25 October1 November
2024
25 October
2024.07.22
Álex de la Iglesia, one of the major names in global fantasy film-making of the last 30 years, is the star of the poster for the 35th Fantasy and Horror Film Festival, to be held between 25 October and 1 November.
In the centenary year of Franz Kafka's death, the Festival aims to pay tribute to the Czech author and his influence on fantasy cinema with this illustration by Santipérez, inspired by his most famous work, The Metamorphosis. The poster has been designed by Ytantos. In the artist's own words:
“On the centenary of Kafka's death, a very special guest, Álex de la Iglesia: how to merge these two concepts? We all know the story of The Metamorphosis and the fateful result of living a life dedicated to work: anxiety triggered by deadlines, impossible turnaround times, impatient bosses or clients pressurising us, new projects that don't gel, unexpected problems delaying production, budgets that run out… Thanks to this whole burden, or similar phenomena from his own era, one morning Gregor Samsa experiences an extreme somatic disorder, and wakes up converted into something different… How to merge these two concepts? Simple: a change of protagonist. Using this idea, agreed on by the whole team who developed the poster, and following a few discarded proposals, I came up with this piece, emulating the covers of the horror and fantasy comics of the closing decades of the last century, doing away with digital tools (not a hint of the latest technologies) and using paintbrushes and pigments".
Álex de la Iglesia
Since his feature film debut with Mutant Action (1993) and above all following the première of The Day of the Beast (1995), Álex de la Iglesia has established himself as one of the leading lights of international fantasy cinema. Films such as Perdita Durango (1997), Common Wealth (2000), The Last Circus (2010), Witching & Bitching (2013) and Venicephrenia (2022), among many others, have made him one of the most important genre film-makers of the 21st century.
He has produced films such as Shrew's Nest (Juan Fernando Andrés and Esteban Roel, 2014) and Venus (Jaume Balagueró, 2022) and directed the television series “Plutón BRB Nero” (2008-2009) and “30 Coins” (2020-).
Between 2009 and 2011 he was president of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain.
The long list of accolades he has received include most notably the National Cinematography Award in 2010, the first Career Méliès awarded in 2018 by the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF) for his contribution to fantasy film-making, the Goya for Best Director in 1995 for The Day of the Beast, and the Time Machine at Sitges 2005 for his whole oeuvre.
Santipérez
Santipérez (Santiago Pérez Domínguez, Madrid, 1970) is a horror comic artist and writer. He published his first comic strips in the magazine Creepy in the 1990s, where he continued to contribute work for several years.
He has released four albums: Various Horror Visions (Diábolo Ediciones, 2013), Diablo House (Norma Editorial, 2019), El taxidermista y otras histerias macabras (Isla de Nabumbu, 2021) and Un puñado de historias de terror (Diábolo Ediciones, 2023). They are all collections of brief narratives on themes connected with the world of fantasy and horror.
He is a regular contributor to the magazine Cthulhu (Diábolo Ediciones), where he has been publishing his comic strips, almost always writing the stories as well, since 2011. He has likewise provided the cover illustrations for several editions of Cthulhu and such other editorial projects as PAZ (2022), Historias de brujas (2022), Historias de fantasmas de la literatura universal (to be published shortly) and La casa del Diablo (2023).
He occasionally works with IDW Publishing in the USA, publishing the original Diablo House series with them in 2017 and 2018. Aside from comics, Santipérez is also an illustrator. He works for publishing houses including RBA, with whom his relationship dates back decades, above all for its National Geographic Historia magazine. He likewise draws storyboards for advertising, and has been involved in animation projects.
