Directed by Francis Lawrence, ‘The Long Walk’ emerges as an apocalyptic thriller set in a totalitarian America, where a group of young people participates in an endless walking competition, required to maintain a minimum speed under threat of execution.
The Noémia Delgado Award for Notable Women in Terror, debuting this year, honors American producer and screenwriter Gale Anne Hurd, known for films like ‘Aliens’, ‘The Abyss’, ‘Terminator’ and ‘Armageddon’.
Gale Anne Hurd, the guest of honor of the festival, will be in Lisbon to conduct a masterclass and receive the award created by MOTELX, intended to “recover the memory of pioneering female authors – often forgotten – while celebrating new female talents who are redefining contemporary horror”.
The award is named after poet and director Noémia Delgado (1933-2016), “a pioneer of fantasy in Portuguese cinema and genre cinema made by women,” as highlighted by the organization.
The festival’s programming once again emphasizes Portuguese cinema, notably with three feature films competing for the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Feature: ‘Sombras’, Jorge Cramez’s debut in the horror genre, ‘A Pianista’ by Nuno Bernardo, and ‘Crendices’, “the first horror film entirely from Madeira, created by the humor group 4Litro”.
Twelve films compete for the Best Portuguese Horror Short Film award, “demonstrating the vitality of national horror”, tackling social issues, such as housing precariousness in ‘O próximo passo’ by Pedro Batalha, or mental health in ‘Resut’ by Mafalda Jacob.
The Portuguese representation for the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Short Film includes, among others, ‘Grito’ by Luís Costa, the animations ‘Sequencial’ by Bruno Caetano, and ‘Amarelo Banana’ by Alexandre Sousa, and the film ‘Borbulha’ by Fernando Alle.
In the ‘Cult Hall’ section, MOTELX presents the first Portuguese screening of ‘Los mil ojos del asesino’, an Italian-Spanish espionage thriller directed by Juan Borsch, filmed in Lisbon months before April 25, 1974.
MOTELX will also show, among others, the comedy ‘A Useful Ghost’ by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, awarded this year at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, ‘Opus’, the directorial debut of journalist Mark Anthony Green, featuring Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich, and the previously announced Brazilian film ‘Enterre seus mortos’ by Marco Dutra, who will also be present in Lisbon.
‘Freaky Tales’, by the duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, selected for the Sundance Festival, and ‘The Toxic Avenger’ by Macon Blair, a revisitation of the classic ‘2Toxic!’, will also be featured at the festival.
On the 13th, Japanese cinema will receive attention with screenings of ‘Chime’ by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, ‘Hotspring Sharkattack’ by Morihito Inoue, and ‘New Group’ by Yuta Shimotsu.
In addition to Gale Anne Hurd and Marco Dutra, this edition’s guests include directors Ben Wheatley, Dennis Iliadis, and Julia Kowalski, producer Rodrigo Teixeira, and Austrian filmmaker Norbert Pfaffenbichler, who will present his ‘2551’ trilogy in the SectionX.
The festival will close on the 15th with the screening of ‘The Home’, a horror tale by James DeMonaco set in a retirement home, according to the complete program announced by the organization.
Major venues for MOTELX include Cinema S. Jorge, the Portuguese Cinematheque, and the Bombarda Gardens.
The complete program, schedules, and parallel activities are available on the festival’s official website.
