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MOTELX 16th edition - First News!
Film premieres by Dario Argento, Michel Hazanavicius and Frederico Serra; MOTELX’s Lost Room in an brand new book about Portuguese horror; a programme dedicated to producer Paulo Branco, and “Os Crimes de Diogo Alves” with music by Bernardo Sassetti are some of the highlights of the 16th edition of the Festival.
From 6 to 12 September, in what has been the Festival’s home since its first edition, horror will finally be celebrated again with no restrictions. This year, MOTELX travels through time and space for the best horror cinematography, with a great emphasis on national production and its intersection with other artistic expressions, and extends to more spaces in the city, such as Teatro São Luiz, Convento São Pedro de Alcântara, and the Lisbon Museum - Palácio Pimenta.
One of the highlights is the national premiere of “Final Cut” (France, USA, Japan, 2022), by French director Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”). A remake of the horror comedy “One Cut of Dead” (Japan, 2017), starring Romain Duris and Bérénice Bejo, where a team shooting a low-budget zombie film is attacked by real life zombies. The bloodbath continues during the Festival, with an extra level of gore and intensity in the latest giallo by horror master Dario Argento - “Dark Glasses” (Italy, France, 2022) -, which reunites him with his daughter Asia, as well as with his cinematographic roots. In an exclusive national premiere at MOTELX, it marks the great return of the director of “Suspiria” to cinemas. Committed to showing, in generous doses of horror, a broad view of productions coming from all corners of the globe, the Festival revealed some of the feature films that contribute to the diversity of the programme: “Holy Spider”, by Ali Abbasi (France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, 2022), “Huesera”, by Michelle Garza Cervera (Mexico, Peru, 2022), “Hunt”, by Lee Jung-jae (South Korea) or “Wolfskin”, by Jacques Molitor (Luxembourg, 2022).
The official selection is joined by the Portuguese folk horror “Wolf Child” (2022), by Frederico Serra, world premiering at the 16th edition of MOTELX, and also “My Grandfather’s Demons” (2022), by Nuno Beato, the first stop motion feature film made in Portugal.
These two films representing contemporary cinema in Portugal, join another highlight of this year: the book launch for “MOTELX's Lost Room: The Films of Portuguese Horror (1911-2006)”. An unprecedented archive about unknown Portuguese horror cinematography, brought to you by MOTELX, underlines the evolution of the genre in the country until a year before the Festival’s first edition. A guide that was missing and which, as the artistic directors and programmers of MOTELX, Pedro Souto and João Monteiro, explain, "wraps up a decade of research started in 2009 in search of the roots of a hypothetical national horror".
It is in this context that, in the Lost Room section, Paulo Branco, the greatest Portuguese film producer, is celebrated, with three of his films listed in the book that have not yet been screened at the MOTELX: “The Convent” (1995), by Manoel de Oliveira, “The Fascination” (2003), by José Fonseca e Costa, and “Blood Course” (2006), by Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra. Works that "have in common what can perhaps be the matrix of horror made in Portugal, that is, of a horror originating from folklore, the so-called folk horror". Paulo Branco will attend MOTELX to talk about his experiences as a producer. In the same vein as the book, the centenary “Os Crimes de Diogo Alves” (1911) by João Tavares stands out as the first Portuguese horror film with filmic materials and Bernardo Sassetti’s favorite (1970-2012). In memory of the musician, who passed away ten years ago, and in partnership with Casa Bernardo Sassetti, MOTELX presents, at Teatro São Luiz, this silent film with the pianist's music interpreted in real time by a combo from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, reinforcing the Festival's desire to expand to other artistic proposals and venues. In this MOTELX 2022 edition, there is also a special FILMar day - a project operated by the Portuguese Cinematheque and the European fund EEA Grants, which aims to restore and digitize cinema related to the sea -, around the theme “Horror and the Sea”, with retrospectives and debates. Back at Cinema São Jorge, in the Special Screenings, “A Praga” (Brazil, 2021) will show a lost and recently found and restored copy of the “father” of Brazilian horror cinema, José Mojica Marins (1936-2020), and the short film “A Última Praga de Mojica” (Brazil, 2021), by Cédric Fanti, Eugênio Puppo, Matheus Sundfeld, Pedro Junqueira, documents the recovery of this unpublished film by the creator of the cult character Coffin Joe (a sadistic undertaker who terrorized viewers from 1964 onwards with “At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul”).
