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In 2008, with
this edition of ESCAPISM,
we complete our fifth year of festival programming. A fifth
anniversary is a milestone for any endeavor---publication, wedding or
employment---and it’s encouraging to be sailing into the
second
half of our first decade. In a way, it feels like Oscar time,
when a great many people should be thanked for their marvelous
contributions: our staff of programmers, marketers, managers, and
projectionists; the staffs of the major studios and independent
producers; and especially you, our loyal fans.
Each
year, the
festival brings to Durham a rich array of foreign films and American
independent productions. In the past, it has introduced such
movies as Neil Gaiman’s Mirrormask,
Chan-wook Park’s Sympathy
for Mr. Vengeance, and Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress.
This year’s program includes thirteen films from differing
time
periods (classic and current) that serves up a smorgasbord of movies
from places as diverse as Japan, France, Sweden, Australia, and Canada.
Many of this year’s selections
have screened as part of the prestigious “Midnight
Madness”
program at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as the
“Danger After Dark” program at the Philadelphia
International Film Festival. In fact, ESCAPISM
fans have the distinction of being one of the first festival audiences
to screen two of this year’s biggest hits from Toronto, Eden Log
and Not Quite
Hollywood,
months before other audiences in America!
Nothing quite
gets a movie
plot rolling like a mysterious event or brutal murder that baffles
investigators and paves the way for either the Reluctant Expert or the
Unreliable Witness. Both prefer not to get involved, but
their
sense of honor usually convinces them to share their terrible knowledge
with the world. Oftentimes, their knowledge is about
vampires,
serial killers, blobs, monsters, ninjas, or the supernatural.
Fans of genre pictures will not be disappointed with this
year’s
crop of selections!
Whether
you’re
looking for family films or more adult-oriented fantasy
fare, we’ve tried to include
something for all tastes in this
year’s edition. Hitchcock, Carpenter, and Disney are
equally represented. And if the box office success of
comic-book
heroes this past summer is any indication, you’ll be
doubly-pleased to read that we’ve snared the U.S. Theatrical
premiere of 1989’s The Punisher
(in an uncut, director’s edition to boot!)
You’ll
hear from the creative talent…re-examine classics from the
past…and see advance screenings of Surveillance,
Dogs of Chinatown, Eden Log, Let the Right
One In, and Not Quite
Hollywood---long before their theatrical or
video release. From the sun-scorched landscapes of Sukiyaki
Western Django to the hilarious Australian
outback of Not Quite Hollywood
to the deadly pursuit of truth in Surveillance,
ESCAPISM
2008 promises to be our best edition yet!
If you like what we're
offering at the Escapism Film Festival, be sure to check
out RETROFANTASMA, our monthly series featuring classic horror and
cult films. Click here here to see the line-up of films for the rest of 2008.
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FEST
NEWS
Artist in Attendance!
Mark
Goldblatt
Director of The Punisher and Dead Heat will
intro his films and hold a Q&A after the screenings.
Artists in Attendance!
Micah Moore, Director
Dogs
of Chinatown
Blake Faucette, Producer
Dogs
of Chinatown
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