Cycles

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MAIN COMPETITION
This year, for the fourth time, you will award the Audience Award for the best film in the Octopus Film Festival Main Competition! It features the best and most imaginative genre films from around the world that have not previously been shown in Polish cinemas.

As part of the series:
Good doggie! (2022)
Medusa Deluxe (2022)
Unicorn Wars (2022)
Światłonoc (2022)
Monolith (2022)
Mother Superior (2022)
Vesper (2022)
The art of killing (2022)
Red rooms (2023)
Hundreds of beavers (2023)
Vincent must die (2023)
Femme (2023)
Dog and robot (2023)

RETROSPECTIVE OF BARBARA BOUCHET

This year the Ink Mackay will be awarded not to a director, but to an actress – Barbara Bouchet, that is, a legend of European genre cinema who, during a career spanning nearly six decades, has managed to star in both the James Bond adventure series and the Star Trek, as well as working with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Lucio Fulci and Fernando Di Leo. Barbara Bouchet will come to Octopus, and we will present five films with her participation.

As part of the series:
Casino Royale (1967)
Black tarantula abdomen (1971)
Caliber 9 (1972)
Don’t torture the duckling (1972)
Ricco (1973)

KYLE EDWARD BALL’S RETROSPECTIVE

There has been no bigger event in horror cinema this year than the premiere of Skinamarink, an experimental horror analogue that completely turned off some viewers and scared some to death. Kyle Edward Ball, who is responsible for the film, is a debutant from Canada who has previously only shot short films for his YouTube channel. As part of his mini retrospective, we will present both the best of them and Skinamarink (at the last public screening in Poland).

OCTOPUS SHORTS
Out of nearly 300 submitted films, we selected about 30 such films that combine genre cinema with authorial vision in the most interesting way. You will be able to watch them in five blocks, and a professional jury will select the winner, who will receive the first ever Octopus Shorts award.

SKATE OR DIE!
Skateboarding is not only a sport, but also a lifestyle and pop culture icon extremely influential on the next generation – including through movies or computer games. In the Skate or Die! series, we will look at this phenomenon, presenting both feature films in which skateboarding plays an important role and documentaries showing the development of the skate subculture.

As part of the series:
Skateboards (1986)
Skateboard master (1989)
Beautiful Losers (2008)
King Skate (2018)

OCTOGENARIANS
It’s never too early to start watching genre cinema, so this year Octopus will offer you a brand new series – Octopuses, or genre films for the youngest! If you haven’t taken your kids to Octopus so far, you no longer have an excuse, as the program will feature only titles devoid of all the inanities that the other cycles are full of. Szymon Holcman, a film studies graduate and co-owner of the comic book publishing house Culture of Anger, is responsible for the film selection.

As part of the series:
Ernest and Celestine (2012) 6+
Dragon Princess (2021) 6+
Perlimps (2022) 7+
Titina (2022) 7+
Dog and Robot (2023) 6+
Aliens kidnapped my parents and now I’m a little stupid (2023) 11+

VHS HELL LIVE
Octopus could not exist without the gems of genre cinema from the lowest shelves of cassette rental presented by VHS Hell! This year’s series will feature two films with live voiceovers improvising dialogue, and the theme will be action, testosterone and packed muscles combined with questionable haircuts.

As part of the series:

Revenge of the embryo (1990)
Cold as a Boulder (1991) – show with Wojciech Tremiszewski in a live voiceover role

Death Zone (1991) – show with Mateusz Golębiowski in a live voiceover role

TURING CYCLE
Join us for the Turing Cycle at the Octopus Film Festival – a unique film experience! Discover the cinema classics that anticipated and inspired the fascinating artificial intelligence. All videos with fascinating visions of AI. Join us at the Octopus Film Festival!

[The above text was generated by artificial intelligence. AI also prepared the descriptions of the films, and will write and give talks before the films. Let’s check together how it will do].

As part of the series:
Metropolis (1927)
Alphaville (1965)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2 (1991) 18+
Ex Machina (2014)
In them all hope (2023)

MIDNIGHT MOVIES

The legendary midnight screenings, which featured wild, wacky films that defied bourgeois tastes, were an integral part of the US cinematic landscape of the 1970s. i 80. As part of this year’s Octopus, we will present three titles that have not been shown in Polish cinemas before in this formula!

As part of the series:
The sixth secret (2022)
Flesh Gordon (1974)

Children of trash (1987)

DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT THE HISTORY OF CINEMA

Each year documentary filmmakers reach for the camera to tell stories about filmmakers, genres or unusual phenomena in the history of cinema. Their films rarely get wide distribution, although they very often allow us to better understand the images we see. This year’s Octopus will present three documentaries about the history of cinema.

As part of the series:
Spine Tingler! The story of William Castle (2007)
King Skate (2018)
Once upon a time in Uganda (2021)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Joker (2019) – live read by Tadeusz Drozda
Climax (2018) in the bunker under the W4 Food Squat (participatory show)
Skinamarink (2022) In the bunker under the W4 Food Squat
Exorcist (1973) at the St. Joseph Center. Jana
Underwater Life with Steve Zissou (2004) on the West Breakwater
The house on the cursed hill (1959)
Raven (1994) at the Royal Rifle Factory
Threads (1984) at the Royal Rifle Factory
Séance Hidden

INDIVIDUAL SHOWS

Visitors from the galaxy of Arkan (1981)
In them all hope (2023) – opening premiere screening

MEETINGS / GUESTS
As part of this year’s Octopus, audiences will have the opportunity to meet live, among others. With Barbara Bouchet, Tadeusz Drozda and the makers of the film In them all hope.

LECTURES AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Skateboarding in historical and countercultural perspective -. lecture by Mateusz Szlachtycz

Subcooling. The history of skater cinema – lecture by Igor Kierkosz
Where Teresa Orlowski disappeared or about the lost “opportunities” of Polish pornography – a lecture by Ewa Strusińska
On any subject – Mariusz Szczygieł and Olga Drenda. Talkshow on TV and customs of the 1990s.
How to set up TV in your own apartment? – meeting with the creators of the legendary Sky Orunia station

OCTOPUS INDUSTRY*

Do you have to have contacts with Hollywood studios to make a genre film? Or maybe all you need is a good idea, talent and a small budget? The theme of the inaugural Octopus Industry will be the realization of genre cinema with little resources, but with great success. The section will include workshops, case studies and closed pitching. The section is curated by Marcin Adamczak.

*Section co-organizer: Institute of Urban Culture, operator of the Gdansk Film Fund.