Thomas Cailley’s “Le règne animal” opens the MOTELX horror film festival in Lisbon today, in an edition that recalls William Friedkin, invites Brandon Cronenberg and premieres a new film by Gabriel Abrantes.
“Le règne animal”, the French director’s second feature film, was shown at the Cannes film festival this year and the narrative follows a father and son “in a France haunted by a relentless virus that turns humans into animals”, says the organization.
The 17th edition of MOTELX runs until September 18 and the program includes a full retrospective dedicated to Canadian director Brandon Cronenberg, who will be in Lisbon to show the film “InfinityPool” and to give a masterclass.
Also noteworthy is the premiere of “The Seed of Evil”, a horror film by Gabriel Abrantes, starring Carloto Cotta, Alba Baptista and Brigette Lundy-Paine. It’s the first feature-length fiction film directed by Gabriel Abrantes alone, after he co-directed “Diamantino” (2018) with American Daniel Schmidt.
MOTELX will also review the 50th anniversary of William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, with a screening in a restored print.
“The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the greatest horror classic of all time has unfortunately turned into a tribute session” to the director who died last August, says the festival’s management.
The program of feature films also includes, for example, “Run Rabbit Run”, by Daina Reid, starring Sarah Snook, “Propriedade”, by Brazilian director Daniel Bandeira, “You won’t be alone”, by Goran Stolevski, with Nomi Rapace and Carloto Cotta, and “Lovely, Dark and Deep”, by Teresa Sutherland, shot in Portugal.
This year, the festival will award a new prize, dedicated to scripts for Portuguese feature films that have not yet been produced, in collaboration with GUIÕES – Festival do Roteiro e da Língua Portuguesa, which will also include a parallel program with pitching sessions and debates.
The entire program can be consulted at www.motelx.org.