As for the competitive sections, the recently christened SCML MOTELX Award - Best Portuguese Short Film - the biggest monetary prize for short films in Portugal - continues its mission of stimulating the emerging and increasingly present national horror cinematography. And it brings major news: the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa lends its name to the award, representing a clear sign that supportting Portuguese horror cinema does not scare them. The most important competition of the Festival will screen 12 films, such as “They Call It…Red Cemetery!” (2022), by Francisco Lacerda, “Matrioska” (2021), by Joana Correia Pinto, “When the Earth Bleeds” (2022), by João Morgado , and “One Pool” (2021), by Carolina Aguiar.
In anticipation of yet another intense and terrifying edition of MOTELX, the usual Warm-Up MOTELX SCML fires up the engines, from 1 to 3 September, with an unmissable lineup that marks Lisbon's cultural rentrée.
The screening of “O Fauno das Montanhas” (Portugal, 1926), by Manuel Luís Vieira (1885-1952), with live music performed by the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (which will begin its musical season with this show), will enchant the garden of the Lisbon Museum - Palácio Pimenta - a show in collaboration with the FILMar project, in partnership with Cinemateca Portuguesa, and integrated into the programming of Lisbon in the Streets/EGEAC. To commemorate the centenary of “Nosferatu” (Germany, 1922), by F.W. Murnau (1888-1931), MOTELX will also offer an immersive sound and visual experience based on the imagery of the film, at Convento São Pedro de Alcântara. And, at Largo Trindade Coelho, the open-air screening will play “What We Do in the Shadows” (New Zealand, 2014), by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.
Until 1 August, the call remains open to the public to submit shorts of up to 2 minutes, made on mobile phones, tablets or webcams, to the microSHORTS section. From 6 to 12 September, horror invades the city of Lisbon. Welcome to the 16th edition of MOTELX!
One of the highlights is the national premiere of “Final Cut” (France, USA, Japan, 2022), by French director Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”). A remake of the horror comedy “One Cut of Dead” (Japan, 2017), starring Romain Duris and Bérénice Bejo, where a team shooting a low-budget zombie film is attacked by real life zombies. The bloodbath continues during the Festival, with an extra level of gore and intensity in the latest giallo by horror master Dario Argento - “Dark Glasses” (Italy, France, 2022) -, which reunites him with his daughter Asia, as well as with his cinematographic roots. In an exclusive national premiere at MOTELX, it marks the great return of the director of “Suspiria” to cinemas. Committed to showing, in generous doses of horror, a broad view of productions coming from all corners of the globe, the Festival revealed some of the feature films that contribute to the diversity of the programme: “Holy Spider”, by Ali Abbasi (France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, 2022), “Huesera”, by Michelle Garza Cervera (Mexico, Peru, 2022), “Hunt”, by Lee Jung-jae (South Korea) or “Wolfskin”, by Jacques Molitor (Luxembourg, 2022).
The official selection is joined by the Portuguese folk horror “Wolf Child” (2022), by Frederico Serra, world premiering at the 16th edition of MOTELX, and also “My Grandfather’s Demons” (2022), by Nuno Beato, the first stop motion feature film made in Portugal.
