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.

Jess Franco is a great admirer of jazz music, and a gifted pianist himself. This film, one of his very best, is based on a story the great trumpeter Chet Baker told Franco. Baker said that when he plays solos his mind wanders, seemingly endlessly, outside of time and space. This rudimentary idea forms the basis for this film. As is so often the case in Franco's best work, Logic doesn't get within a mile of center stage. Obsession is the central theme, and we might call it the central theme of Franco's entire ouevre. Here, jazz musician James Darren finds the body of a beautiful woman he had met at a wild party the previous night washed up on the beach near Istanbul. He thinks back to the party, and a particularly depraved trio (Klaus Kinski, Dennis Price and Margaret Lee) he saw with the woman. Later in Rio, he sees the woman again. But is she the same woman? Is she real? Is the trumpeter himself even alive, or just a walking dead man a la POINT BLANK? Don't expect a simple solution - this is a film of its lysergic times, after all. Do expect Franco's seemingly effortless visual bravado. Franco has film sense in abundance. Stunning compositions and vistas of tremendous yet depraved beauty succeed one another faster than the eye can take them in. When it's over the viewer feels shaken, possibly a little confused, but oddly satisfied. (Lars)

A limited number of tickets are available to the general public. Click here to buy.