Obscure creepy classics from Mexico, Poland, Japan, Canada, the USSR and the US will be on offer to Leith horror fans as part of Fiends in the Furrows film festival.
The new festival, which will run from 23 to 26 April, 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 firm, Cinetopia, and community-based cinema club Leith Kino, features 14 folk horror films at venues in Leith.
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.”
Among the films to be shown at Leith Depot, home of Leith Kino, is La Llarona, a Mexican film from 1933 which is the first Mexican horror film to be shot with sound.”
There are films in the programme which have rarely been shown in the UK – such as Clearcut, a brutal tale of anti-colonial revenge made in 1991 in Canada by Polish film-maker Ryszard Bugajski, which is steeped in First Nations folklore. The Devil, the 1972 film by Polish director Andrzej Żuławski was so controversial it was banned for more than a decade and forced the film maker into exile.
Permission to screen Clearcut in Leith had to be obtained directly from the film maker’s estate in Canada.
The Japanese film, Noroi:The Curse, was made by Koji Shiraishi in 2005. This uses found footage and follows a paranormal investigator looking into a series of unexplained deaths. According to Fraser Elliott: “It is terrifying – the scariest film on the programme.”
Viy, a Soviet classic from 1967, bristles with demons and monsters and includes wildly imaginative animations, while Eve’s Bayou and Ganja & Hess explore different aspects of American gothic.
Elliott said: “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.”
As well as screenings, Fiends in the Furrows festival will also include panel discussions, a folk market and additional social and meet-up events.
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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.”
The final party for the event will be hosted in Leith Depot by EHFM DJs Bog Factor – who promise a mix of folk revival, pagan beats, spiritual jazz and twisted bossanova.
Cinetopia founder, Amanda Rogers, said response to the Fiends in the Furrows programme launch had been phenomenal. Cinetopia already has a great track record in Leith – running Cinema on the Shore as well as an open-air screening of Trainspotting and Trainspotting 2.
“We’ve already sold hundreds of tickets and have people coming from as far away as Orkney. We’ve been amazed by how much buzz there is already around Fiends in the Furrows.
“Folk horror really is something people want to explore and with such a rich variety of British and international films we hope this festival will be the first of many.”
Sambrooke Scott, Head of Audience Development at Screen Scotland: “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.”
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.
