Press Release: #MacabroXXII

XXII EDITION OF MACABRO, MEXICO CITY INTERNATIONAL HORROR FILM FESTIVAL Programme and activities Press conference August 2, 2023

● The twenty-second edition of Macabro will take place from August 15 to 27, 2022, in a hybrid format across virtual and physical venues. ● Summer's pagan festival returns, inspired by the great folk horror films —like The Wicker Man, marking 50 years since its first screening—; cults, initiation ceremonies, dark rituals, and masks. ● It opens with an in-person ceremony at the Teatro de la Ciudad “Esperanza Iris” with the film Give me an A. ● The #CarnavalPagano features 110 films on screen: 35 feature films, 24 national premieres, 3 Latin American premieres, 5 world premieres, 65 short films, 2 Macabro Coven premieres, and 45 countries.

PRESENTATION August is the month of Macabro. 2022 was the year of macabre dystopia; 2023 will be the rebirth of the greatest monster, Macabro. After the pandemic years, we return with new challenges and new proposals. Macabro returns with a pagan carnival that promises, as always, a lineup made up of the best of independent contemporary genre cinema, both national and international. Summer's pagan festival returns inspired by the great folk horror films —like The Wicker Man, celebrating 50 years since its first screening—; cults, initiation ceremonies, dark rituals, and masks, a symbol of a constant presence in horror cinema, and finally, a reflection on the genre so far in the 21st century: who makes it, its evolution, its themes, its characters, its protagonists, and its new monsters.

OPENING The twenty-second edition of Macabro FICH will take place on August 15, at 7:30 p.m., at the Teatro de la Ciudad “Esperanza Iris”.

GIVE ME AN A Dir. Natasha Halevi, Meg Swertlow, Loren Escandon, Francesca Maldonado, Erica Mary Wright, Monica Moore-Suriyage, Sarah Kopkin, Danin Jacquay, Valerie Finkel, Bonnie Discepolo, Megan Rosati, Avital Ash, Hannah Alline, Caitlin Hargraves, Mary C. Russell | United States | 2022 An anthology of horror, biting comedy, and science fiction produced in response to the overturning of the historic Roe v. Wade decision. Created by an all-women team of filmmakers, the film focuses on each filmmaker's visceral reactions to broaden the dialogue on women's reproductive rights and the importance of bodily autonomy, while also addressing the failures of a democracy that does not protect the needs of the majority of the population. Festivals: Fantastic Fest, Screamfest Horror Festival, Other Worlds Film Festival, FilmQuest, The Renegade Film Fest, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, Fantaspoa MEXICO PREMIERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-XExTiwln0 (abre en nueva pestaña)

AWARDS CEREMONY The awards ceremony will take place at Casa del Lago UNAM on Friday, August 25, followed by a screening of: MINORE Dir. Konstantinos Koutsoliotas | Greece | 2023 | 110 min. *With director Konstantinos Koutsoliotas in attendance MEXICO PREMIERE / PREMIERE IN MEXICO

INTERNATIONAL HORROR FEATURE FILM SELECTION ABRUPTIO Direction: Evan Marlowe | United States | 2023 | 94 min. | Suspense, horror MEXICO PREMIERE APOKAWIXA Direction: Xawery Zulawski | Poland | 2022 | 115 min. | Horror, comedy MEXICO PREMIERE ENTER MYCEL Direction: Daniel Christian Limmer | Austria | 2022 | 74 min. | Horror, Sci-Fi PREMIERE IN MEXICO DIE SCHWARZE SPINNE Direction: Markus Fischer | Switzerland, Hungary | 2022 | 114 min. | Horror, suspense MEXICO PREMIERE MELTDOWN: A Nuclear Family`s Ascension into Madness Direction: Colton Van Til | United States | 2023 | 75 min. | Suspense, horror MEXICO PREMIERE FIXATION Direction: Mercedes Bryce Morgan | United States | 2022 | 99 min. | Suspense, horror MEXICO PREMIERE HOLY MOTHER Direction: Yoshihiro Nishimura | Japan | 2022 | 95 min. | Horror MEXICO PREMIERE MEGALOMANIAC Direction: Karim Ouelhaj | Belgium | 2022 | 118 min. | Horror MEXICO PREMIERE MOTHER SUPERIOR Direction: Marie Alice Wolfszahn | Austria | 2022 | 71 min. | Horror THE ONES YOU DIDN’T BURN Direction: Elise Finnerty | Austria | 2022 | 71 min. | Horror THE BREACH Direction: Rodrigo Gudiño | Canada | 2022 | 92 min. | Horror THE QUANTUM DEVIL Direction: Larry Wade Carrell | United States | 2022 | 94 min. | Horror LATIN AMERICAN PREMIERE EPISODE 13 Direction: Yogesh Raut | India | 2023 | 92 min. | Horror, found footage INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZl2AWZy6Dk (abre en nueva pestaña)

