Our Year 2021: Macabro XX

In August 2021, Macabro turned twenty years old. This festival began as a space for showcasing contemporary horror cinema, as well as for the rescue and reappraisal of classic and cult cinema. This celebration, held annually without interruption, has achieved steady growth without losing its essence as a builder of audiences and community. Macabro engages specialized audiences and film buffs, the media, and the film industry through Q&A sessions with guests, master classes, workshops, music, retrospectives, tributes, parties, and tourism promotion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7PhZ7t3yLo (abre en nueva pestaña)

Over the course of 20 years, it has established itself as one of the most respected festivals on the circuit in Mexico and Latin America. International media outlets, such as Movie Maker Magazine, have included it three times (2018, 2019, and 2021) on its list of “Bloody best genre film festivals of the world,” as well as Dread Central - a media outlet specializing in horror cinema -, as one of the best horror film festivals in the world for 2021.

Macabro arrived at its annual date in a hybrid format, responding to the changes and needs of the moment: once again, it adapts and reinvents itself in the face of present-day challenges and looks toward a future that brings new opportunities and new paths for the genre. In this way, it showed - through this year's programme - its own diversity.

This year's programme featured the most outstanding contemporary horror cinema, both national and international; with virtual and in-person participation from national and international guests; tributes and retrospectives centered on the central theme: The vampire, ninety years after the premiere of Tod Browning's Dracula, as well as the festival's twentieth anniversary; the continuity of our festival outreach projects: Macabro Lab for training, Macabro Factory for production support, and Macabro Coven, a project dedicated to promoting and boosting horror cinema made by women.

FESTIVAL VENUES

The twentieth edition of Macabro International Horror Film Festival of Mexico City took place in a hybrid format at Cineteca Nacional, Casa del Cine, Red de Faros, Cine Villa Olímpica, Circo Volador, and Cinemateca Luis Buñuel in the city of Puebla, with all health protocols established by federal and local authorities, as well as by each venue individually.

Macabro's digital venues were: ULA del Valle, Plataforma Cine, Filminlatino, Canal 22, TV UNAM, and Macabro Fich social media.

PROGRAMME

OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL HORROR FEATURE FILM SELECTION

AS IN HEAVEN, SO IN EARTH

BENNY LOVES YOU

BLEED WITH ME

CYST

BLOODSHOT HEART

FOR THE SAKE OF VICIOUS

GET THE HELL OUT

HAWK AND REV: VAMPIRE SLAYERS

KEEPING COMPANY

KILLER CONCEPT

LAIR

MURDER BURY WIN

OPERATION LUCHADOR

PLAYDURIZM

THE OLD WAYS

THE STRINGS

THIS GAME CALLED MURDER

VICTIM OF LOVE

ZOMBIE INFECTION-BELABAN HIDUP (Fight for Life) OFFICIAL IBERO-AMERICAN HORROR FEATURE FILM SELECTION

ANIELA

ANTOLOGÍA DE LA PANDEMIA

CARROÑA

CÓLERA MORBO

EL HOMBRE BÚFALO

INTRA

LA DESVIDA

LENI

LUZ

MÍRAME

NOCTURNA LADO A: LA NOCHE DEL HOMBRE GRANDE

NOCTURNA LADO B: DONDE LOS ELEFANTES VAN A MORIR

O CEMITÉRIO DAS ALMAS PERDIDAS

SIN ORIGEN

SANGRE VURDALAK

SKULL: A MÁSCARA DE ANHANGÁ

PANORAMA MACABRO

Every year, in this section Macabro presents a selection of contemporary out-of-competition films made up of documentaries, special short-film programmes, fantasy or sci-fi feature films, and audiovisual works for various media. The titles included were: IN THE SHADOWS, MOSKVY NE BYVAYET (MOSCOW DOESN’T HAPPEN), LO MÁS MACABRO DE CAOSTICA VOL. 6.

MACABRO DOCS

Macabro presented a series of documentaries about various figures in the genre and related topics: BALADA PARA NIÑOS MUERTOS, LA VENGANZA DE JAIRO, NAIL IN THE COFFIN: LA CAÍDA Y ASCENSO DEL VAMPIRO CANADIÉNSE

National and international guests

We have scheduled a series of recorded and live talks with guests, to be broadcast on various channels such as macabro.mx, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Plataforma Cine throughout the festival dates at different times.