These two films representing contemporary cinema in Portugal, join another highlight of this year: the book launch for “MOTELX's Lost Room: The Films of Portuguese Horror (1911-2006)”. An unprecedented archive about unknown Portuguese horror cinematography, brought to you by MOTELX, underlines the evolution of the genre in the country until a year before the Festival’s first edition. A guide that was missing and which, as the artistic directors and programmers of MOTELX, Pedro Souto and João Monteiro, explain, "wraps up a decade of research started in 2009 in search of the roots of a hypothetical national horror".
It is in this context that, in the Lost Room section, Paulo Branco, the greatest Portuguese film producer, is celebrated, with three of his films listed in the book that have not yet been screened at the MOTELX: “The Convent” (1995), by Manoel de Oliveira, “The Fascination” (2003), by José Fonseca e Costa, and “Blood Course” (2006), by Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra. Works that "have in common what can perhaps be the matrix of horror made in Portugal, that is, of a horror originating from folklore, the so-called folk horror". Paulo Branco will attend MOTELX to talk about his experiences as a producer. In the same vein as the book, the centenary “Os Crimes de Diogo Alves” (1911) by João Tavares stands out as the first Portuguese horror film with filmic materials and Bernardo Sassetti’s favorite (1970-2012). In memory of the musician, who passed away ten years ago, and in partnership with Casa Bernardo Sassetti, MOTELX presents, at Teatro São Luiz, this silent film with the pianist's music interpreted in real time by a combo from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, reinforcing the Festival's desire to expand to other artistic proposals and venues. In this MOTELX 2022 edition, there is also a special FILMar day - a project operated by the Portuguese Cinematheque and the European fund EEA Grants, which aims to restore and digitize cinema related to the sea -, around the theme “Horror and the Sea”, with retrospectives and debates. Back at Cinema São Jorge, in the Special Screenings, “A Praga” (Brazil, 2021) will show a lost and recently found and restored copy of the “father” of Brazilian horror cinema, José Mojica Marins (1936-2020), and the short film “A Última Praga de Mojica” (Brazil, 2021), by Cédric Fanti, Eugênio Puppo, Matheus Sundfeld, Pedro Junqueira, documents the recovery of this unpublished film by the creator of the cult character Coffin Joe (a sadistic undertaker who terrorized viewers from 1964 onwards with “At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul”).
As for the competitive sections, the recently christened SCML MOTELX Award - Best Portuguese Short Film - the biggest monetary prize for short films in Portugal - continues its mission of stimulating the emerging and increasingly present national horror cinematography. And it brings major news: the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa lends its name to the award, representing a clear sign that supportting Portuguese horror cinema does not scare them. The most important competition of the Festival will screen 12 films, such as “They Call It…Red Cemetery!” (2022), by Francisco Lacerda, “Matrioska” (2021), by Joana Correia Pinto, “When the Earth Bleeds” (2022), by João Morgado , and “One Pool” (2021), by Carolina Aguiar.
In anticipation of yet another intense and terrifying edition of MOTELX, the usual Warm-Up MOTELX SCML fires up the engines, from 1 to 3 September, with an unmissable lineup that marks Lisbon's cultural rentrée.
The screening of “O Fauno das Montanhas” (Portugal, 1926), by Manuel Luís Vieira (1885-1952), with live music performed by the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (which will begin its musical season with this show), will enchant the garden of the Lisbon Museum - Palácio Pimenta - a show in collaboration with the FILMar project, in partnership with Cinemateca Portuguesa, and integrated into the programming of Lisbon in the Streets/EGEAC. To commemorate the centenary of “Nosferatu” (Germany, 1922), by F.W. Murnau (1888-1931), MOTELX will also offer an immersive sound and visual experience based on the imagery of the film, at Convento São Pedro de Alcântara. And, at Largo Trindade Coelho, the open-air screening will play “What We Do in the Shadows” (New Zealand, 2014), by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.
Until 1 August, the call remains open to the public to submit shorts of up to 2 minutes, made on mobile phones, tablets or webcams, to the microSHORTS section. From 6 to 12 September, horror invades the city of Lisbon. Welcome to the 16th edition of MOTELX!