Terrorists with a difference in Four Lions

Paris’s truly unique Etrange Festival is back for its 16^th edition this Friday (Etrange meaning ‘strange’), with what looks to be one of its most weird and wonderful programmes to date. As a reminder, Running in Heels was there last year to catch a highly eclectic and entertaining collection of short films, and we’re tempted by at least half a dozen screenings from this year’s selection…

Opening night kicks off with the highly anticipated Four Lions from Chris Morris, taking a delicately satiric look at suicide bombing. Perhaps a too-thoroughly British tale for most European audiences, this film does not yet have any distribution secured outside the UK, which is exactly why it’s fantastic that we can take a peek in Paris thanks to the Etrange team.

Other highlights include Julien Temple’s Oil City Confidential about punk in 1970s UK, which completes his rock trilogy and elsewhere in rock docs is Lemmy, an intimate portrait of the Motorhead founder. I will be looking forward to catching The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle – the debut feature from the exceptionally talented David Russo, who brought us the wonderful stop motion masterpiece I am not Van Gogh. The Runaways – otherwise known as the Joan Jett biopic featuring Kristen Stewart also makes an appearance. We previewed Quentin Dupieux’s film Rubber about the adventures of a rampant spare tyre and Im Sang-Soo’s tale The Housemaid in our Countdown to Cannes – and these two crop up again here.

There is a Vampire Night without a Cullen sibling in sight – instead presenting three brand new films which all get their French premieres – Suck, Prowl and Vampires, from Canada, the USA and Belgium respectively. Rob Stefanuk’s Suck looks particularly interesting; a comedy centred on a rock ‘n’ roll band that will do anything to become famous which boasts a stellar cast including Malcolm McDowell, Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper. There is also a surprise film, but I still don’t think you’ll see any Pattinson action.

Alejandro Jorodowsky gets carte blanche and chooses an interesting selection including Miss Mona – a little-known French drama from 1987 which Jorodowsky describes it as a ‘true gem’. Dealing with themes including sex changes, immigration and rape, Jorodowky alludes to the film’s ‘tenderness’ in its treatment of these issues. He also includes Valhalla Rising by Nicolas Winding Refn in his selectio, although Refn actually gets Carte Blanche at the festival too. His own selection includes Carl Dreyer’s 1932 film Not Against the Flesh (aka Vampyr) which Refn says for him is “the closest thing I’ve seen to cinematographic perfection […] for both its beautiful representation of what we can see, and of what we cannot.”

There are also two interesting homages – to the actors Mimsy Farmer and Jean-Pierre Kalfon – which give an excellent panorama of their careers. The short film programmes look intriguing – featuring new work by rising Belgian experimental director Nicolas Provost (Long live the New Flesh) and a new piece from the Quay Brothers (Maska). There is also a night of ‘Etrange musique’ featuring bands Kni Crik, The Pop Group and Alec Empire.

The trailer for The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, debut feature film from David Russo

For more information, see L’Etrange Festival website.