FANOMENON
@leedsfilmfest / #LIFF29 www.leedsfilm.com RETROS: SPECIAL SCREENINGS
The Iron Giant
Brad Bird, USA, 1999, 86 min Sat 14 Nov, 11:00, VICTORIA | Sat 7 Nov, 12:00, HPPH The Iron Giant, adapted from Ted Hughes’ children’s book The Iron Man, is the wonderful debut of Brad Bird, the director of The Incredibles. In a small American town at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, a gigantic extraterrestrial robot with an appetite for cars, railroad tracks and TV antennas crash-lands near the home of nine-year-old Hogarth. Befriending the enormous visitor, Hogarth desperately tries to keep his new pal’s existence a secret from both his mother and a paranoid government agent. ‘Remarkably unassuming, genuinely playful, and superbly executed, The Iron Giant towers over the cartoon landscape’ (J. Hoberman, The Village Voice).
RETROS: JOHN CARPENTER
John Carpenter Film Poster Exhibition
Wed 14 Oct to Tue 24 Nov, Mon & Tue 11am - 1am, Wed to Sat 11am - 2am, Sun noon - 1am, NORTH, FREE To tie-in with the John Carpenter mini-retrospective and live interview with the great man himself, Leeds International Film Festival and North Bar are proud to present an exhibition of film posters of some of his most iconic work, spanning over 30 years. Harking back to a time when posters were considered an art form in their own right rather than just a marketing tool, many have become as iconic as the films themselves and originals are still greatly sought after by collectors. The exhibition includes The Thing, which was famously created by film poster legend Drew Struzan in just 24 hours, Big Trouble in Little China (also by Struzan), Escape from New York and They Live, all screening in LIFF 29.
RETROS: JOHN CARPENTER
John Carpenter Live Interview + The Thing John Carpenter, USA, 1982, 109 min Fri 6 Nov, 19:00, VICTORIA, £15
Having already directed Halloween and The Fog, John Carpenter contributed another great masterwork to the horror genre, with the highly atmospheric The Thing. With a soundtrack by legendary composer Ennio Morricone to really set your nerves on edge, its explosions of alien terror become even more terrifying. Kurt Russell stars as one of a crew of scientists on an isolated Antarctic research site who are besieged by a shapeshifting creature. The Thing will be followed by a satellite Q&A with John Carpenter himself who will be speaking to LIFF29 live from Los Angeles.
FANATHONS: NIGHT OF THE DEAD
Kung Fury + Dead Shorts
David Sandberg, Sweden, 2015, 90 min approx Sat 14 Nov, 03:30, HPPH, NOTD PASS AVAILABLE Created in 2014, Dead Shorts is a short film competition open to UK and Irish horror films under 10 minutes in length and voted for by the audience during the Night of the Dead horror marathon. The bar was set high by the inaugural winner Cannibals and Carpet Fitters in 2014, so expect some of the most creative and entertaining films for this year’s competition. Screening alongside the competition films is the sublime Kung Fury, a homage to 80’s VHS action sci-fi movies from the aptly named Lazer Unicorns. With robots, Norse Gods, time travel, Amazonian women and a few hundred Nazis to boot, this martial arts epic is the perfect Night of the Dead thrill ride and is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. For key to venue codes please see page 7
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