ACTIVITIES TAKE OVER THE FANCINE PROGRAMME IN A WEEKEND FULL OF GUESTS

The K-Pop competition and the conferences with Bill Plympton, Damian McCarthy, and Alberto Evangelio are the stars of the event’s busy agenda

The Fantastic Film Festival of the University of Málaga has crossed its 31st edition’s halfway point this weekend with a full schedule of events, alternated with screenings at the Albéniz cinema. These screenings were attended by some of this year’s guests, such as the famous animator Bill Plympton (the designer of the Fancine’s passport kitties), who discussed his career, his most recognized works, and his creative process, followed by a Q&A. The US artist showed some of his works, such as ‘Your Face’; ‘Homer’s Face’, the couch gag he made for The Simpsons; or ‘Hot Dog’, as well as his most recent short film set during the pandemic, ‘Demi’s Panic’, screening for the first time here in Spain. He also offered some previews of the unreleased projects he is working on, such as a clip of a western musical titled ‘Slide’, a trailer for the feature film titled ‘Band Out of Time’ in which he collaborates with the musical band Big Daddy, and the music video for a song called ‘Mexican Standoff’ by the Dutch group Parson Brown. At the end of the event, Plympton signed postcards to all attendees, who were also able to purchase DVDs of the artist.

Also presenting his first film was the Irish director Damian McCarthy, who was able to chat with the attendees about the making of ‘Caveat’. The filmmaker joked with the audience about the peculiar and terrifying rabbit that stars in one of the most striking scenes of the film, characterized by its sinister aesthetics and claustrophobic setting.

On Sunday, room 1 of the Albéniz cinema hosted the screening of ‘Visitante’, the debut film by director Alberto Evangelio, who was very proud to be part of this edition’s official section. In addition to introducing his film, he was able to answer questions from the audience after the screening, mostly aimed at clearing up the film’s complex plot of parallel universes.

While the contest continued in Alcazabilla street with the screenings of Mamoru Hosoda’s animated film ‘Belle’, the premiere of ‘Wild Men’, and the science-fiction and horror film ‘In the Earth’, the Teatinos campus was bursting with activities. On the morning of Saturday 13th, the Contenedor Cultural hosted the traditional K-Pop dance contest organized in collaboration with the No-Eul association. The participants —divided into individual and group categories — performed various choreographies by Korean pop groups while wearing outfits similar to those worn by the idols. Among the 31 performances (21 solo and 11 group performances), the jury, made up of representatives of the organizing entities, selected three winners in each category. In the individual category, the winner was Sae Culona, who received 150 € as first prize, followed by Cheko and Merichonga, second and third prizes, respectively, who received a trophy and a Fancine merchandising pack. On the other hand, the first prize for best group performance, worth 300 €, went to the group ‘Palacete Kids’, while ‘Los niños’ and ‘Menea pabajo tus carnes morenas’ completed the podium in second and third place.

Saturday ended on the vice-rectorate for Culture’s stage with the performance of ‘Fancinópolis’ by Mu Teatro, which staged a revision of Fritz Lang’s classic through the love story of two characters who work in a factory, alternating the plot with musical numbers and choreography.

Likewise, during the weekend, the planetarium installed by Aula del Cielo in the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology hall was open to the public. In several guided tours by the educator Francisco Gálvez throughout the two days, children and adults alike were able to discover the night sky, as they saw constellations, the face of the Moon and Mars, and the aurora borealis.

During these days, the cycle ‘Asia Fantástica’ presented by CineAsia also came to an end. The Catalan director Albert Ventura tuned in from Taiwan to present his film ‘Butterflies’ in the Saturday showtime at the UMA Rectorate, and on Sunday it was ‘Robo-G’’s turn. In addition, the screening agenda at Autocine Málaga Metrovacesa also ended with the remastering of ‘The Day of the Beast’ and ‘The Survivalist’.

The calendar of activities was completed on Sunday with a slime workshop, an activity aimed at the little ones in which about fifty children were able to create their own slime with rubber, paint, and glitter. Finally, the instrumental rock band El Altar del Holocausto performed live that same afternoon with a full house at the Contenedor Cultural.

Monday programme

Fancine will open the week with the competition screening of ‘Hinterland’, in a day which will also feature the screenings of ‘La pasajera’ (whose directors and main actor will attend), the animation film ‘The Spine of Night’, and ‘Mad God’, the stop motion animation work with which VFX artist Phil Tippett debuts as director. In addition, the Rectorate will host the premiere of ‘Lo que pudo ser 2084’, the new production by Samcreta. And as a parallel activity, Professor Olga Guerrero will give the conference ‘¿Será el agua el combustible del futuro?’, a talk followed by the screening of ‘Back to the Future’.