The United States, Korea, the United Kingdom and, recently, also Spain, are some of the filmographies that have brought horror and fantasy to screens around the world. But the genre has been growing and gaining followers in other countries whose film industries are more modest, but where there is no lack of talent.
The Sitges festival has already been programming films from exotic cultures for several editions, but this year it has opted for new emerging filmographies which, almost reaching the equator of the contest, have left titles much applauded by a dedicated audience and which, in moreover, they agree when it comes to addressing terror from the point of view of the feminine.
‘In flames’
Zarrar Kahn was born in Karachi (Pakistan) and spent his childhood there. Afterwards, his family moved to Canada, where the young man became interested in cinema. Kahn has shot several short films and has managed to make a place in the world cinematographic scene thanks to his first feature film, In flames, which participated in the last Cannes festival and which was shown yesterday in Sitges, where it was very well received received
For his feature debut, Kahn has returned to Karachi, where young Mariam, who lives with her mother and brother after the death of her grandfather, is studying medicine. The girl’s life is disrupted by the death of a boy she was dating, by the harassment of some men and by an exploitative relative who wants to keep her inheritance. As if that weren’t enough, ghosts harass the protagonist of In flames, which is still a film that claims women’s rights in a country where equality shines through its absence.
‘Witchcraft’
Despite his young age of 38, Chilean director Christopher Murray has already made a name for himself in international cinema thanks to his documentaries and El Cristo ciego, which competed at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. Murray is now moving away from the civilization to set his new film, Brujería, on a remote Chilean island in the 19th century. A German colonist cruelly kills the father of Rosa, an indigenous girl, who will empower herself and seek revenge through the most ancestral magic.
‘Tiger stripes’
Malaysian filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu now lands in the competition she came to for the first time in 2019 to develop the project of this film that she considers so personal and that, after winning the Grand Prix of the Critics’ Week in Cannes, will compete for the Oscar for Malaysia. The story of Tiger stripes talks about feeling different from others through the figure of an extroverted teenager, Zaffan, who is ostracized by school and her friends when she has her period. The director creates a haunting atmosphere that alludes to women’s liberation while combining her country’s popular culture with folk horror, Z-series and TikTok dances.
