Fanomenon is the genre section of the film festival offering a unique combination of great fantasy cinema experiences, both light and dark, that cannot be found together anywhere else on the planet.
The Méliès d’Argent competition sees an eclectic mix of features and shorts from every corner of Europe including terrifying happenings in the alps of Switzerland (Sennentuntschi) and the arthouse cinemas of France (The Last Screening). We have 70s B-movie from Indonesia (Mystics of Bali) and perhaps the earliest Japanese horror (Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen) while the USA gives us the highly anticipated prequel to John Carpenter’s classic The Thing.
Our renowned horror marathons Night of the Dead XI and Day of the Dead 5 are back in all their terrifying glory this year with the chance to experience much-anticipated UK premieres from movie monster wrestling in Monster Brawl to creative zombie slaying and sharp comedy with Juan of the Dead: Cuba’s first zombie movie and first independent film in 50 years.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary this year the Film Festival is bringing James Cameron’s sci-fi horror classic Aliens to the Town Hall’s giant screen in glorious high definition, along with a programme of sci-fi classics including the most influential films in the genre the way they were always meant to be seen.
Fanomenon mini-season, Planet Japan, celebrates the fact that Japan does cult cinema like no other nation with some of the wildest mind-blowing fantasy film sensations yet made: UK Premieres of Karate-Robo Zaborgar and Katsuhito Ishii’s Smuggler, Milocrorze: A Love Story – a film only the Japanese could conjure up, the latest horror sensation, Yakuza Weapon, Sion Sono’s director’s cut of his sex crime epic Guilty of Romance and the sublime Symbol.
- Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking genre mash-up of horror and sci-fi returns to the big screen (the Town Hall’s very big screen!) where it belongs. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the crew of the Nostromo awake from hypersleep to investigate a signal coming from a nearby planet where a hive of mysterious eggs resides. After one hatches and [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Like LIFF25, James Cameron’s action-packed sci-fi classic is turning 25 this year. Often hailed as one of the best sequels of all time, join us to celebrate our joint birthdays with a special anniversary screening in the splendour of Leeds Town Hall on our giant screen. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) returns after the horror of her [...]Click to read more about this film »
- A cult slice of American indie cinema with a macho sci-fi edge about friendship, flamethrowers, Mad Max, and getting your ass kicked by love. Two best friends, obsessed with modifying their car the Medusa and roaming the desert with flamethrowers ‘when the apocalypse comes’ are thrown into chaos when Woodrow falls in love with the [...]Click to read more about this film »
- First screened in 2007, Hitoshi Matsumoto’s brilliant Big Man Japan makes a welcome return to Leeds for this year’s Planet Japan celebration; and don’t miss our first screening of Matsumoto’s sublime Symbol from 2009. What happens when a has-been superhero becomes a victim of stronger baddies and falling TV news ratings? Dai Sato’s days seem [...]Click to read more about this film »
- If you’ve never been to a Spanish launderette down a dark alley at 3 o’clock in the morning… you sure won’t be going now! Half chlaustrophobic stalker horror, half something else entirely, Blind Alley is trashy, chlaustrophobic, trippy, sometimes wonderfully bizarre and at other times a tense thriller that will make you wonder where it’s [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Before Sarah Michelle Gellar made her a household name in the TV series, Buffy first appeared in this 1992 movie, which acts as a prequel to the TV series and stars a host of famous actors (Ben Affleck, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Swank, Rutger Hauer). Buffy, a popular highschool cheerleader, isn’t happy when she’s told by [...]Click to read more about this film »
- The eagerly-awaited new anime adventure from Makoto Shinkai, director of the much-admired 5 Centimetres Per Second. Asuna is a young girl who has been forced to grow up fast after the death of her father. While walking home one evening she is attacked by a strange, fearsome monster. A mysterious boy called Shun rescues her [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Saved from an attack by a monstrous unearthly creature, Asuna tries desperately to find the handsome boy who rescued her. Following his tracks she finds herself in the mythical Agartha, a beautiful but bizarre underworld where the dead live on as strange beings. Created by Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimetres Per Second) this is up there with [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Discover Devil’s Tower all over again in Steven Spielberg’s science fiction classic. Richard Dreyfuss stars as typical everyman Roy Neary who experiences, with a small group of others, a close encounter of the first kind. As Roy attempts to fathom out the haunting visions that plague him, we see just the right amount of sentimentality [...]Click to read more about this film »
- Winner of Japan’s top animation prize, Colorful is a tender story about rebirth based on a 1998 novel by Eto Mori. After reaching a purgatory-like state after death, a dejected soul is placed in the body of a boy who has just committed suicide. The soul must figure out what his greatest mistake in his [...]Click to read more about this film »
