Festival news
21/04/2006
The Fantastic Films Weekend – the UK's fastest growing festival of science fiction, horror and fantasy – is almost here. Over the next eight weeks this newsletter will keep you informed of our line-up: the old, the new, the bloody and the plain bloody obscure. We also hope to welcome a number of special guests.
Cult filmmaker ROBIN HARDY returns to Bradford
Robin Hardy, the director of The Wicker Man , will make a return visit to FFW following his appearance here in 2002. Robin's new book Cowboys for Christ is published on May Day by Luath Press Ltd and he will join us on Sunday June 18 for a book signing, Screentalk interview and a screening of The Wicker Man .
Cowboys for Christ is a book inhabiting the same disturbing territory as The Wicker Man . It won't disappoint fans. Ripping through the themes of religion, paganism, power, sex and sacrifice Cowboys for Christ builds up to its gruesome, excruciating climax under the terrifying imagination of Robin Hardy.
Further information from www.cowboysforchrist.info
Supernatural chiller Half Light to open FFW
Universal's eerie new chiller Half Light will officially open FFW2006 on Friday 16 June. A creepy supernatural thriller, Half Light focuses on the emotional breakdown suffered by best-selling mystery novelist Rachel Carlson (Demi Moore) when her son drowns at her London home. Fleeing to a remote fishing village in the Scottish Highlands she wallows in her grief… until she begins receiving messages from her dead child. Unsure whether the messages are real or she is slowly losing her mind, Rachel is plunged into a nightmarish world of madness and murder.
Classics from the vaults
Recently released by the British Film Institute in its original and uncut form, Ishir ô Honda's Godzilla (aka Gojira ) is the grand-daddy of nuclear-spawned monster-on-the-loose flicks. This iconic rubber reptile will be arriving in Bradford to trample unsuspecting passers-by and generally wreak havoc.
FFW is presenting two delicious ‘70s favourites: Peter Duffell's portmanteau chiller The House That Dripped Blood and Gene Martin's trans-Siberian shocker Horror Express . Both prints have come from the cobwebbed vaults of the NMPFT and both star that timeless double-bill of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
We also hope to present the full-length mini series Salem's Lot , starring David Soul and James Mason, the rarely seen giallo gem Strip Nude Killer and our traditional all-day package of films. Previous offerings have included quartets of the Exorcist and Alien franchises as well as The Lord of the Rings saga. Watch this space for more news.
Darklands – The Director's Cut to make its UK debut in Bradford
Our old friend Julian Richards will return to FFW with the director's cut of his breakthrough movie Darklands , a spine-chilling expos é of paganism in modern-day Wales. The film, which stars Craig Fairbrass, Jon Finch and Rowena King, will run slightly shorter than the original 1997 version, thus tightening up an already nerve-fraying narrative.
After several years in limbo writer/director Richards ( The Last Horror Movie ) has regained control of Darklands and is preparing a director's cut to show to North American distributors at the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival.
FFW is delighted to welcome him back to Bradford with the ultimate version of an unsettling tale that was presented to fans at the very first Fantastic Films Weekend back in 2002.
Short Film Submissions
FFW2006 is still accepting entries for the short films section. Filmmakers should send their submissions on DVD or VHS to:
Short Film Submissions,
5 th Fantastic Films Weekend,
Film Department,
NMPFT,
Bradford,
West Yorkshire,
BD1 1NQ.
Passes for the 5th Fantastic Films Weekend are available at £35 (Weekend; £30 concessions and Friends of Film) and £15 (Day; £12.50 concessions and Friends of Film) from the Box Office on 0870 70 10 200 or from www.nmpft.org.uk/fantastic
Best wishes,
The Fantastic Films Team