Fantastic Fest 2009

This year Fantastic Fest welcomes hugely prolific auteur Jess Franco, a man who has carved out a special place in film history with his wholly unique oeuvre of sex films. We will show a selection of Mr. Franco's films during Fantastic Fest and present him with our first Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Ain't It Cool News. Jess Franco and his longtime collaborator Lina Romay will attend this screening in person.

In the '60s, previously empty arthouse theaters became part of an interesting trend. When they began playing tittilating European imports starring the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Gina Lollobrigida, their ticket sales skyrocketed. Suddenly their theaters were full of patrons, not just a half-dozen sullen espresso sippers. European producers were quick to respond to the resulting demand for product. The Euro-sex movie was born. SUCCUBUS might be seen as the culmination of this period. A serious-minded but playful artist with an uncanny eye for depicting sex provocatively on screen, Jess Franco was perfectly situated to make a masterpiece of the form. SUCCUBUS is like the shiny side of the REPULSION coin, as we see into the dream life of a vivacious sexpot (Janine Reynaud) whose nightclub act depicts sexualized torture on stage. As we follow her through Lisbon and Berlin, through encounters with lesbians, sadists and little people, we begin to see signs that she is carrying her work home with her. Surreal, at times pretentious, but always compelling and new, even Fritz Lang liked this movie, he called it "a beautiful piece of cinema." We are indebted to another well-known admirer of this film for the loan of the print: Quentin Tarantino. (Lars) A limited number of tickets are available to the general public. Click here to buy.