The Sitges Film Festival presents a complete map of exhibitions covering the territories of fantasy
The Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia will be organizing nine thematic exhibitions offering a multi-faceted view of the territories of fantasy in different formats, genres and expressions. From a journey through the [REC] saga to a group tribute to Shinya Tsukamoto’s legendary film Tetsuo, Sitges 2014’s map of exhibitions shows different facets of genre art and cinema: Cannon’s movie posters, SD Toys’ and Propside.com merchandising products, Carles Ganya’s creations, fantascience drawings, Miguel Chevalier’s pixels and Gas Natural Fenosa’s Cinergy project. The nine exhibitions –in different formats– make up a comprehensive Festival exhibit program reinforcing its side event options.
[REC]: AN UNTAMABLE SAGA
BACARDÍ and FILMAX present the exhibition [REC]: An untamable saga.A one-of-a kind (and unrepeatable) opportunity to see how Spain’s most famous horror saga was born and created.
From 3 to 12 October, for the first time Casa Bacardí Sitges will be housing an external exhibition for an exceptional reason: to acknowledge the career of one of the most untamable directors: Jaume Balagueró, who will be premiering his latest film, [REC]4, at the Sitges Film Festival.
The perseverance with which the director chased his dream of making horror movies in Spain, spending over three years on getting financing for his first feature film The Nameless, never fearing any obstacles or giving up, has earned him the acknowledgement of BACARDÍ, a rum forged by the untamable passion of a family that, for over 150 years has had to overcome numerous adversities –like the 1880 fire, the earthquakes in 1903, 1906, 1914, 1932…–, the exile, Prohibition…– moved by the desire to create the best rum every day.
[REC]: An untamable saga is a comprehensive visual, audio and tactile review of one of the most famous horror sagas in the history of genre through dozens of pictures, unreleased posters, story-boards, drawings, sketches, wardrobe, atrezzo and a ton of objects never seen before off the big screen.
Divided into four big zones, each area of this exhibition is aimed at helping visitors immerse themselves in the [REC] saga, produced by Filmax, and to get ready for the premiere of its last installment.
Among other things, visitors will be able to enjoy approximately twenty unreleased posters that had never –until now– seen the light. Other iconic elements couldn’t be missing either, like Manuela Velasco’s T-shirt from [REC] or the bride’s dress Leticia Dólera wore in [REC]3, among other things.
You can also enjoy an exclusive audiovisual piece made by Jaume Balagueró, that re-examines the [REC] quatrilogy and will definitely delight fans.
And to make sure no one leaves thirsty and an to put an end to the party, visitors will be able to taste a series of cocktails inspired by the [REC] movies, made by students from the CETT International Training Center with BACARDÍ Superior, BACARDÍ 8 years and BACARDÍ Heritage. Drinks that will leave no one indifferent. Naturally Casa Bacardí will be the only place in Spain where –for a few days- you can taste these cocktails.
From 3 to 12 October (except the 9th, when it’s closes to the public), at Casa Bacardí Sitges. Hours: from 17:00 to 22:00.
CANNON FILMS: ACTION FACTORY
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The Festival is dedicating an exhibition area to movie posters from Cannon Films, one of the most important film production companies in recent decades and that lived its moment of splendor in the 80’s.
The documentaries The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films (Hilla Medalia, 2014) and Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (Mark Hartley, 2014), added to the sad news this past August of the death of one of its founders, Menahem Golan, have put one of the most important production companies in recent decades in everyone’s sights.
Golan, along with his inseparable cousin and co-owner of Cannon Films, Yoram Globus, where capable of including all the big names in action movies in their productions like Silvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson or Jean-Claude Van Damme and gave us unforgettable titles like Cobra (Gerorge P. Cosmatos, 1986), Invasion USA (Joseph Zito, 1985), American Ninja (Sam Firstenberg, 1985), Missing in Action (Joseph Zito, 1984) or Death Wish II (Michael Winner, 1982). The posters from these productions will be the ones you can see in the Auditori’s exit areas.
3 to 12 October. At the Auditori exit.
