The Gerardmer Festival unveils its fantastic selection and its jury

Bernard Werber, Camille Chamoux, Mathieu Turi… The feature film jury is made up of a hodgepodge of personalities from the world of culture.

The 31st edition of the international fantasy film festival has revealed its feature film jury and the films in competition. As an opening, the festival promises to highlight projects that combine cinema movement, literary and pictorial art.

“The films in the competition mark the evolution or involution of a genre freed from ethics but surpassed by reality. The fantastic of today resides more in its etymology than in an impoverished phantasmagoria, a mirror of the decomposition of human frailties. This edition reflects the fear and monstrosity that adorn the screens but undress the souls. Place for the spirits under heaven, builders of charity”, declared Bruno Barde, director of the festival, in the press release.

Located in Gerardmer, a town in the northeast near the German border, the festival can count on an eclectic jury. Among them, actors, directors, screenwriters, an author and a presenter:

Competing in the main category are projects from the four corners of the globe: Portugal, South Korea, Turkey and Argentina. They all have the key word: fantasy.

Among them, Sleep of Jason Yu where the life of a young couple is disrupted by sleepwalking attacks which give way to an alter that is disturbing to say the least – a foreign silhouette threatens to approach their newborn. Faced with this nightmare, the Franco-Belgian feature film Waiting for the night by Céline Rouzet, recounts the fluctuations of Philémon, a teenager who delights in human blood when the need arises. But now, meeting his new neighbor Camila will disrupt his habits…

Here is the list of feature films in the running :

• AMELIA’S CHILDREN by Gabriel Abrantes (Portugal)
• WAITING FOR THE NIGHT by Céline Rouzet (France & Belgium)
• THE DAMNED by Abel Danan (France)
• PERPETRATOR by Jennifer Reeder (United States)
• RESVRGIS by Francesco Carnesecchi (Italy)
• SLEEP by Jason Yu (South Korea)
• THE FORBIDDEN PLAY by Hideo Nakata (Japan) – Opening Film
• THE FUNERAL of Orçun Behram (Türkiye)
• THE SEEDING by Barnaby Clay (United States)
• WHEN EVIL LURKS by Demián Rugna (Argentina)

The ticket office for the festival is already open, here are its prices:

• Thursday pass : 32€
• Friday pass : 32€
• Weekend pass : 66€
• 3 day pass (Fri/Sat/Sun): €87
• Festival pass : 102€

All information about the event is available on the official site. The festival will take place from January 24 to 28, 2024.