IBERO-AMERICAN HORROR FEATURE FILM SELECTION EL ORIGEN DE LAS PRINCESAS Direction: Adrián González-Camargo | Mexico | 2023 | 79 min. | Horror, fantasy WORLD PREMIERE DESPEDIDA Direction: Luciana Mazeto, Vinícius Lopes | Brazil | 2022 | 90 min. | Fantasy NATIONAL PREMIERE LA MESITA DEL COMEDOR Direction: Caye Casas | Spain | 2022 | 91 min. | Thriller, comedy, horror MEXICO PREMIERE PRESENTED BY ALFHAVILLE CINEMA RECUERDOS DEL MAL Direction: Gabriel Musco | Argentina | 2022 | 84 min. | Horror, thriller INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE RABIA Direction: Jorge Michel Grau | Mexico | 2023 | 93 min. | Thriller, drama JUEGO DE BRUJAS Direction: Fabián Forte | Argentina | 2023 | 84 min. | Horror MEXICO PREMIERE O PORAO DA RUA DO GRITO Direction: Sabrina Greve | Brazil | 2023 | 90 min. | Horror INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE ÁNIMA Direction: Alejandro G. Alegre | Mexico | 2022 | 88 min. | Horror LEGIONES Direction: Fabián Forte | Argentina | 2022 | 88 min. | Horror, Folk, Comedy MEXICO PREMIERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xx5Kjbur4c (abre en nueva pestaña)

THRILLER, SCI-FI & DARK FANTASY FEATURE FILM SELECTION PURGATORY JACK Direction: The Butler Brothers | Canada | 2023 | 10 min. | Drama, Neo-Noir, Black Comedy WORLD PREMIERE A LASANHA ASSASSINA: O ATAQUE DAS MASSAS Direction: Ale McHaddo | Brazil | 2022 | 79 min. | Animation, horror, adventure MEXICO PREMIERE / PREMIERE IN MEXICO IRATI Direction: Paul Urkijo | Spain | 2022 | 114 min. | Fantasy, action, folk MEXICO PREMIERE THE BYSTANDERS Direction: Gabriel Foster Prior | United Kingdom | 2022 | 94 min. | Comedy, Sci-Fi MEXICO PREMIERE CULT HERO Direction: Jesee Thomas Cook | Canada | 2022 | 94 min. | Action, horror, suspense MEXICO PREMIERE SAFE SPACE Direction: Stefan Kubicki | United States | 2022 | 93 min. | Drama, comedy, fantasy MEXICO PREMIERE MAD CATS Direction: Reiki Tsuno | Japan | 2022 | 87 min. | Action, comedy MEXICO PREMIERE UN DÍA CUALQUIERA Direction: José Texeira | Spain | 2023 | 90 min. | Thriller PREMIERE IN LATIN AMERICA ONIMANJI Direction: Yoshihiro Nishimura | Japan | 2022 | 116 min. | Action, fantasy MEXICO PREMIERE ISLA ALIEN Direction: Cristóbal Valenzuela Berrios | Chile, Italy | 2023 | 87 min. | Documentary SIREN Direction: Junyong Ahn | South Korea | 2022 | 80 min. | Sci-Fi MEXICO PREMIERE ZANOX Direction: Benő Baranyi | Hungary | 2022 | 87 min. | Sci-Fi, comedy MEXICO PREMIERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDuiTkwDCBQ (abre en nueva pestaña)

CINDIE MACABRO CINDIE, the platform with the largest catalog of independent content in Latin America, announced its sponsorship of the prestigious Mexico City International Horror Film Festival (Macabro FICH), which will take place in Mexico City in August. As part of this collaboration, CINDIE will offer an exclusive selection of festival films on its platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY3k0LBGxgQ (abre en nueva pestaña)

CLASSICS AND MEXICO MACABRO MEXICO MACABRO VENENO PARA LAS HADAS Direction: Carlos Enrique Taboada | Mexico | 1986 | 90 min. | Horror The tales of witchcraft told by the family's cook spark the imagination of young Verónica, who boasts to her classmate Flavia that she herself is a witch. Because her friend doesn't believe her, Verónica takes advantage of a series of fortuitous circumstances to convince her that she herself has caused them, using her magical arts. The innocence of these games takes on a macabre tone when Verónica insists that Flavia invite her on a vacation to her family's ranch, where she can prepare a poison for the fairies. *SCREENING PRESENTED BY IMCINE Wednesday, August 16, 6:00 p.m. Museo Panteón de San Fernando (C. San Fernando 17, Centro Histórico de la Cdad. de México, Guerrero, Cuauhtémoc, 06300 Ciudad de México, CDMX)

