Brrr, still shivering from last night? It was a cracking Halloween, but it might just be the weather. Perfect for an Imagine marathon. Here’s the best of today and tomorrow.
Today’s menu
Career Talk Ben Wheatley
Tonight at 19:30 in LAB111
Our Guest of Honour for 2025, Ben Wheatley, burst onto the film scene in 2009 with his kitchen sink-thriller Down Terrace. With Kill List (also showing at Imagine) in 2011, he went full folk horror, but he refuses to be boxed into a single genre. He’s tackled J.G. Ballard’s sci-fi novel High-Rise and the gothic romance of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, and even a bonkers monster shark for Meg 2. Tonight we’ll be discussing Wheatley’s influences and career, in which he effortlessly alternates commercial work with groundbreaking experiment. After the talk, you can catch his new lo-fi sci-fi thriller Bulk.
Wheatley isn’t the only filmmaker popping by this year, by the way. Yesterday we hosted Ted Evans and the Adams family; tomorrow we welcome the directors of Kiss of the Grasshopper, Mãrama and Roqia for a post-screening discussion, and for the premiere of The Occupant (tonight), director Hugo Keijzer is even bringing his cast and crew. They will, thankfully, be back for the second screening of the film on 4 November.
Special: Horror in the Andes (Film & Talk)
Today at 14:15 in LAB111
They have barely any resources, but a sheer abundance of determination – the three Peruvian film fanatics shooting a horror film in the Andes mountains. In her short documentary Horror in the Andes (today at 14:15), anthropologist Martha-Cecilia Dietrich follows the filmmakers on their mission: bringing stories from the pre-colonial past to life. Folk horror from an unexpected corner, then, which is precisely the concept behind our theme programme Reversing the Gaze. During this programme, Dietrich will elaborate on her own work. We also did a quick interview with her.
Talkshow: Martin Koolhoven Presents Bloeddorst #2
This afternoon at 16:30 in LAB111
Horror and film fanatic Menno Kooistra founded the comic book collection Bloeddorst with a few like-minded people in 2007. A whopping eighteen years later, the crowdfunded #2 is here, thanks to Martin Koolhoven. Filmmakers and comic artists joined forces for a new dose of graphic and psychological terror. The launch of the collection will be celebrated at Imagine with a talk show featuring the creators, today at 16:30, and a ten-day exhibition of the macabre artwork in the basement of LAB111.
Films of the day
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, aficionados of 60s and 70s European genre cinema, debuted in 2009 with the beautiful giallo pastiche Amer. For their new spy story Reflet dans un diamant mort / Reflection in a Dead Diamond (today at 11:40 and on 6 November) they take us to the French Riviera of the sixties. Forzani: ‘Above all, we want to create a cinematic orgasm.’ Can’t argue with that.
Since her debut Innocence (2004), Lucile Hadžihalilović is another director whose films we never want to miss. In The Ice Tower we follow sixteen-year-old Jeanne on a marvellous journey from children’s home to film set, where she becomes captivated by an actress. For the film’s look, Hadžihalilović sought inspiration from Michael Powell and Dario Argento. The Ice Tower is showing today at 13:35 and on 6 November.
Our team tips for today and tomorrow
The Forbidden City
Stan, Programmer: ‘Gabriele Mainetti is back with this spectacular pasta-meets-kung fu fusion, blending Hong Kong martial arts with Roman underworld grit. Newcomer Yaxi Liu rules the screen – imagine a female Jet Li with devastating kicks and spectacular choreography. Exhilarating comfort food for autumn.’
2 and 4 November
Sranan Tales
Eddy, Programmer: ‘Really looking forward to this special. It’s an incredible mix of highly original short genre films by young Surinamese filmmakers reflecting on their identity, background and culture. As a bonus, we’ll get to meet the filmmakers in a panel talk moderated by Sherlien Sanches.’
2 November at 16:45
Boorman and the Devil
Evrim, Programmer: ‘This elegant and insightful foray into filmmaking unpacks how artists persist despite the odds. (Think: swarms of locusts and Richard Burton on a bender). This documentary masterpiece manages to capture something intimate, delicate and totally undeniable.’
2 and 4 November
