SITGES 2017: FANHUNTER DRACULA AND TABOO’KS
This year is the 25th anniversary of the appearance of Fanhunter: Drácula, by Cels Piñol and Chema Pamundi, a self-published story of humor, horror and science fiction that unfolds at the Sitges – International fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, which the authors attend every year, and that has become one of the saga’s most successful episodes as well as one of the most coveted by collectors. In addition, the figure of Dracula will be the leitmotiv of the 50th Film Festival.
This issue is cause for celebration for two reasons: the premiere of Gigamesh as a comic publishing company, and the fact that it is the first time the Sitges Film Festival is including a comic in the section of official books. The twenty-five years of Fanhunter: Drácula coincide with the Festival’s 50th anniversary, which Piñol and Pamundi pay an endearing tribute to: its emblematic venues, the moviegoers who gather together there and the town of Sitges, which both authors know well after years of obligatory visits as spectators or as accredited professionals.
The Gigamesh publishing company inaugurates the Gigamesh Excelsior collection with the reboot of Fanhunter: Drácula, redrawn and adapted to a new format thanks to which it can be enjoyed to the fullest. It will be available at the Barcelona Comic Fair starting on Thursday March 30th and, in all of Spain, on April 7th. In addition, the Comic Fair will be dedicating an exposition to the Fanhunter universe of Cels Piñol.
The Federación de Gremios de Editores de España (Spanish Association of Publishers Guilds) and the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia will be collaborating in a search for adaptation opportunities
The Federación de Gremios de Editores de España (FGEE) (Spanish Association of Publishers Guilds) and the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia have reached a collaboration agreement for authors and representatives from the audiovisual sector to study the possible adaptation of literary works for fantastic genre movies. Through this agreement, signed today by directors of both organizations, the Festival will also become a source of interaction between the universes of film and publishing. The 50th Sitges Film Festival will be held from October 5th to 15th and accompanied by a special lineup.
This initiative has been baptized as Taboo’ks and it is designed for movie producers and authors to study the possibilities to turn works of literature into audiovisual projects. The agreement is intended to generate opportunities in both sectors and, at the same time, to strengthen Sitges as a platform for the promotion of not only works from the film industry, but also for other related cultural industries. Also among the activities programed this year is the holding of a master class in Sitges by a symbolic figure in literature and film. Precisely this 2017 Bram Stoker’s Dracula will be one of the Sitges Film Festival’s central themes, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the premiere of the legendary adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola.
The Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia –which is the number one fantastic film festival in the world– has opened up its focus in recent years to the presence of the industry, which participates in encounters, forums and sales platforms for audiovisual projects. At the same time, the Festival also has a complete parallel lineup that deals with other fantastic genre cultural disciplines, like series, comics, art or literature. The combination of both profiles brings outreach and scope to this initiative. Actually, the project signed today represents the first step for the Festival to become a market of international literary rights focused on fantastic genre, in a line similar to the one applied be other world class competitions like Cannes and Berlin.
The agreement was sealed this morning by the chairman of the Federación de Gremios de Editores de España (Spanish Association of Publishers Guilds), Daniel Fernández, and the chairman of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia Foundation, Xavier Duran.
According to the chairman of the Federación de Gremios de Editores de España, Daniel Fernández, “there is a clear link between the publishing world and the audiovisual world. We all have many big movies or TV series in mind that have been adapted from works of literature. Opening a means of collaboration with an international festival as important as the one in Sitges offers us new business opportunities for publishing houses and a meeting place for both cultural sectors”. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia Foundation, Xavier Duran stated: “this agreement reinforces the Festival’s status as a meeting place for representatives of the film industry looking for new opportunities and, at the same time, it allows us to expand our presence in other territories of creation”.
This initiative has been added to the one agreed on by the FGEE and the Asociación Madrileña Audiovisual (Madrid Audiovisual Association) that will take place at the next LIBER, the International Book Fair, the project called Rodando páginas (Filming Pages), aimed at becoming a meeting place bringing together publishers, literary agents and leaders from the audiovisual industry to explore avenues for collaboration in areas like film, television, theater, graphic novels or videogames. The very first Rodando páginas (Filming Pages) will be held from October 4th to 6th in Madrid.
