Festivals - Gerardmer 2022: Out of competition films

By Mulder, 13 january 2022

After Blue (Dirty Heaven) (France)


Written and directed by Bertrand Mandico
Produced by Emmanuel Chaumet 
With Paula Luna Breitenfelder, Elina Löwensohn, Vimala Pons, Agata Buzek, Pauline Lorillard, Michael Erpelding, Camille Rutherford, Anaïs Thomas, Alexandra Stewart 
Music : Pierre Desprats
Director of photography : Pascale Granel
Editing : George Cragg, Laure Saint-Marc
Production company : Ecce Films
Distributed by UFO Distribution (France)
Release date : February 16, 2022 (France)
Running time : 127 minutes
Synopsis : In the distant future, on a wild planet, Roxy, a lonely teenager, rescues a criminal buried under the sand. As soon as she is freed, the latter sows death. Held responsible, Roxy and her mother, Zora, are banished from their community and condemned to track down the murderer. They then wander the supernatural territories of their dirty paradise...
Notes :  After graduating from the CFT Gobelins, Bertrand Mandico conceived several animated films where he experimented with different techniques. He quickly abandoned animation to devote himself to live-action films in which he experimented with the marriage of genres and developed a singular writing and dreamlike style. All his films are
films are shot exclusively on film. His first feature film, Les Garçons sauvages, received the Louis Delluc Prize in 2018. After Blue (Paradis Sale) notably won the FIPRESCI Prize at the last Locarno Festival.

Censor (United Kingdom)


Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond
Produced by Helen Jones
Written by Prano Bailey-Bond, Anthony Fletcher 
With Niamh Algar, Sophia La Porta, Adrian Schiller, Michael Smiley, Vincent Franklin
Music: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Director of Photography : Annika Summerson
Editor: Mark Towns 
Production companies: Silver Salt Films, BFI Film Fund, Film4, Ffilm Cymru Wales
Distributed by Vertigo Releasing (United States)
Release date: January 26, 2022 (France)
Running time: 84 minutes
Synopsis: Enid works in a film classification office. Proud of her meticulous work, she protects the uninformed viewers from gory scenes: decapitations, eye gouging... Her sense of duty is amplified by her guilt, she who cannot remember the details of her sister's disappearance. One day, she discovers a horror film that speaks to her intimately and sends her back to her past. Enid then tries to unravel the mystery behind this work...
Notes : Born in 1982 in Wales, Prano Bailey-Bond began her career making music videos and short films, including Nasty (2015), which screened at over 100 festivals and received numerous awards. An alumna of the Berlinale Talent Campus, she was included in "Screen International" magazine's 2018 Stars of Tomorrow list and "Variety's" 10 Directors to Watch list last year. Censor is her first feature film.

Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness (France, Belgium)


Directed by Benjamin Mousquet, Ben Stassen
Produced by Caroline Van Iseghem, Ben Stassen
Written by Chris Grine, Dave Collard 
With Thomas Solivérès, Chloé Jouannet, Nicolas Maury 
Production company: nWave Pictures
Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment France
Release date: February 16, 2022 (France)
Running time: 91 minutes
Synopsis : Welcome to the kingdom of Plumebarbe ! Young Hopper Chickenson is the adopted son of King Arthur, a famous adventurous hare. Half chicken/half hare, our young hero is obsessed with adventure himself, but his clumsiness often plays tricks on him. When King Arthur's brother, Hiccup, escapes from prison to find the Dark Hamster Scepter and overthrow his brother, Hopper decides to go after him. With the help of his faithful servant Archie, a sarcastic turtle, and Meg, a skunk with martial arts expertise, he embarks on an epic adventure.
Notes: Benjamin Mousquet entered Supinfocom and graduated as a digital director in 2005. He joined n'Wave Pictures that same year and worked on the animated feature films Fly Me to the Moon (2008) and Sammy's Extraordinary Journey (2010), both directed by Ben Stassen. Ben Stassen founded n'Wave Pictures in 1994, where he produced CGI films for IMAX theaters. He then directed many successful animated films, such as Fly Me to the Moon (2008), Sammy's Extraordinary Journey (2010), The Magic Mansion (2013), Royal Corgi (2019) or Bigfoot Family (2020).

