riddle of fire

Shot with a 16mm Kodak camera and told mainly from the perspective of his child characters, Weston Razooli presents an astonishing debut that was acclaimed at the Cannes festival. With a great deal of humour and boundless creative freedom, he sends his young "Rebels with a Cause" on a fairytale adventure that also, and especially, enchants adults with its sophisticated retro aesthetic and many crazy ideas.

european premiere

sting

On a stormy night, a mysterious egg crashes through the window of a run-down housing in New York. A bizarre little spider crawls out of it, and 12-year-old Charlotte takes it in. It becomes her friend and grows faster and faster until its hunger for blood becomes alarming. The film, directed by genre connaisseur Kiah Roache-Turner, is an homage to the trash science fiction cinema of the 1950s. 

meanwhile on earth

The French astronaut Franck Martens got lost during his space mission three years ago. His family, especially his sister Elsa, are still trying to cope with the loss. But then Elsa gets a message from an alien force. It says that she can have her brother back, but only under one terrible condition! This original science fiction drama fascinates, among other things, with charismatic characters and a sensitive soundtrack.

the invisible fight

Rafael’s dream is to become a kung fu monk. But the path to enlightenment is difficult for the long-haired Black Sabbath fan. He has to master the most unusual training methods since KARATE KID – and a horde of demons is infesting town. A set of martial arts fireworks from Estonia that bows to the fighting choreographies of the Shaw brothers as well as the ambiguous nonsense of the Monty Python troupe and heavy metal.

gattaca

Special screening of GATTACA on Wednesday, April 17 at 7:30 pm at Zeiss-Großplanetarium in Berlin. Festival pass holders of Fantasy Filmfest Nights 2024 can attend the screening at no additional cost and only need to present their confirmation email at the box office.

"Science Fiction Questioned" is the motto of an exciting and educational film evening organised in cooperation with the Stiftung Planetarium Berlin. GATTACA (1997) with Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law will be shown in the cinema of the Zeiss-Großplanetarium. After the screening, we will discuss with social scientist Dr. Dierk Spreen and Dr. Jürgen Rienow, Head of Production at the Planetarium Berlin Foundation, whether the content of the film is more "science" or "fiction".

About the film: In this award-winning science fiction classic, genetic control is commonplace and DNA is the determining factor in a person's social status. In order to fulfil his lifelong dream of going into space, the genetically inferior Vincent has one chance: he buys the identity of Eugene, who has perfect DNA but has been paralysed in an accident.

the funeral

The body of the mysteriously murdered young woman has to disappear before her family gets into trouble with the police. The hearse driver, Cemal, is supposed to hide with it in the countryside. But the woman isn’t that dead – not exactly alive either, though. THE FUNERAL has its own take on the genres of demons, vampires, and zombie films, unveiling a dark side of Turkey.

deutschlandpremiere

concrete utopia

Seoul has been devastated. Only one housing complex is still standing. While its inhabitants are still in shock, more and more survivors ask for admission. The goods are rapidly running out, and the community has to decide if they will help the desperate men, women, and children or let them face the hard winter outside. CONCRETE UTOPIA is Korea’s entry for the international Oscar and a thriller that stirs you up.

deutschlandpremiere

suitable flesh

Dr. Elizabeth Derby is so fascinated by her new patient that, against all professional ethics, she visits him at home. That ends in a blood bath. From then on, the psychiatrist’s life gets more and more out of control since the handsome young man, who suffers from demonic delusions, has a horrible secret. Joe Lynch presents SUITABLE FLESH, a tribute to the horror films of the 1980s.

dream scenario

Here, three fantastic talents come together to create a literal DREAM SCENARIO: after SICK OF MYSELF, Kristoffer Borgli once again aims at the neurotic excesses of our media-consuming society and, with Ari Aster as co-producer, delivers a biting satire and a perfect fit for Nicolas Cage's perhaps best per- formance to date.

Paul doesn't know what's happening to him. At first it's just his daughter who has surreal dreams about him. But then, inexplicably, more and more people start getting visions of him at night, even complete strangers! Until now, the pale family father and not very witty college professor has never been in the centre of attention or cool. But now he is suddenly being praised as the "hottest man in the world" and the media is all about the new internet star everyone is dreaming of. However, as the collective night-time episodes become increasingly nightmarish, the general mood changes and Paul is overwhelmed by a shitstorm of gigantic proportions.

i’ll crush y’all

Who dares to descend into the depths of Spanish exploitation cinema, and join a cast like Antonio Mayans and TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD icon Lone Fleming? This over-the-top action feast, whose title delivers exactly what it promises, is the ticket to it: Tarado, fresh out of jail, finally wants to lead a normal life. But when his father dies unexpectedly, a tour-de- force unchains that gets massively out of hand, seeing more and more rival parties suddenly turning up on the family farm. Who exactly claims what against whom is unclear until the cunning finale – but also doesn’t matter.

Mario Mayo delivers as Tarado a rough performance mixing Jason Statham and Bruce Willis. He shreds his way through his opponents with stoic calm and using a series of (im)possible props. There is no one who gets out of this without getting punched in the face – so bluntly that it hurts. A cathartic and completely over-the-top bloodbath difficult to foresee!