It´s been a great six days at the San Sebastian Horror & Fantasy Film Festival. I´m feeling somewhat tattered and torn, which is only to be expected, but I already can´t wait for next year. There´s a hell of a lot to enjoy in San Sebastian. Without even taking the festival into account, it´s a truly beautiful city.
Its Old Town quarter is a playground for boozy, smoky indulgence, where you can play the exquisite bingo-pinball machines...
And enjoy some great ´pintxos´, which are basically posh Basque tapas...
My favourite film of the fest was Martyrs (pictured below), a phenomenal killer-blow from French director Pascal Laugier, which has been caused tidal waves in the horrorsphere. I finally caught up with it at a 10am press screening, and despite having been warned it was a rough watch, I didn´t quite expect it to be that brutal, bleak and disturbing. Despite all the grim horror, though, it turned out to hinge on some really interesting ideas. I loved it. Well, ´love´ isn´t quite the right word, but it was great. Strongly recommended to hardcore horror fans. How can you not want to watch a film which made one viewer pass out during the Sitges Film Festival?
One of the great things about being a journalist (or at least one, these days, when it suits me), is being able to watch a film like Martyrs, then discuss it with the director, mere hours later. Pascal (pictured below) turned out to be a perfectly lovely and not at all psychopathic gentleman, who admitted that he hadn´t considered my interpretation of the film´s conclusion. Shame, really, as my interpretation was my one sliver of hope...
In a few hours, I´m flying back to London, eager to eat some healthy food, shun booze and kick the cigar habit I´ve reacquired during my stay...
All these toxins do very strange things to the mind. Yesterday, I launched into a booze-and-nicotine-fuelled frenzy and did this to the nearest child:
Regretted it afterwards, obviously. But the kid´s parents were very understanding and decided not to press charges.
4 comments:
Ah honey, you're home. Did you bring me anything? And were you faithful, oh blog-hub?? Your silence speaks volumes... *SOB*
well, they could hardly complain, dressing the child like that... not even any shoes....
I was at that festival and now I'm searching aimlessly for the Japanese special effects guy - also a director I think, who did that exhibit with the child also a werewolf... I've got a photo of us with him... Any idea?
I was at that festival with my husband Rob Schmidt, a director, and my kids. Now I'm looking for the name of the japanese special effects guy who had that exhibit including a werewolf and the child who you fake strangled. Any idea who it could be? Let me know, thanks! (second try at a comment so if this is the second one you're receiving, I apologize)
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