Fantasporto

Dario Argento, Asia Argento, Takashi Miike, Guillermo Del Toro, Kim Ki Duk, Tsui Hark, the Coen Brothers, Frank Darabont, Stephen King, Lars Von Trier, Fernando Lopes, Max Von Sydow, Kelly LeBrock, Olivie Assayas, Michael Madsen, John Ventimiglia, Johnnie To, among others

Once again Fantasporto will be the meeting point of the cream of the world cinema. The biggest names in the world of cinema again return with their latest productions. As the guilty one always returns to the site of the crime, the winning filmmakers in Fantas are again in competition for a prize.

The Coen Brothers, awarded in Fantasporto for "Blood Simple" and "Fargo", bring to the opening of the festival "No Country for Old Men," yet another foray into a world of brilliant thriller with powerful interpretations of Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones.
And, if you start with the Coen, you end up in beauty with another pair already well known to the Fantas public. Stephen King and Frank Darabont work together again after the success of "Shawshank Redemption" and "Green Mile". King returns to more conventional terror and Darabont confirms his talent in a different gender. "The Mist" repeats the theme of the fog and the stylistic potential that hides in it to reflect on alternative worlds and strange military experiences that go wrong.

But in between the opening and closing there is a lot of exceptional films and well known filmmakers that make this edition of this years' festival particularly appealing for moviegoers and fans of the fantastic.

In the official Fantasy Film section, eyes are set, among many others, on Takashi Miike with "Sukiyaki Western Django", a parody and a tribute to the spaghetti westerns. A cowboy film filtered by an oriental look. The director and actor Quentin Tarantino has a small role in "Western Django" where the title shows admiration for the actor Franco Neri, who inspired the Django character.

The Official Fantasy Film section opens with "The Orphanage," a production of Guillermo Del Toro with Belén Rueda that we saw next to Javier Bardem in "Mar Adentro" by Alejandro Amenabar. It is a psychological terror film which is, after all, a beautiful story of love and childhood.
And there is also Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie To with "Triangle", three major names of the Eastern cinema that Fantasporto has followed closely over the years. They present a spectacular choreography of action and martial arts in dense stories of crime and revenge.

And Dario Argento with "Mother of Tears", the end of the trilogy that begun in 1977 with "Suspiria" and that continued three years later with "Inferno". This film focuses on a young American student who inadvertently opens an urn and triggers a serie of violent incidents. The protagonist is the daughter of Dario Argento, Asia Argento, which appears in the leading role in another film not to lose sight of: "Boarding Gate." The film by French director Olivier Assayas, is one of the competitors for the Prix of the 18th Directors Week, also the recipient of the newly created the Manoel de Oliveira Award. "Boarding Gate" gives us an intricate love triangle where Asia Argento appears next to the always magnificent Michael Madsen.

Competing for the best film of the Directors Week of Fantasporto 2008 is another complicated love triangle; it is called "Breath", the latest loving adventure of the South Korean director Kim Ki-Duk. Appointed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, this movie tells a love story between a prisoner and a strange girl who decorates the prison cell according to the seasons.

KELLY LeBROCK AT FANTAS

You remember her in "The Woman in Red". At the sound of Stevie Wonder's song, "The Woman in Red", Gene Wilder falls in love with a magnificent woman in a red dress. This was the movie that launched the career of Kelly LeBrock. A dozen of films later, the North American actress comes to Fantasporto to present "The Mirror" by Stephen Eckelberry, husband of the Oscar Winner Karen Black. A girl thinks she has a perfectly normal and happy life with her mother, actress, and a father that loves her. While the parents are out, she discovers that their house is full of hidden secrets.

REDISCOVERING THE CINEMA OF DENMARK

The cinema of Denmark has been awarded many times in Fantasporto. Being a small film industry in terms of its annual production numbers, Danish filmmakers and their films have been able to please the public and to achieve the recognition of the speciallists. Both sensitive to an extreme originality of theme, a careful visual and narrative treatment and a sense of humour that is so unique that becomes incomparable.

Fantas is proud to have discovered, displayed and awarded one of the current big names of the cinema in the Little Mermaid's country. It is enough to remind that Lars von Trier, head of the Dogma movement presented all his films in the festival. In the official competition of Fantasy Cinema is the latest film by von Trier before announcing a two years stop. "Occupations" is part of "Chancun son Cinema," a film made to commemorate the 60th aniversary of the Cannes Film Festival.

HOMAGE TO MAX VON SYDOW

Half a century of life dedicated to film, leading actor in over  hundred movies, Max von Sydow is, on the eve of completing 80 years of age, one of the great faces of the screen. Ingmar Bergmans' favourite actor and the priest in "Exorcist" by Friedkin, will be honoured at Fantasporto 2008 with the Career Award.

The amazing interpretation of priest in "The Exorcist" (1973) marks one of the high moments of his career in cinema of terror. The Max von Sidows' priest defies the diabolical forces in a masterpiece of the horror cult by William Friedkin. Together with the performances in "Flash Gordon" (1980) by Mike Hodges and "Dune" (1984) by David Lynch it expresses his great capacity of fantasy in science fiction.

Max von Sydow has worked with great directors in major films, especially starting from the 60ies when he started the conquest of Hollywood and a more international career. This season highlights such super productions as the George Stevens "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965) (where he interprets the figure of Christ), "The Quiller Memorandum" (1966) or "Hawaii" (1966). Other works of his filmography include the political thriller "3 days of the Condor" (1975) by Sidney Pollack, "The Hurricane" (1979) and "Duet for One" (1986). More recently we saw him in "What Dreams May Come", "Minority Report" and "Pelle the conqueror" that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

The Career Award is the deserved recognition of Fantasporto to a prodigious actor with an enviable career and ends up also being our tribute to the memory of Ingmar Bergman.

Career Award

HOMAGE TO PORTUGUESE DIRECTOR FERNANDO LOPES

One of the greatest Portuguese filmmakers, with a consistent and long career, one of the few to whom fully applies the term "author", Fernando Lopes will be honoured during the 28th edition of Fantasporto. Some of his masterpieces such as "Belarmino", "O Delfim" and "Crónica dos Bons Malandros" will be screened in Fantasporto.

As a peak point of this tribute, the International Festival of Cinema of Porto will display in national premiÈre, at the opening and in competition in 18th Directors Week, the film "The Lovebirds" by Bruno Almeida, where Fernando Lopes, as an actor, plays an almost autobiographical role, revealing an unexpected facet of his career. Together with him the film counts with participations of names like Michel Imperioli (Sopranos), John Ventimiglia or the Portuguese actors Joaquim de Almeida and Rogerio Samora.

In addition to the Retrospective of the work of Fernando Lopes, there will also be a world premiere of the documentary film "Fernando Lopes, Probably", directed by journalist and film critic João Lopes, outlining an intimate portrait of the director.