Imagine Fantastic Film Festival 2024 has begun. We’ll keep you updated on yesterday’s news and today’s highlights through this daily blog. Want tips in your inbox? Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of our homepage.
YESTERDAY’S NEWS (Saturday 26 OCTOBER)
Afrotopia | Crumbs by Miguel Llansó (whose Infinite Summer is still showing at Imagine next Tuesday) visualises a post-apocalyptic Africa scattered with Western pop culture relics; from Ninja Turtle action figures to Michael Jackson records. Yesterday, Crumbs proved the starting point for an interesting conversation between Dutch-Liberian writer Vamba Sheriff and Senegalese writer and philosopher Felwine Sarr. Sarr proposes an ‘Afrotopia’; a reinvention of Africa based on cultural, political, economical and ecological progress. A utopia of which, understandably, only the surface was scratched yesterday.
Dystopia in Denial | When Imagine asked Peet Gelderblom to create a video essay about 1984’s influence on genre cinema, Gelderblom decided to take a different route. Dystopia in Denial focuses on how Hollywood understood the 1984 zeitgeist better than Orwell did. Forget Big Brother and Newspeak; the 80s were all about brainless entertainment focused on nerds, loved-up teens, Conan’s muscles and Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop. People just wanted to be entertained, which is probably why 1984 (the movie) bombed at the box office. Flash forward to 2024, and dystopias are back in vogue – though they all look alike. The question of what a utopia should look like proved harder to answer during the Q&A.
Sayara with Q&A | In Turkish horror Sayara, a gym cleaner goes on a bloody quest for revenge against the men who killed her sister. During the Q&A, director and martial arts fan Can Evrenol told the audience how he had wanted to make a kung fu film, but ended up with a tale of violence which includes skull breaking, eye gouging and face smashing. Evrenol’s inspirations came from all over the genre spectrum, from Irréversible to A History of Violence. And yet, he said, he didn’t want Sayara to be just a splatter fest. The bad guys have feelings too, and the film’s female hero is no saint. After the Turkish première, Evrenol’s therapist congratulted him on his ‘love film’. You can still see Sayara at Imagine on 28 and 30 October.
After all this talk, it was time to party. At our annual Halloween Party in WG Café, there was bingo and DJ duo Mr. & Mevr. Koot played Imagine-themed hits. And Leatherface brought his chain saw to the dance floor.
TODAY’S TIPS (27 OCTOBER)
Hüddam 4: Ahmer | 13:45 in Filmhallen | The Djinn is back in Hüddam 4: Ahmer, part four of a series by Turkish director Utku Uçar. The film focuses on a married woman who can’t seem to get pregnant until she becomes possessed by a Djinn. Utku Uçar will be joining the audience for a Q&A and is also part of the Djinn-talkshow in Café Belcampo at 19:30. The show includes a keynote by Dr. Cüneyt Çakırlar, music by Mehmet Polat, a short film by Can Evrenol and a talk with Evrenol and Uçar.
Nieuw Nederlands Peil I |13:45 in LAB111 | On to Nieuw Nederlands Peil, which has been a part of Imagine for years. Four compilations of 19 Dutch short films in total, from science fiction to witch tales and from cosmic horror to mannequin scares. De compilations will each be shown twice, once with and once without the directors present. More shorts? Check out our international shorts in the programme schedule.
40 Years of Imagine: Talkshow | From 16:00 in LAB111 | Imagine wouldn’t exist without Jan Doense, who was a law student in 1984 and is now artistic director of Film by the Sea. In celebration of our anniverary, we’re looking back on our infamous festival history with Doense and partner in crime Phil van Tongeren – from the first Weekend of Terror to the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. Before the talkshow, we’re screening Húsid (1983), a unique Icelandic film which was shown during the 1986 edition. Psychological drama meets haunted house and a dash of Polanski, introduced by Doense.
Artificial Justice | 19:00 in Filmhallen | We knew it would come up sometime during the festival: AI! In Spanish thriller Artificial Justice, AI is taking over the judicial system, leading to a conflict of interest for a female judge. The film will be introduced by scientist Robin Pocornie, who specialises in case law for algorithms and discrimination. Ethics meets advanced tech – it doesn’t get more relevant than this.
