Obscure creepy classics from Poland, Japan, Canada and the USA will be shown to horror fans in Leith as part of Fiends in the Furrows film festival.
The new festival, which will run from April 23 – 26 and is supported by Screen Scotland will also feature open-air screenings of The Wicker Man, Watership Down and Mark Jenkin’s new film Rose of Nevada.
The full programme for the festival, which is a collaboration between live film events gurus Cinetopia and community-based cinema club Leith Kino, features 14 folk horror films at venues around Leith.
Discover the full programme on the Fiends in the Furrows website.
All venues are accessible and films will be subtitled in English to assist D/deaf and hard of hearing film audiences. Tickets will be on a sliding scale from £6 - £10, with a limited number of full festival passes available.
As well as screenings Fiends in the Furrows festival will also include panel discussions, a folk market and additional social and meet-up events.
Catherine Lester, an academic and an expert on Watership Down will introduce the open-air screening in Dock Place on Saturday. Professor Jonny Murray, author of a book about The Wicker Man will also be joining a panel discussion to be held in Custom Lane.
Leith Kino co-founder Morvern Cunningham said: “I’m delighted we are able to run events in Custom Lane. We will be holding a Folk Market there on Saturday and Sunday with local artists and traders and a folk themed bookshop run by Argonaut Books.
“We’ll also be selling Fiends in the Furrows t shirts and posters, which have been hand crafted by local artist Theo Cleary. The motif is a two-headed goat – which I like to think is a symbol of the collaboration between Leith Kino and Cinetopia.”
Sambrooke Scott, Head of Audience Development at Screen Scotland, said: "Fiends in the Furrows is a distinctive, community-rooted and accessible film festival from a bold curatorial collective who celebrate and revel in genre cinema. The events will give audiences an atmospheric, surprising and deeply engaging dose of folk horror from around the world; reflecting different people, places and stories. We're excited to support the festival and can't wait to join audiences as they discover this brilliant selection of films."
Fraser Elliott of Leith Kino said: “I think the full programme expands our idea of folk horror – which is usually associated with British films of the 1960s and 1970s - looking at how similar themes are reflected in films from around the world.
“There are 12 of us in the Leith Kino collective and the films we’ve chosen reflect the various interests of our members. It’s fascinating to see how the theme of folk horror manifests in countries which have their own folklore traditions and how they reflect different political and social pre-occupations.”
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Image credits: Still from The Devil, courtesy of Fiends in the Furrows