Among the virtual guests are: Dacre Stoker, Vampiro Canadiense, Karl Holt, Rigobeto Castañeda, Ryan Barton-Grimley, Gonzalo Calzada, Santiago Fernández, Josh Wallace, Devin Das, Ryan Glover, Mauricio Chernovetzky, John Powell, Ernesto Martínez, Jesper Isaksen, Allan Fis, Martín Blousson, Alejo Rébora, Joao P. Fleck, Luciana Garraza and Eric Fleitas, Alfonso Acosta and Carolina Mosquera, David Torres Labansat, Pavel Cantú, Luisa Iglesias, Armando Fonseca and Kapel Furman, Norma Vila, Sandra Becerril and Gigi Saul Guerrero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv4-oTN__SU (abre en nueva pestaña)

Día Macabro

This year, Macabro returns virtually to the Universidad Latinoamericana through Día Macabro, a gathering space with the student community, in which we will present a horror-writing talk with Sandra Becerril, as well as a conversation with the directors of the Mexican short films in competition.

WEBINARS - MACABRO LAB

As part of its academic and training offerings, this year Macabro presented a series of webinars such as EN LA FRANJA (NUEVOS PARADIGMAS Y POSIBILIDADES EN EL CINE DENTRO DEL MOVIMIENTO DE CRYPTO), given by filmmaker Mauricio Chernovetzky, crypto developer and photographer Mark Powell, and film producer Ernesto Martínez Arévalo. We were also joined by Ignacio Soto, “Nacho Soto,” CEO of FIX COMUNICACIÓN, who presented EL ESQUELETO DEL TRAILER: RADIOGRAFÍA DE UN LANZAMIENTO DE TERROR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjAC97Y3yW0 (abre en nueva pestaña)

MACABRO COVEN

As part of the Macabro Coven activities, audiences were able to see the premiere of La última cena by Mitzi Martínez, a short film produced from the first call for entries for horror short films directed by women.

La última cena was included in the Macabro Coven programme, made up of short films directed by women of different nationalities.

Likewise, in the coming weeks the second Macabro Coven call for entries will be published, with new prizes contributed by Facultad de Cine, Diablo Panzón and Tannhäuser Film Tank, Black Shark Films, Tanu Distribución, Verne Cinema, Coven FX, and Organización Caostica.

DAY OF THE DEAD ACTIVITIES

Macabro is planning a screening on November 2 in collaboration with the Museo Panteón de San Fernando, as part of the Day of the Dead commemorative activities. Scheduled activities include a talk on Mexican horror cinema and a screening of the film EL ESCAPULARIO.

Likewise, at the request of the Capital 21 channel, Macabro will take part in special programming with the film LA HERMANDAD by Alex G. Alegre.

PARTICIPATION IN “CINE EN LA CIUDAD” SCREENINGS

Finally, we joined the invitation to take part in Cine en la Ciudad with the feature film RENDEZ-VOUS by Pablo Olmos Arrayales. With this, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting the exhibition of Mexican fantasy and horror cinema, as well as continuing our work as an audience-building agent.

BY THE NUMBERS

MEXICO MACABRO: 20 YEARS OF HORROR CINEMA IN MEXICO

The series began digitally on August 20, 2021, as part of the programme of the twentieth edition of Macabro: International Horror Film Festival of Mexico City, on the Plataforma Cine platform, where five titles were screened through August 27, and then began a tour of physical venues in the states of Puebla (Cinemateca Luis Buñuel), Morelos (La Carreta, a mobile cinema, and Cine Morelos), Chihuahua (Rancho San Antonio Estudios), Guanajuato (Museo Iconográfico del Quijote), and Aguascalientes (Verne Cinema), ending on November 21, 2021. All screenings, both digital and in-person, were free of charge.

This series stood out not only as one of the most representative celebration activities of the largest and longest-running genre film festival in Mexico, but also as a testament to what the rebirth of production —mostly independent— has meant in the 21st century, for a genre that achieved great results in the early years of cinema in our country. Thanks to the support of FOCINE and IMCINE, Macabro was able to be seen in other parts of the Mexican Republic.

MAKING OF MACABRO XX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9futKWXXMdU (abre en nueva pestaña)