Grossmann Fantastic Film and Wine Festival

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Grossmannov festival vina in filma

Prešernova 2, SI-9240 Ljutomer

http://en.grossmann.si/

info@grossmann.si

Organised byKTD Festival Ljutomer

 Filmska praksa PLAN 9

 City of Ljutomer

FrequencyAnnual

Events abroad

Past Events

• 13 May 2016

  to

  18 May 2016

  France Cannes Village International Riviera N. 134

  
  programme

  
  

  
  

  A presentation of Slovene cinematography and the Grossmann Fantastic Film and Wine Festival at the South-East European Pavillion

  at the Cannes International Film Festival

  
  

  
  

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Grossmann Film and Wine Festival is a specialised competitive festival which focuses on a contemporary genre film production, mostly on horror and fantastic genre. It was launched in 2005 on 100th anniversary of Slovene cinema and is dedicated to Dr. Karol Grossmann, the pioneer of Slovene cinema as he made the first film shots in 1905. The Grossmann festival is indubitably the most unconventional Slovene film festival as it includes not just the screening of the film programme but also the promotion of local wines, "the pride and joy of Prlekija region", and other gastronomical pleasures. It is taking place on different locations in the city of Ljutomer, indoors and outdoors (open-air cinema on the main city square), while it's film programme is later hosted also in Zagreb, Belgrade, Lyon and Cannes.

Festival policy and sections

Although the Grossmann festival is a relatively young and small festival event it quickly became one of the regular meeting points for professionals and fans of genre film production in the Balkan region and broader. It's concept is fresh, original and simply charming. Namely the Grossmann festival's focus on genre film production doesn't include blockbusters and mainstream films but rather the new digital guerilla, independent and low budget films, that are meant to become cult. The official festival policy is guided by the wish to present those films that are trying to escape the "mediocrity, political correctness and pathetic desire for mass appeal" of the contemporary genre films and to bring some fresh blood and danger into it. The Grossmann festival is also regularly organising special events like the Zombie Walk, a procession of the undead (make-up is made by professionals attending the festival) through the streets of Ljutomer, concerts and the traditional festival of wine (with wine road tours, exhibitions, lectures, wine tastings and presentations). Since the excellent wine of this region is the only official drink of the festival it is advised to bring some fresh water with.

It's programme is divided into 9 sections and three of those are competitive: the Vicious Cats section includes feature length films, the Slak's Vicious Cats short films and the Noisy Cats music documentaries. Retrospectives are one of the strongest sections since in the past years they managed to invite many cult and legendary directors like Roger Corman, Jörg Buttgereitt and Roggero Deodato. Music documentaries are screened also out of competition in the Off Noisy Cats section. The Digital Mayhem section is dedicated to films on digital support, while the Mondo Macabro Special sections includes restored forgotten classics from the wild side of world cinema published on DVD by Mondo Macabro label. The Torture Garden is meant only for the most persistent since it offers 9 hours of furious blasts of weird, rare, strange and mad films, while the Vicious Festival Harvest sections brings selected films from partner festivals (Australian A Night of Horror, Festival of Serbian Fantasy Films, Croatian Trash Film Festival).

Awards

The Grossmann festival has 6 officaial festival awards. Each of the three main festival sections has it's own award: the Vicious Cat award goes to the best feature length film of the Vicious Cats section, the Slak's Vicious Cat award is meant for the best short film and the Noisy Cat for the best music documentary. To honour someone's lifetime achievements the festival introduced the Vicious Old Cat award, while the Necro Cat award is meant for outstanding achievements in fantastic or horror genre. Since the Grossmann festival is also a festival of wine, the Vicious Cat Wine Champion award is conferred too. Sometimes the number of awards can change as the Grossmann festival is unorthodox also in that regard and so new awards are introduced (like the Special Slovenian Award at the 2009 edition).

Workshops

As already said the Grossmann festival has also a lot of parallel events to the main film programme, from book presentations and exhibitions to concerts. Although they are not traditional a great attention goes also to the workshops as they are usually led by visiting artists or professionals. Like in 2007 when the Make Your Own Damn Movie! workshop, an intensive masterclass on shooting and promotion of low-budget films, was led by Lloyd Kaufman.

External link

• Grossmann Film and Wine Festival website