#MacabroXVII: First program titles, tributes, and guests

First wave of out-of-competition programming

Macabro presents its first wave of contemporary out-of-competition films in genres and subgenres related to horror. Here comes Snowflake, a violent film set in a near future amid a chaotic Berlin. From Caye Casas and Albert Pintó comes Matar a Dios, a black comedy holding the audience award for best film at the Sitges festival, telling the story of four family members who must choose among themselves and kill God.

Also arriving are the psychotronic serial-killer comic The Next Kill by Mike McCutchen (who will be in Mexico for its presentation) and the delirious Velocipastor, a United States–China co-production that tells the story of a priest who acquires the mysterious ability to turn into a dinosaur — need we say more?

Fabián Forte and Latin American genre cinema: Retrospective and master class

Macabro will present a first retrospective of one of the pioneering filmmakers of Latin American genre cinema.

His short film “Dosis” (2004) won the 1st Telefe Cortos open-television short film contest, Telefe Cortos 2004.

His first film with support from INCAA, “La Corporación” (2012), was awarded at the Marbella International Film Festival. At the end of 2013, together with Nicanor Loreti, he made the film “Socios por accidente,” a box-office hit in Argentina, which led him to direct its sequel in 2014. In 2015, he directed his seventh film, “El muerto cuenta su historia,” which was also selected at fantastic-film festivals such as Montreal, Brussels, Fantasporto, and Fantaspoa, and for which he received the Best Director award at the Macabro International Horror Film Festival. This year, in co-production with Spain, he made the web series “Limbo,” about to premiere worldwide on TVE's Playz streaming platform.

Fabián Forte will be in Mexico to present three titles from his filmography: the collaboration with Demián Rugna, Malditos sean, which takes us into a world of horror where evil unfolds across three stories; El muerto cuenta su historia, the film with which he won the award for best director at our previous edition. Closing out this retrospective is a film steeped in the fantastic, called La Corporación, in which a man has surrendered the rights to his privacy and his family to a strange company.

The director will also present a master class based on his experience as director and assistant director, focused mainly on how to make a genre film on a low budget. This talk will take place on August 22 at the Facultad de Cine venue.

EMERGING HORROR 2018: Sinhué F. Benavides

Macabro dedicates its Emerging Horror section to the work of Monterrey-based director Sinhué F. Benavides, who will present a program of the short films that make up his filmography in genre cinema.

The festival dedicates this space to showcasing the work of Mexican filmmakers who specialize in genre cinema. In previous years, short-film programs by Gigi Saul Guerrero, Abraham Sánchez, and César García have been presented.

FRANKENSTEIN 200 Years

To mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Macabro has put together a film cycle to celebrate it. The lineup includes classics such as Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) by James Whale; The Curse of Frankenstein and The Revenge of Frankenstein by Terence Fisher (1957 and 1958); as well as less common titles such as Frankenstein – Italian Style, an Italian film by Armando Crispino (1975); Flesh for Frankenstein by Paul Morrisey (1973), Frankenhooker by Frank Henenlotter, Haunted Summer by Ivan Passer (1988), and closing with Gothic by Ken Russell (1986).

The tribute selection was curated by Casandra Vicario, a regular Macabro collaborator, who will introduce each of the films, highlighting the evolution of this classic novel on screen. The cycle will be part of the program presented at the Cinematógrafo del Chopo.

Likewise, as part of this tribute, the show Muk, el monstruo by performance artist Fernando Huerta Zamacona (the festival's host) will premiere, drawing on music and humor to explore the origin of the Monster in Western culture, seeking to make the audience aware of how unfair the widespread animosity and fear toward them is.

During thirteen days of the capital's summer, from August 21 to September 2, 2018, and with additional activities throughout August and part of September, Macabro will emerge in the city with a unique celebration of horror cinema — a coven featuring experiences that involve specialized and cinephile audiences, media outlets, the film community, Q&A sessions with guests, master classes, workshops, music, retrospectives, tributes, parties, music, and tourism promotion.

The seventeenth edition of Macabro will screen at the following venues: Teatro de la Ciudad "Esperanza Iris", Cineteca Nacional, Cinematógrafo del Chopo, Casa del Cine, Museo de la Ciudad de México, Biblioteca de México, Museo Archivo de la Fotografía, Casa Refugio Citaltépetl, Museo de la Luz, Circo Volador, Cine Villa Olímpica, Foro Quetzalcoatl, and Circuito de FAROs, among others.

ABOUT MACABRO

Macabro is the first genre film festival in Mexico and the second in Latin America after Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre. It was created as a showcase for contemporary horror cinema, as well as for the rescue and reappraisal of classic and cult cinema, the promotion of Mexican and Latin American genre filmmaking, historical review, and support for emerging talent, with a programming model that has marked a turning point in the exhibition of horror and fantasy cinema in Mexico.

It has been based in Mexico City since its founding in 2002, where it has put down deep roots and focused on building audiences for the genre and its different forms of expression.

The festival is an independent cultural project that enjoys the support and recognition of the Mexico City government through the Secretaría de Cultura and PROCINE, the Cineteca Nacional, the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, among other institutions. In nearly 17 years, it has established itself as one of the most respected festivals on the circuit in Mexico and Latin America. International media such as Movie Maker Magazine in its October 2017 issue, included it as one of the 15 most anticipated festivals in the world on the specialized circuit for 2018.

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