Yeah! We are beyond happy to announce that award-winning body horror TITANE (Cannes Palme d’or 2021) will open 2021 SLASH film! Closing it will be Valdimar Jóhannsson‘s LAMB (Prize of Originality at Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2021). Both screenings are Austrian premieres.
OPENING FILM: TITANE (Austrian Premiere)
Director: Julia Ducournau | FR/BE 2021 | 108 mins
Year after year since its inception in 2010, SLASH Film Festival—Austria’s biggest Fantastic Cinema event—has proven that horror, science fiction, and fantasy have long left the fringe realm in the world of cinema and have come to play a lead role. In this regard, there is hardly a film better suited to open the festival’s twelfth edition than the widely celebrated TITANE. A treatise on identity and gender, machines and flesh, Julia Ducournau’s latest offering ignites the next rocket stage in the body horror cosmos. It is a visionary provocation with unexpectedly tender undercurrents—as profound as it is vulgar. A timely movie for the ages, and the deserved winner of this year’s Palme d’Or in Cannes. In cooperation with Stadtkino Filmverleih, SLASH presents the Austrian premiere of TITANE on September 23 on the occasion of the festival opening at Stadtkino Wien (with additional screenings TBA).
Summary
In the wake of her debut, Raw, Julia Ducournau has decided to kick things into even higher gear: TITANE tells the story of Alexia, a young woman who as a child had a titanium plate implanted in her head following a car crash. Now, she is fetishistically attracted to metal objects. On the run from the police, she pretends to be a young man, and soon is recognized and taken in by an old firefighter as his missing son. A treatise on identity and gender, machines and flesh, Titane ignites the next rocket stage in the body horror cosmos. It is a visionary provocation with unexpectedly tender undercurrents—as profound as it is vulgar. A timely movie for the ages, and rightful winner of this year’s Cannes Palme d’Or.
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CLOSING FILM: LAMB (Austrian Premiere)
Director: Valdimar Jóhannsson | IS/SE/PL 2021 | 106 mins
A second Cannes favorite has also made its way into this year’s SLASH program: LAMB, the feature debut of Icelandic director Valdimar Jóhannsson, will close the festival. Bathed in mythological and folkloristic elements, this relationship drama is full of absurd humor with an ever-denser darkness looming on its horizon. It was awarded the Prize of Originality at the Un Certain Regard strand of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Summary
Nestled in the harsh beauty of Iceland’s landscapes is the farm of shepherds Ingvar and Maria, who, after a tragic incident, are forced to give up their wish to have children. One day, however, in their barn, a very special little lamb sees the light of day—a creature that will change Ingvar and Maria’s marriage and their whole life forever. LAMB is a relationship drama cushioned in myth and folklore, enriched with absurd humor, and shaded by an ever-expanding darkness. With his feature debut, Valdimar Jóhansson delivers (pun intended) an astonishing masterstroke!