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At the Rivoli – Teatro Municipal, between the 26th February and the 7th March 2010, it is time to celebrate 30 years of dedication to films and the film industry. In the World Heritage City of portwine, of the River Douro and the Atlantic Ocean, Oporto will be again the meeting place of large audiences celebrating the most important film festival in Portugal. As usual, and the prestige of the festival was built on this, the Oporto festival brings the most recent productions presented in three main competitions- Fantasy, Directors Week and Orient Express- in the presence of many important guests, many of whom were first discovered and/or awarded by the festival. The Opening Night will screen “Solomon Kane”, produced by Samuel Hadida and directed by Michael J. Basset, which was based on a book by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Sword and Sorcery , famous for “Krull” or “Red Sonja”. An extraordinary adventure in a world of imagination where a hero sells his soul to the devil. For Closing Night it is time for “The Crazies”. In 1973, George A. Romero, terrified the viewers in an historic moment with “Night of the Living Dead” . 40 years later, the director of “Sahara” and soon director of a new “Flash Gordon”, Breck Eisner, brings back a horde of zombies. In the Fantasy department, the highlights of the 30th Fantasporto cannot forget the multi-awarded Vincenzo Natali, winner of two editions, who returns with a film about cloning, called “Splice”. Back to the festival are also Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza with “Rec 2”. Chan-Wook Park, the awarded director of “Old Boy” returns with a film that mixes priesthood, lust and vampires, “Thrist”. “The Descent- Part 2” penetrates again in the dark secrets of the underworld by the hand of “Eden Lake” screenwriter turned director Jon Harris. And many others. The Directors Week, under the Patronage of prestigious director Manoel de Oliveira, welcomes the winner of the Cannes Jury Award, “Fish Tank” by Andrea Arnold, a disenchanted vision of the London outskirts. “Dolan’s Cadillac”, a superb story of violence, human traffic and revenge, starring Christian Slater, “The Time That Remains” by well known israeli director Elia Suleiman and “First Squad”, a very original Russian-Japanese production also promise to attract the crowds. Orient Express, the third competition dedicated to Asian Cinema brings uncommon variety. From the comedy “Loins of Punjab” to futuristic drama “Air Doll” , to japanese robots in Shynia Tsukamoto’s “Tetsuo - The Bullet Man” and action adventures with Indonesian “Merantau”, all invite to good film moments in Fantasporto. Special Programmes dedicated to Robotics, in cooperation with the most important Portuguese universities, and Special Effects workshops, in the presence of world experts such as Colin Arthur and David Marti, as well as Retrospectives of Portuguese director Luís Galvão Teles and French Cinema( co-organized by Unifrance and the French Consulate and Embassy) complete the programme. The best of the most recent Portuguese Cinema is also screened for the benefit of national and foreign guests. Fantasporto has the patronage of the President of the Portuguese Republic and the Prime Minister. Welcome to Portugal, one of the leading film festivals in the world, according to Variety! |