DREAM DECORATION
Once again, PROPside.com will be in charge of decorating the Auditori exit areas with originals pieces from the most prestigious fantastic genre productions. This year there will also be a tribute to dreams, done by the Festival, and presents emblematic pieces like Robert Englund’s glove and wardrobe from A Nightmare on Elm Street saga or prototypes from oneiric productions like Matrix, Sucker Punch or Blade Runner. The exhibit area will also offer the possibility of taking a picture with Gizmo, the character from Gremlins, to celebrate the movie’s thirtieth anniversary.
PROPside.com is Spain’s first company dedicated to preserving, buying and selling original film & TV material, offering its services to both production companies and private collectors. New this year, it will be opening its doors to the international market.
From 3 to 12 October. At the Auditori exit.
CINERGY, BY GAS NATURAL FENOSA
GAS NATURAL FENOSA has launched the project Cinergy, an original initiative to bring energy efficiency closer to the general public through the seventh art. The energy company has selected four famous Spanish directors –Paco Plaza, Rodrigo Cortés, Jaume Balagueró and Juan Cruz– to direct four short films related to energy efficiency, starring some of the best known actors on the national scene.
On 3 October, Rodrigo Cortés will be presenting his short 1.58 at the GAS NATURAL FENOSA efficient home, which will be located on the Festival premises. A production with thriller and horror traits starring Manuela Vellés, with the special collaboration of Gabino Diego and journalist Julia Otero, 1.58 offers the viewer different keys to efficient driving.
At GAS NATURAL FENOSA Efficient Home we can learn what energy is and its value, and how we can be more efficient through the diverse activities the company will be offering for children and grownups from 3 to 12 October from 10:00 to 21:00.
From 3 to 12 October. Outside the Auditori.
FLESH & IRON: A VISUAL EXHIBITION ON TETSUO
The Bestiarie record company will be presenting a series of black ink prints at the Maricel Palace in an exhibition paying tribute to Tetsuo, the film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, and considered foundational for the cyberpunk film movement. The artists exhibiting their work are Liqen, Alonso Urbanos and Nando Vázquez,
The distinguished illustrator Liqen, has painted, during his street art facet, colorful, detailed murals on walls all over the world, and exhibited in places like the Opera Gallery on New York or been present at fairs like the International Contemporary Art Fair in Miami.
Alonso Urbanos has exhibited his designs at the National Romanticism Museum in Madrid, among other venues, and recently designed the covers for the cassette tapes produced by the Bestiarie record company, an editorial record label dedicated to publishing graphic and musical works related to ambient, industrial, metal and noise music and in charge of the exhibition’s production.
Galician illustrator Nando Vázquez has exhibited at different venues around Spain and Mexico, and will be presenting his work along with the graphic work by Miguel Sueiro, creator of Bestiarie.
The pieces will be displayed in a 70 x 100 format, and have been inspired by the relationship of the 20th century human being with the machine that Tsukamoto captures with the film Tetsuo, not as a struggle but as a fusion that gives rise to a new man, to the technological man of today. This exhibition is aimed at paying tribute to a film that, although it is now 26 years old, continues to be as valid as the day it premiered.
Shinia Tsukamoto is a filmmaker who has been especially interested in the fears of modern man, by the confrontation between flesh and the technology that surrounds it. Tetsuo, his first international hit, can be considered a cyberpunk apologia seeking a point of escape in cinematic language using the plastic of images as the driving force of a surreal discourse.
The exhibition’s prints will be on sale online at the website: www.fleshandiron.com
3 to 12 October. In the Blue Room at the Maricel Palace. Hours: October 3, 4, 5, 10 11 and 12, from 11:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 19:00; and October 7, 8 and 9, from 17:00 to 19:00.
FANTASY & HORROR
Illustrator Carles Ganyarul (Ganya) presents, also at the Maricel Palace, his collection of drawings based on scenes from fantasy and horror genre films. This exhibition offers the particular vision of this illustrator and film lover of a series of movies that he considers to have left a mark on filmgoer’s memory.
