Everyone at Imagine Fantastic Film Festival is mad about genre (right?). For our new interview series Faces of Imagine, our special guests, crew members and volunteers tell us all about the fantastic fiction they love.
This time it’s director, professor and traveller reiziger Miguel Llanso, whose films Infinite Summer and Crumbs both screened at Imagine this year.
Hi Miguel! Why do you love fantastic fiction?
‘Because it makes me trip, it makes me troubled and it makes me connect with many people from around the world in a very deep way.’
Why did you become a genre director?
‘I became a genre filmmaker because of…what, really? I just like sciencefiction and philosophy, which I studied, and I travelled a lot. So I guess the combination of very weird trips and deep philosophy made me think about the possibilities of dystopian realities.’
What’s your favourite fantastic genre?
‘My favourite genre is cosmic horror, because it makes us face the real and philosophical problems humanity is up against. Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey have been very dear and impressive to me.’
What’s your favourite scary movie?
‘Bambi! To this day I still have nightmares about Bambi’s mother dying. Is that a spoiler? I’m sorry!’
Who’s your favourite movie character?
‘It’s Mickey Mouse. I’m making a movie about him right now actually because I’m fascinated by him. It’s very dark. Disney is very dark, because America is dark, you know. They play two keys: the key of nuclear threat, and the key of smiles for the kids. Those two keys together make a very strange noise.’
In which fantasy world would you like to live?
‘I wouldn’t mind waking up in Oz from The Wizard of Oz. I think it’s wonderful to walk that yellow brick road forever. I think I actually try to walk a path like that in my life, which is why I like to live in strange places like Estonia and Ethiopia…and both start with an E. I guess my yellow brick road will take me to Ecuador next.’
What was your Imagine 2024 highlight?
‘Seeing Phil Tippett’s Mad God. It’s an incredibly original piece of art with a very creative mind behind it.’
Foto: Almicheal Fraay