Inferno Rosso: Joe d'Amato (Italy)

Written and directed by Manlio Gomarasca & Massimiliano Zanin
Produced by Federico Lami 
With Eli Roth, Michele Soavi, Lamberto Bava, Ruggero Deaodato, Jess Franco, Jean-François Rauger...
Director of photography: Gemma Doll-Grossman, Carlo Rinaldi
Editing: Alessandro Calevro 
Production company: Fairway Film Alliance
Distributed by Le Pacte (France)
Release date: not communicated
Running time: 70 minutes
Synopsis: Who was Aristide Massaccesi, aka Joe d'Amato? A horror genius in the United States, a master of eroticism in France, the king of porn in Italy... More like a "craftsman" of cinema as he liked to call himself, capable of working on films of all genres. From the post-atomic spaghetti western, decamerotic to the arty eroticism and from the porn blockbuster to the gory horror film. Joe d'Amato has touched not one but hundreds of genres. This film tells the story of his courage, his madness, his life devoted to a single, irrepressible obsession: making movies.
Notes: Born in 1972 in Milan, Italy, Manlio Gomarasca founded the magazine dedicated to genre cinema "Nocturno" of which he is still editor in chief. He also publishes several books on cinema, works as a consultant for many festivals (Locarno, Rome, the Directors' Fortnight...) and makes documentaries on cinema. Born in 1971 in Vicenza, Italy, Massimiliano Zanin has been a screenwriter and assistant director for Tinto Brass for over 15 years. In 2013, he directed the documentary Istintobrass which was presented at the Venice Film Festival.

Jukai: The Suicide Forest (Jukai Mura) (Japan)


Directed by Takashi Shimizu
Produced by Muneyuki Kii, Harue Miyake, Chikako Nakabayashi, Daisuke Takahashi
Written by Daisuke Hosaka, Takashi Shimizu
With Anna Yamada, Mayu Yamaguchi, Fuju Kamio, Yuki Kura, Haruka Kudo, Rinka Otani, Rio Yamashita
Music: Takashi Ohmama 
Director of photography: Jun Fukumoto
Editing: Osamu Suzuki
Release date: not communicated
Running time: 117 minutes
Synopsis: Two sisters, Hibiki and Naki, defy the ban and decide to enter the forest of Jukaï. They discover that many missing persons in the area have been found in and around the woods. Have they come of their own free will or has an evil spiritual power lured them to this place? The only clue is a mysterious box, which, since it was touched by Hibiki and Naki, causes a new spiral of accidents and deaths in the village...
Notes: Born in 1972 in Maebashi, Japan, Takashi Shimizu met success in the early 2000s with his cult film saga Ju-on - The Grudge. Along with filmmakers Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takeshi Miike and Hideo Nakata, he participated in the new wave of Japanese horror cinema. The Gerardmer Festival paid tribute to him in 2008 and he won the Jury Prize with Ununaki, the forgotten village in 2020.

Junk Head (Japan)

Written and directed by Takahide Hori
Produced by Takahide Hori
Music: Takahide Hori
Director of photography: Takahide Hori
Editing: Takahide Hori
Distributed by UFO Distribution (France)
Release date: May 11, 2022 (France)
Running time: 104 minutes
Synopsis: A high-tech humanoid, in charge of bringing back information necessary for the survival of the human species, is plunged into the anguishing undergrounds of a post-apocalyptic world, populated by repulsive and aggressive creatures.
Notes: Born in 1971 in Japan, Takahide Hori took four years to make his short stop-motion animation film Junk Head 1 on his own, which he completed in 2009. After establishing the production company Yamiken Inc. in 2015, he completed a first feature version of his short two years later. His influences include Georgiy Daneliya's 1986 Georgian sci-fi film Kin-Dza-Dza!, Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), and Tsutomu Nihei's manga "Blame!"

The Deer King (Shika no Ō)

Directed by Masashi Ando & Masayuki Miyaji
Distributed by Star Invest Films France
Release date: not communicated
Running time: 113 minutes
Synopsis: In the years following a brutal war, the empire of Zol now controls the lands and citizens of its rival Aquafa, except for the territory of the Fire Horse, where wolves, once carriers of a terrible plague, still roam free. When a pack appears, Van, a former enslaved soldier, and a young girl named Yuna are both bitten by the rabid wolves. But they manage to escape, the only survivors of the attack. Free at last, Van and Yuna seek a simple and peaceful existence in the countryside. But as the plague spreads once again, they find themselves at the crossroads of a struggle far greater than that of a single nation.
Notes: Born in 1969, Masashi Ando joined Studio Ghibli in 1990 as an animator. He will notably co-direct the animation on Princess Mononoke (1997) and The Voyage of Chihiro (2001), two films directed by Hayao Miyazaki. He also works independently with filmmakers Satoshi Kon (Paprika, 2006) and Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, 2016). Born in 1976, Masayuki Miyaji joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 as an assistant director, then storyboarder. In 2008, he directed the animated series Xam'd: Lost Memories and four years later his first animated feature, Fusé: Memoirs of the Hunter Girl.

