN IN HORROR FILMS Hosted by Dr. Kate Robertson, Author and Academic, Devil’s Advocates: Trouble Every Day “Girls Gone Wild” explores women-led horror films featuring young women who take active roles in their stories, maintaining control of their bodies, choices, and lives. These characters subvert expectations of women on screen – especially in genre cinema, where they are so often limited to the helpless, flailing victim or rise-to-the-occasion Final Girl. On the surface, they frequently reflect enduring stereotypes, envisioned variously as beautiful, deceptive, unruly, hysterical, immature, manipulative, overly-sexual, or reckless. But they also challenge these traits, negotiating expectations of how women should look and behave, how they move through and interact with the world, and what happens when they don’t conform. The Gaylords of Darkness podcast present: THE NECRONOMOLOGUE Get a glimpse inside stately Gaylords Manor as the Gaylords of Darkness podcast hosts, Stacie Ponder and Anthony Hudson, name their top ten Final Girls in this first-ever animated countdown video from your favorite queer feminist horror podcast. I Spit on Your Podcast present: SATANIC FEMINISM: EMBRACING THE DARKNESS Through the films Don't Deliver Us From Evil (1971), Alucarda (1977), Jennifer’s Body (2009), and The Witch (2016), the Spinsters of Horror will explore the representation and importance of Satan as the image of an anti-patriarchal idol and source of empowerment for women. Through witchcraft, possession, and pure free will, elements often referred to in connection with Satanic worship, the women of these stories explore their deepest darkest desires while breaking the bondage of conformity and oppression to become liberated spirits of wild feminine abandon. They achieve this when up against religious repression and temporal exploitation that surrounds their burgeoning sexuality and independence. By highlighting the three main Satanic opponents of the patriarchy -- Eve, the witch, and the succubus -- they will show that there is strength in darkness and power within embracing the ideology of Satanism. HER HUNGER: THE LESBIAN VAMPIRE AND QUEER IMMORTALITY, SUICIDALITY, AND CODEPENDENCY Hosted by Annie Rose Malamet, Podcaster, Girls, Guts & Giallo In this lecture Annie Rose Malamet traces the history of the lesbian vampire in film. Starting with a summary of Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla as the origin of the lesbian vampire mythos, we will trace her path in film from 1932 to the present day. Contained in this history is the way that queer women have reclaimed and clung to the figure of the lesbian vampire as a symbol of dark eroticism and the less savory aspects of queer life, those of which have not been abated by assimilationism and neo-queer pride.
By Matt Konopka
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