Sitges International Festival of Fantastic Film

After the great World Premiere of "Revengeance" at the Festival L'Etrange in Paris, the next screening took place in a tiny seaside town, just south of Barcelona, called Sitges. 

I've been attending the Sitges Festival for many years, and a lot of my films have won prizes there, plus the wonderful Sitges Melia Hotel is situated right above a beautiful Mediterranean beach that I take advantage of, every morning while I'm there. However, this year the weather truly sucked, so I only went swimming once. 

The director of the festival, Angel Sala, brought in a great collection of films and celebrities: Max von Sydow, Christopher Walken, Bruce Campbell (who I shared the press room with), Paul Schrader, Dolph Lundgren, and Rob Zombie (who I rode back to the airport with, a very nice guy).

                                                  With Angel Sala, director of the festival

I was able to watch a few programs, including the animation shorts program.  "In the Valley of Violence" by Ti West, starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta as a bad guy and "The Handmaiden" by Chan-Wook Park, of "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and "Old Boy" fame.  Both films were wonderful experiences and truly reflected the philosophy of the festival.

Also, this festival has a wonderful line-up of animated films, of which, of course, "Revengeance" was one. We played in two of the medium cinemas, so it was great to see such a packed house of enthusiastic fans and animation lovers. They all loved the film, even though it was full of L.A. biker dialogue. 

                         I couldn't believe the long line of people waiting for "Revengeance"!

The next step will be to get "Revengeance" into a primo U.S. festival - I'll be letting you all know when it premieres in the U.S.

--Bill Plympton