Paranormal Activity - Next of Kin (USA)


Directed by William Eubank
Produced by Jason Blum, Oren Peli
Written by Christopher Landon
Starring Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, Henry Ayres-Brown, Tom Nowicki 
Director of Photography: Pedro Luque
Editor: Todd E. Miller
Production companies: Paramount Pictures, Blumhouse productions 
Distributed by Paramount+ (USA)
Release date: October 29, 2021 (USA), February 14, 2022 (France)
Running time: 98 minutes
Synopsis: A documentary filmmaker decides to follow Margot, a young girl who travels to an isolated Amish community in hopes of learning more about her biological mother and family. After a series of
of strange events and discoveries, she soon realizes that this community that has welcomed them into their home could potentially be involved in some sort of supernatural ritual.
Notes: William Eubank wrote and directed his first feature film Space Time: The Ultimate Odyssey in 2011, then continued his journey as a cinematographer, working on Brian A. Miller's House of the Rising Sun (2011) and Charles de Lauzirika's Crave (2012), among other films. His second feature film, The Signal, was presented in competition at the Gérardmer Film Festival in 2015. He then directed Kristen Stewart and Vincent Cassel in the science fiction film Underwater (2020). Paranormal Activity - Next of Kin is the seventh chapter in the hit horror franchise.

Saloum (Senegal, France)


Directed by Jean-Luc Herbulot
Produced by Pamela Diop
Written by Jean Luc Herbulot, Pamela Diop 
With Yann Gaël, Evelyne Ily Juhen, Roger Sallah, Mentor Ba, Bruno Henry, Renaud Farah, Ndiaga Mbow,
Babacar Oualy, Marielle Salmier, Abdou Basse Dia
Music : Reksider
Director of photography : Gregory Corandi
Editing: Nicolas Desmaison, Alasdair McCulloch, Sébastien Prangère
Production companies: Lacmé, Rumble Fish Productions, Tableland Pictures
Release date : not communicated
Running time: 84 minutes
Synopsis: 2003. Fleeing a coup d'état in Guinea-Bissau, three legendary mercenaries of the Hyenas of Bangui must hide their loot and protect a drug lord. They are forced to take refuge in the mystical region of Saloum, Senegal.
Notes :  Born in Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo, Jean-Luc Herbulot moved to Paris in 2000 to study economics, before turning his interest to graphic design. He also trained in editing by taking a course in multimedia. Four years later, he directed his first short film, Vierge(s). His first feature film, Dealer, was presented at the Montreal Fantasia Festival in 2014. In 2019, he co-founded the production company LACME STUDIOS with Pamela Diop to support African cinema. The following year, he created, wrote and co-directed in Dakar the series Sakho & Mangane (2020). Saloum is his second film.

Satoshi Kon, the illusionist (Japan)


Written and directed by Pascal-Alex Vincent
Produced by Kenzô Horikoshi, Tarô Maki, Vincent Paul-Boncour
With Darren Aronofsky, Marc Caro, Jérémy Clapin, Megumi Hayashibara, Mamoru Hosoda 
Music: Reksider
Director of photography: Toshiyuki Kiyomura, Gordon Spooner
Editing: Clément Selitzki
Production companies: Allerton Films, Carlotta Films
Distributed by Carlotta films (France)
Release date: July 21, 2021 (France)
Running time: 82 minutes
Synopsis: The mangaka and animation filmmaker Satoshi Kon died suddenly in 2010, at the age of 46. He left behind a short and unfinished work, which is nevertheless among the most widely distributed and influential in the history of contemporary Japanese culture. Ten years after his death, his relatives and collaborators finally speak out about his work, while his heirs, in Japan, France and Hollywood, look back on his artistic legacy.
Notes :  After studying cinema at the University of Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, Pascal-Alex Vincent worked in the distribution of Japanese cinema in France for twelve years. He then began directing and shot eight short films
short films including Bébé requin (Cannes Film Festival 2005) and Candy Boy (Directors' Fortnight 2007). In 2008, he signed his first feature film, Donne-moi la main. He also coordinates two dictionaries of Japanese cinema published by Carlotta Films.

The seed (United Kingdom)

Written and directed by Sam Walker
Produced by James Norrie, Matt Hookings, Chris Hardman  
With Lucy Martin, Chelsea Edge, Sophie Vavasseur, Jamie Wittebrood, Anthony Edridge, Shirley Pisani
Music: Lucrecia Dalt
Director of Photography : Ben Braham Ziryab
Editing : Barry Moen
Release date: not given
Running time: 91 minutes
Synopsis: Three female influencers spend the weekend at a villa in the Mojave Desert to relax and film a unique meteor shower to share on their social networks. But when a strange creature lands in their pool, what was supposed to be a weekend of fun turns into a bizarre tale of horror, death and alien invasion.
Notes: Sam Walker has directed several successful short films, including Duck Children (2001), winner of two awards at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, Pool Shark (2003) and most recently the horrific short Bite Horse (2013). He has also made commercials and worked as a screenwriter for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Vertigo Films and the British Film Institute. In 2004, he was named to Screen International magazine's "Stars of Tomorrow" list alongside Andrea Arnold and Benedict Cumberbatch. The Seed is his first feature film.

(Source : press kit)