LAS MUJERES PANTERAS Direction: René Cardona | Screenplay: Alfredo Salazar | Mexico | 1967 | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, lucha libre The Panther Women are worshippers and followers of the wizard Eloim, and will stop at nothing to revive their great master. But the female wrestlers and a masked wrestler will stand in the way of their satanic plans. *SCREENING PRESENTED BY ARCHIVO PERMANENCIA VOLUNTARIA Wednesday, August 23, 5:00 p.m. FARO Cosmos (Calz México-Tacuba, Tlaxpana, Miguel Hidalgo, 11370 Ciudad de México, CDMX)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS TODOS MORIMOS EN LA OSCURIDAD Direction/Director: Robbie Banfitch | United States | 2023 | 110 min. | Horror Todos morimos en la oscuridad (The Outwaters) follows four friends setting out to shoot a music video while camping in the sunny Mojave Desert. The trip starts out like any other, but they soon discover that something isn't right. Unsettling noises stalk them, and when a malevolent force descends upon them, it triggers a terrifying descent into the depths of an abyss that could destroy their souls…

AT NIGHT, THE PARTY IS IMMORTAL Two films to strip away our innocent gaze and plunge us headlong into the pleasures of the night. From the depths of the 1980s, Vamp is the fun, delirious tale of two hormone-fueled young guys who, in their search for a stripper… end up captives of an icon of '80s fashion and music: Grace Jones. VAMP | Dir. Richard Wenk | United States | 1986 | 93 min. Two friends go looking for a strip club, but when they find it, they realize it's crawling with vampires… whose leader is played by singer Grace Jones. SUCK | Dir. Rob Stefaniuk | Canada | 2009 | 91 min. The Winners are a rock band with zero success until one day their bassist has a fling with a vampire, and from then on, he exudes a sexual charisma onstage that captivates the whole audience. But it won't all be so simple, since fame isn't just sex, drugs, and rock and roll — especially when they become the target of a vampire hunter, Eddie Van Helsing. Music legends such as Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, and Moby make appearances.

THREE CLASSICS FROM JINGA FILMS Genre cinema has found in Jinga Films a highly effective and ever-growing distribution outlet. Founded by filmmaker Julian Richards, Jinga Films has been behind the worldwide distribution of titles such as A Serbian Film, Red Snow, The Buried, Antrum, and Big Bad Wolves. The company has enriched its catalog with vintage-style films, rescuing titles such as “Mute Witness,” starring Alec Guinness, as well as two hidden gems by Richards himself, Darklands and Daddy's Girl. Once again, Macabro pays tribute to the creators, production companies, and distributors who make it possible for independent genre cinema to reach us. MUTE WITNESS | Dir. Anthony Waller | 1995 | 98 min. Three unsuspecting Americans in Moscow find themselves in a precarious situation in Mute Witness. One of them, Billy (played by Marina Zudina), is a mute special-effects artist working on a low-budget film who ends up accidentally locked inside a malfunctioning film studio one night. While trapped inside the studio, she believes she is witnessing the filming of a snuff film. So begins a night of terror in which she and her friends become caught in a complex web of lies and danger involving the KGB, the police, and an organized-crime boss known as “El Segador” (played by Alec Guinness). During the filming of the snuff scene, a computer disc containing crucial information about him goes flying across the floor and lands in a secret spot only Billy knows about. All the threads come together in a climactic confrontation. DARKLANDS | Dir. Julian Richards | 1996 | 90 min. A newspaper reporter becomes entangled in a hidden conspiracy when his investigation into the death of a steelworker in an industrial accident uncovers a sinister pagan cult intent on carrying out human sacrifices. DADDY’S GIRL | Dir. Julian Richards | 2018 | 81 min. A young woman held captive by her stepfather becomes the target of a female vigilante.

LO + MACABRO DE CAOSTICA VOL.8 Drunk teenage girls armed with bows, little girls playing with guns, alien kittens and creatures losing their heads, monkeys worshipping an obelisk, Norwegian musk oxen, little skulls, clueless goats, sacrilegious penitents, and preteen lesbian love… Throw all of this into a blender and the juice that comes out tastes like the 8th edition of “Lo más Macabro de Caostica,” an alliance between the Mexico City International Horror Film Festival Macabro and the Caostica International Short Film and Music Video Festival of Bilbao, which — even if you don't know it — is exactly what your miserable existence needs right now.

MACABRO COVEN PREMIERES EL INQUILINO | Dir. Samantha Gómez | Mexico | 2023 | 20 min. A sex worker finds a zombie during her shift, takes pity on him, and brings him home; the zombie becomes her tenant, and they find strange ways of relating to each other that turn into something more. DESILUSIÓN | Dir. Mónica Ocampo | Mexico | 2023 Is the mind more powerful than we think? Eris has always been present in Amaris's life, haunting her days. Amaris is just a sensitive girl who has always struggled with her mental health, and all she wants is to get better, but that's not part of Eris's plans. A recent change in Amaris's daily routine leaves her caught between a rock and a hard place, and little by little she lets herself be manipulated by Eris's bad influence, who will drive her to do something irreversible that she won't be able to escape.