The black and white illustrations made with pencils on wood, relive movie classics like Nosferatu (1922) or Bride of Frankenstein (1935) to more recent titles like Alien vs Predator (2004), King Kong (2005) or Matrix Reloaded (2003), among others. Characters and films that are movie icons like Dracula, Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Taxi Driver, Wolverine, Jason, or Freddy will also be present.
Ganya started off in illustration relatively late at the ages of 31, despite being the son of a painter and illustrator. He has always been connected to the celluloid world, both as a movie buff and through his film direction studies and his career as a TV producer. His ability to recreate legendary scenes and faces and the contrast of black and white is what prevails in this collection that, according to its author, “is aimed at paying tribute to the seventh art”.
3 to 12 October. In the Blue Room at the Maricel Palace. Hours: October 3, 4, 5, 10 11 and 12, from 11:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 19:00; and October 7, 8 and 9, from 17:00 to 19:00.
ILLUSTRASCIENCE COMIC WORKSHOP
The Malvasia de Llibres Bookshop will be housing an exhibition of the science fiction illustrations by students from the iI·lustraSciFi workshops, organized by the Catalan Association of Scientific Communication (ACCC), through the Illustrascience initiative –aimed at disseminating the importance of scientific illustration–, Malvasia de Llibres and the Festival.
The workshop, that took place on 13 September at the Casino Prado in Sitges, was headed by illustrators Jordi Pastor and Damián Campanario, formers with solid experience in their field, who helped the students recreate the fantastic world of dreams, the Sitges 2014 leitmotiv, through their drawings. During the workshop, students were able to analyze the sci-fi comic over time and get to know the most representative authors.
The exhibition opening, which will take place on 6 October at 17:00, will include the graphic work by Pastor and Campanario, Khalid: Crònica d’una realitat that tells the story of two Maghrebi brothers who immigrate to Europe, risking their lives to make their dreams and hopes come true.
4 to 18 October. At the Malvasia de Llibres Bookshop (Espalter, 16). Hours: 10:30 to 13:30 and 17:00 to 20:30.
SD TOYS
SD Toys, a company dedicated to the production of collectable merchandise and figures, will be presenting, in the exhibit area at the Auditori exit, a collection of pieces and characters from fantasy genre series like Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory and their new Star Wars products, plus figures, cups, office supplies, T-shirts, key chains and all sorts of objects related to this theme.
SD Toys was Spain’s first company dedicated to developing this type of products that, until that time, was an exclusive market in the US and Japan. Licenses like Blue Brothers, Fender Guitars, or the recent Cálico Electrónico, Heidi or Mazinger Z are a part of SD Toys.
3 to 12 October. At the Auditori exit.
MIGUEL CHEVALIER: POWER PIXELS 2014
On display at The Stämpfi Foundation is the work of Miguel Chevalier in an exhibit entitled Power Pixels 2014, presenting a selection of works by the famous Mexican-French artist, one of the benchmarks in digital art. The exhibition presents, in the Foundation’s rooms 2 & 3, Chevalier’s latest artistic investigations through different virtual reality installations and a series of static works.
Chevalier’s experimental and multidisciplinary work reformulates the essential themes of art history. His work addresses the question of the immateriality of art, as well as computer induced logics, like hybridization, interaction or network representation. The artist develops diverse topics –the relationship between nature and artifice, the observation of flows and the research our contemporary societies organize, the imaginary of architecture and virtual cities–, which provide images constantly questioning our relationship with the world.
Miguel Chevalier is one of today’s exemplary digital artists. A pioneer of virtual art, since 1978 he uses computing as a means of expression in the field of plastic arts. His work has been exhibited at important international contemporary art centers, museums and festivals. In the past three years only he has exhibited in Paris, Venice, Brussels, Mexico and Miami, among others. And at the past edition of the Art Paris fair he was featured at the opening session with a work that virtually covered the entire facade of the Grand Palais.
3, 4, 5, 10 11 and 12 October. Hours: Friday, from 15:30 to 19:00; Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00 and 15:30 to 19:00; and Sunday from 11:00 to 15:00.
