The festival, which will have Laura Chaplin, granddaughter of the legendary Charles Chaplin, as godmother, will be held from September 3 to 9 in Estepona and will pay tribute to Mick Garris, Cristina Medina, Javier Bódalo, Aníbal Soto, Idígoras and Pachi and the series of television ‘V’ on its 40th Anniversary
The Estepona Town Hall informs that the XXIV Costa del Sol International Fantastic Film Week, which this year will revolve around ‘Serial Killers’, will be held from September 3 to 9 and will feature Laura Chaplin, granddaughter of Charles Chaplin, as godmother for this edition.
The film competition will be held at the facilities of the Padre Manuel Cultural Center, the Felipe VI Auditorium and, as in previous years, will have parallel activities in Benahavís, Marbella and Malaga city.
The inauguration will take place on Sunday, September 3, at 8:00 p.m., at the Padre Manuel Cultural Center, with the delivery of the 2023 Special Jury Award “Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa del Sol Occidental” to the actor from Marbella Aníbal Soto, who will be recognized for his representation as an Andalusian actor outside the borders of our community. The opening of the event will be in charge of the pianist Susanna Ikebana.
After the opening ceremony, an interesting discussion will be held entitled ‘In the mind of the Murderer’, with the presence of the psychiatrist José Ignacio del Pino, the lawyer and youtuber Itzíar con Z, and the writer and journalist Francisco Quintero.
The film ‘Monsieur Verdoux’, whose plot revolves around a serial killer in Paris in the 1920s, starring and directed by Charles Chaplin, will also be screened at the opening gala. Tickets are free, and can be picked up at the Padre Manuel Cultural Center from August 28.
The screenings of the XXIV Costa del Sol International Fantastic Film Week will be divided into the following categories: seven films will compete in the Official Selection: ‘El Cuco’, ‘Happy Ending’, ‘Licanthropy’, ‘Plaza Mae’, ‘ Vous n’etes pas Ivan Gallatin’, ‘Lucette’, preceded by the preview of the short film ‘Libera Me’, and ‘Joni, pata de conejo’, from Spain, Japan, Brazil, Switzerland and Paraguay.
For its part, the Parallel Section ‘There are no two without three’, will include the screening of ‘The silence of the lambs’, ‘Psychosis’, ‘Seven’ and ‘La isla Mínima; ‘Fantástico en Familia’, with ‘Princess Bride’, ‘Juanji’, ‘Los Gonnies’ and ‘Gremlins’; and ‘Arvi Clásicos del Cine’, with ‘The Exorcist’, ‘007: Live and Let Die’. ‘Soylent Green’ and ‘Operación Dragón’, which will be screened at the Padre Manuel Cultural Center.
The 2023 jury will be made up of the voice actor, Ramón Langa, the Malaga-born interpreter Almar G. Sato and the director Javier Quintas.
As for the exhibitions, the XXIV Fantastic Film Week will present at the Padre Manuel de Estepona Cultural Center, from September 20 to October 6, the exhibition ‘Letters vs. Fotogramas’, made up of a collection of covers and posters of the most famous stories of serial killers in literary and cinematographic fiction.
Throughout 23 editions of the International Fantastic Film Week, more than thirty literary works related to genre cinema and its myths and legends have been published. In this new edition, you can enjoy the presentation of the commemorative book ‘La marca del asesino’, which will have several presentations, including on the 4th, at 8:00 p.m., at the Hotel El Pilar Andalucía in Estepona.
The parallel activities to the festival will be completed with the “XIII Gastronomic Days 2023”, an original initiative in which cinema and gastronomy are mixed in the kitchen. As hosts, the restaurants Casafina, Take A Wine and La Boquerona, in Estepona, will participate.
Honorees and closing gala
The closing gala of the XXIV Costa del Sol Fantastic Film Week will take place on Saturday 9, at 8:00 p.m., in the Felipe VI Auditorium, presented by the actress and presenter Lara Dibildos. It will be enlivened by the performance of the Canarian singer-songwriter Víctor Lemes. At this gala, the ‘Unicorn Awards’ will be presented to the winning films in the Official Section, in the sections of Best Film, Direction, Interpretation, Script, Special Effects, Photography and the David Geary Award for Best Music.
Among the honorees this year, the jury has decided to award the ‘Unicorn of Honor’ to Mick Garris, creator of the TV series ‘Masters of Terror’ and the film anthology ‘Nightmare Cinema’, and director of multiple television adaptations of novels by Stephen King, such as ‘Apocalypse’ and ‘The Shining’.
Before collecting the Unicorn of Honor, Mick Garris will present his official biography, ‘Master of Horror’, on Thursday 7, at 6:00 p.m., at Red Dog Cinemas, in Puerto Banús. Published by Applehead Publishing, and written by Abbie Bernstein, with a foreword by John Landis. Following the literary presentation, the 1988 horror comedy ‘Critters 2’, directed by Garris, will be screened. This will be followed by the national pre-premiere, within the Official Section, of the Spanish film ‘Joni, pata de conejo’, presented by its director, Ismael Vázquez.
During the closing gala, the following will also be awarded, in a special way: the 2023 Asfaan Award, which will go to the Sevillian actress Cristina Medina, popular for the series ‘La que se avecina’, for her contribution to the national audiovisual industry and especially to the Andalusian one.
The Special Jury Prize will go to the Madrid actor Javier Bódalo, while the award for Best TV Series 2023 will go to the popular ‘V’, for its 40th Anniversary. The Rodríguez brothers, known as Idígoras and Pachi, will receive the ‘Azpiri’ Award for Best Graphic Illustrator 2023, Ex-Aquo, in tribute to the immortal genius Alfonso Azpiri. The Unicorn Association, in collaboration with Maldragón Editorial, will publish a compilation of the ‘Boquerones Fritos’ humor pages, by cartoonists from Malaga.
The invitations for the closing gala, which will be free, can be collected from Monday the 4th, at the Padre Manuel Cultural Center.
The Costa del Sol International Fantastic Film Week is organized by the Costa del Sol Cultural and Cinematographic Association ‘Unicornio’, sponsored by the Estepona City Council, Benahavís City Council, Achedosol-Montes Torres and Casino Marbella.
Attendance at all film screenings, conferences, publications and other festival activities will be completely free, until full capacity is reached.
Download the official 2023 catalog at www.cinefantasticocostadelsol.com