Carlota Pereda’s second film The Chapel, her follow-up to Sundance hit Piggy, is among the seven films selected for Fantastic 7, the showcase of international genre projects at various stages of production to be showcased at the Cannes market this year.
Fantastic 7 is a joint initiative of the Cannes Marche du Film, Sitges’ International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia and Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur co-director Bernardo Bergeret. Each film has been selected by a different genre-focused festival
The Chapel, which is in post, is the selection of Sitges. The film is produced and is being sold by Spain’s Filmax, with Bixagu and is backed by Netflix. It is about a young girl who wishes to keep communicating with her dead mother, with the help of a fake medium.
Also in post is fantastical film The Fin by South Korean director Syeyoung Park, whose credits include The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra. The new film is about a dying mermaid who asks a friend – mermaid #437– to give his remains to his daughter, who hides among humans. This choice of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival is produced by Heejung Oh at Seesaw Pictures.
Talal Selhami’s third feature The Shelter, is at script stage and is about a Syrian war survivor, who has to take care of an elderly French man, while facing tthe ghosts from the past. Produced by Lamia Chraibi of Casablanca’s La Prod, it has been selected for Fantastic 7 by the Cairo International Film Festival.
The Guadalajara International Film Festival has chosen by Pablo Delgado’s Mexican horror film Corpus, which is in development. The story is set in the dungeons of an old seminary the middle of the woods and is produced by Eva Ruiz de Chávez and Mariana Rodríguez.
Tom Levesque’s The Televangelist, a black comedy-thriller, is the choice of the New Zealand International Film Festival and is also in development. Produced by Curious Films and Minds Eye Entertainment, the feature revolves around a preacher who has to contend with a rival online preacher, his crumbling marriage and his entanglement in an unfortunate crime.
Also threading horror and comedy is Dead Enders from producer-directors Fidel Ruiz-Healy and Tyler Walker, and the choice of South By Southwest. The project, now in development, is a follow-up to their short film of the same name, which won an audience award at SXSW, about a slacker who rouses themselves to stop a scourge of mind-controlling bugs from taking over their small town.
The seventh film in the selection is sci-fi noir Restore Point, the feature debut of Czech-born Robert Hloz, which has been picked by Tallinn Black Nights Festival and is in post. The film is set in 2041 when committing murder has become almost impossible due to the ability to revivte those who die from an unnatural death. It is produced by Jan Kallista at Prague’s Film Kolektiv.
Fantastic 7 will take place on May 21 with Alex de la Iglesia the ‘godfather’ of this year’s event.
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