TALKS AND CONVERSATIONS Fear in the 21st century through horror cinema Do fears change, or do they stay the same? Have their representations changed? Have the stories changed? Why does the human being who lives next door to us apparently scare us more than the legendary vampire Dracula or the Wolf Man? Is it true that, over these two decades of the century, the genre has moved toward a more social and raw exploration rather than an imaginary or fantastical path? All these questions have led us to invite Emilio Portes (director and screenwriter of Conozca la cabeza de Juan Pérez, Pastorela, and Belzebuth); Michelle Garza Cervera (director and screenwriter of Huesera); and Hugo Magaña, who presents his short film La cuarta pared in this year's Mexican selection, for a conversation with Edna Campos Tenorio, director of Macabro. Monday, August 21, 5:00 p.m., at RADIO IPN

The mask in horror cinema The use of masks emerges the moment we become self-aware, and it is as old as humanity itself; wearing a mask can serve different functions: religious, artistic, festive, and… murderous! What would horror cinema be without masks? These anonymous killers keep us on the edge of our seats wondering who's behind the mask — horror cinema would be boring without them. Who was the first masked killer in horror cinema? Which are the most popular masks? What or who hides behind them? What is their function? Let's talk about it… Casandra Vicario (@MonsterCas2) is a radio producer, journalist, broadcaster, and contributor to Sesiones del Macabro and the program Está Vivo on Reactor 105.7... a lover of horror in film and literature. Wednesday, August 23, 8:00 p.m. at Pulquería Los Insurgentes (Av. Insurgentes Sur 226, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX)

GUESTS Natasha Halevi, Erika Miranda, Hannah Alline, Meg Swertlow, Sean Gunn, Konstantinos Koutsoliotas, Evan Marlowe, Colton Van Til, Mercedes Bryce, Morgan, Max and Maya; Adrián González-Camargo, Caye Casas, Jorge Michel Grau, Mayra Espinosa Castro, Fabián Forte, Alejandro G. Alegre, The Butler Brothers, Paul Urkijo, José Texeira, Emilio Portes, Michelle Garza, Lore Martell. Ariane Gaisán, Agus Carreño, Alberto Trejo, Mila Villalba, Raquel San Felipe

VENUES Teatro de la Ciudad "Esperanza Iris", Cineteca Nacional, Cinematógrafo del Chopo, Casa del Lago UNAM, Casa del Cine, Museo Panteón de San Fernando, Museo Archivo de Fotografía, Centro de Cultura Digital, Centro Cultural "El Rule", Centro Cultural "Xavier Villaurrutia", FARO de Oriente, FARO Aragón, FARO Cosmos, Circo Volador, CECCANN.

STUDENT VENUES Facultad de Estudios Superiores – UNAM, Centro Cultural "Jaime Torres Bodet" – IPN, Radio IPN.

VENUE IN PUEBLA Cinemateca "Luis Buñuel"

DIGITAL VENUES cindie.com, FilminLatino

INSTITUTIONS, STRATEGIC PARTNERS AND SPONSORS Macabro is presented by Cindie, Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México, Procine, Secretaría de Cultura, Cineteca Nacional, Imcine, Filmoteca de la UNAM, Secretaría de Cultura de Puebla.

SPONSORS Coca Cola, Asus, Cis Solutions, LCI Seguros, CTT&Exp, Artec, Ghoulish Productions, Hotel Roosevelt, Diablo Panzón Food Company, Elixir del Diablo Panzón, Facultad de Cine, IP9 Studios, Editorial Planeta, Verbatim, Grimorio Fermentorio, and Coven FX.

MEDIA Canal 22, Mx Nuestro Cine, Capital 21, Código 21, Radio IPN, Time Out, CinemaNet, CineGarage, Morras Malditas, Revista Cameo, El Deforma, Cine Frame, Butaca Ancha, Tomatazos, SpoilerTime.

ESTABLISHMENTS Buenavida Fonda, Malavida Expendio, Casa Malfelino, Churrería general de la República, Parrilla Paraíso, Álvaro Roma, La Bipo Coyoacán, Bar Donceles, Artículo 123, Miralto, La Vienet, 8 Brasas Fusión.

PARTNERS Caostica, Fantasía Film Festival, Aurora: Festival Internacional de cine de Horror de Guanajuato, Red Mexicana de Festivales Cinematográficos, and Alianza Latinoamericana de Festivales de Cine Fantástico.

#MACABROXXII #CARNAVALMACABRO

PRESS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS Contact: Georgina Cobos gina@rh.media Sagrario Reyes sagrario@agenciarh.com Diana Galán diana@agenciarh.co