If life begins at 40, then Fantasporto, Portugal’s international film festival, has not only found its feet, but is also certain of its place and purpose in the years ahead.
Despite its association with horror and fantasy, the generalist festival took place this year at a new venue in Porto. Indeed, the 43rd edition of one of Europe’s oldest film festivals dedicated to European cinema, maybe in contrast to earlier editions where the organizers accused of prioritizing Asian films, but more on that eventually…
Megalomaniac (Belgium) and Narcosis (Dutch)
Megalomaniac (Belgium) won the big prize in the Fantastic Movies section, while the Dutch film Narcosis triumphed in the Directors Week – a category with growing importance at the festival dedicated to cinema of all genres – and there was home-grown success for the Portuguese film Incubus, by Tito Fernandes, which won the short film and the Portuguese film gong, an unusual achievement for a national production.
It also proved a success for European cinematography at a festival that evolved into a public platform for productions from across the world.
“It’s curious that practically only European films triumphed in this edition, when we often accused of privileging Asian cinema,” one of its co-founders, Beatriz Pacheco Pereira, writes with Mário Dorminsky.
But it’s not entirely unreal, given the festival’s recent emphasis on Asian cinematography (Japan, China, South Korea, Philippines, etc.) and the number of winners in the key categories from these nations.
Who said what?
This refocusing on Europe comes with a distressing film, heir to a Belgian heritage of sociological filmmaking. Lawrence Trott, a jury member and former director of Scotland Yard’s audiovisual section, told Euronews Culture that he was both happy and proud of Megalomaniac’s win: “I’ve spent most of my life fighting racism and misogyny, so awarding this film was important to me.”
However, as the film’s director, Karim Ouelhaj, noted to Euronews Culture, this is far from a basic anti-misogyny statement. If the main heroine, Martha, raped while working as a factory cleaner, she also becomes an executioner by assisting her brother, a serial murderer, in his horrific mission. “I refuse Manichaeism or the way of portraying the characters only as good or bad,” the filmmaker adds. “The victim frequently becomes violent, and there is a boomerang effect.”
Megalomaniac also won Best Actress (Eline Schumacher) and Best Director, in addition to the Best Film prize.
If “Megalomaniac” shows a terrible spiral of violence, Martijn de Jong’s Narcosis, winner of Directors Week, is about loneliness and the anguish of losing someone.
What distinguishes this film, according to the jury, is “the way in which the fluctuations of a grieving woman’s scattered mind interrelate with the hectic autumn landscape outside and with the overall rhythm of the story’s atmosphere.”
In the Orient Express section, which dedicated to Asian cinema, Kargo, by Filipino TM Malones, took top place, beating out other opponents from Japan.
Historic venue
Special edition of Fantas held at Batalha Cinema Center, one of Porto’s iconic venues for the seventh art.
After being closed and abandoned for years, this top Porto cinephilia destination has restored to its former glory.
This cinema is a site of devotion for film fans and a landmark for art. And the work of Julio Pomar’s frescoes that decorate its walls, making it an important monument in the city.
The frescos emerged in the 1940s and covered with numerous layers of plaster by the Salazar regime before they fixed almost miraculously. After being assumed to be lost for nearly seven decades, several generations are suddenly discovering them for the first time.
“I began attending film sessions in Batalha; this is a place that has been extremely important in my development as a film lover.” Discovering these frescoes for the first time and being able to work near them is a big delight,” remarked Beatriz Pacheco Pereira.
