He was spotted at the BIFFF early on in his career, first as a scriptwriter (SEXYKILLER, Audience Award 2009), then as a director (NEON FLESH in 2011) before being seduced by Hollywood where he directed Nicolas Cage and shot several episodes of our favorite series: PENNY DREADFUL, FEAR THE WALKING DEAD, AMERICAN GODS – in… Continue reading Adios
Section: Black Raven Competition
The Division
Rio de Janeiro, 1997. “Love me, love me, say that you love me” the Cardigans croon on the radio, but that’s of little comfort to the girl who’s listening. She’s being held hostage in a sleazy room and her captors demand ransom from her rich senator of a dad. She’s one of the 11 kidnappings… Continue reading The Division
Ropes
Elena suffers from tetraplegia and goes through life in a wheelchair. Her dad tries to cheer her up by getting her a cute doggie but when the latter bites an infected bat he turns… batshit insane! Cujo’s no match for him, but is Elena? She’s always been more of a cat person.
Beasts Clawing at Straws
The life of a Louis Vutton bag filled to the brim with money ain’t particularly easy: there’s the continuous moving around, being abandoned or even locked up, the ever-changing chain of owners… Tae-young wants to take care of the bag, but he’s being chased by a bunch of merciless mercenaries with a love for spliced… Continue reading Beasts Clawing at Straws
The Weasel’s Tale
Heh, four senile has-beens of Argentinean cinema in a humongous mansion: an easy target for two ruthless real estate agents, right? Well, it turns out the old-timers know a thing or two about scheming too… Sizzling dialogues and cynical humor from the director of THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES.
First Love
Maestro Maniac Takashi Miike is turning 60 this year, with double as many films to his name – yup, that’s 2 films a year since his birth! – but he’s not thinking of quitting: “I’ve got the feeling I’m going downhill physically so I have to keep on filming as long as I can. I… Continue reading First Love
Hitman: Agent Jun
Jun is the ultimate secret weapon of the Korean government, but all he dreams of is to be a comic book writer… In the mood for a feel-good movie? How about TRUE LIES boosted by manga intermezzo’s à la KILL BILL and with at least as much visceral violence as in THE RAID?
THE BLACK MINUTES
Gulf of Mexico, end of the 70’s. A town like an oil stain, where the pitch-black plumes of the refineries are but a pale projection of society’s crawling underbelly ripped open and spilled out all over the pavement. The kind of place where corpses showing up on your evening stroll isn’t anything out of the… Continue reading THE BLACK MINUTES
THE REPLACEMENT by Óscar Aibar
THE REPLACEMENT by Óscar Aibar (whose THE FOREST already delighted us at the BIFFF 2013) paints a desolately grim picture of Spain around the early 80’s. The odd poster bearing the likeness of recently instated King Juan Carlos may occasionally appear in the background. And once or twice there’s even mention of the peculiarly new… Continue reading THE REPLACEMENT by Óscar Aibar
BLAST
Ah, Paris, the city of love! Except for its drivers who daily have to wade through a traffic-jammed hell with seemingly endless streams of kamikaze Segways and equally suicidal Japanese tourists who – after the shock of discovering a city that has little in common with Woody’s wet dream MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – are considering… Continue reading BLAST
NIGHTRIDE
Who wouldn’t want to change jobs for a better life? It’s a rhetorical question and it’s exactly what Budge plans to do. Tomorrow he has an appointment with the bank to get a loan to start his own car shop with his partner. Except they ask for a down payment of 60 grand and let’s… Continue reading NIGHTRIDE
THE LAST CLIENT
Suzanne obviously has it all: an ideal husband, a perfect little girl and a job she excels at. As a renowned psychologist with an impressive string of bestsellers, she makes enough to afford all the finer things in life. All she has to do is listen to her tortured patients, all day long. Kind of… Continue reading THE LAST CLIENT
TOMB OF THE RIVER
For once, a Korean gangster picture takes us not to the message parlors, noodle bars or sinister parking garages of megacity Seoul, but to the modest coastal town of Gangneug. But don’t worry, the change in scenery doesn’t diminish the more than generous body count! The year is 2017 and the Olympic Winter Games are… Continue reading TOMB OF THE RIVER
SPECIAL DELIVERY
If you need to deliver an urgent package, you’ve got the postal office. If you need to run an urgent errand, you’ve got cabs. But what if you have to run an urgent errand with a not-so-legal package that potentially puts your life at risk? That might turn out to be difficult. Luckily, there’s a… Continue reading SPECIAL DELIVERY
LIMBO by Soi Cheang
Cham Lau is a lone wolf, a cop who almost went off the deep end after he lost his family in a car crash, and he’s on the hunt. A serial killer has been spreading chaos and panic in Hong Kong’s underworld. He has the nasty habit of sawing off the left hand of his… Continue reading LIMBO by Soi Cheang
DIABOLIK
Clerville, kind of like an Italian Gotham City, is in the grip of a masked scoundrel that has a nasty tendency to pull off the most yolo heists. This scoundrel’s name? Diabolik. A lawless criminal, an anti-hero who doesn’t care about defending the weak and the poor and who has a black belt in the… Continue reading DIABOLIK