Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., which specializes in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and action films has announced the first wave of films for its 2013 edition, which includes four Latino titles. As it was previously announced, Robert Rodriguez's grindhouse sequel Machete Kills (pictured) has been selected as opening night of the festival.
Machete Kills continues the story of Machete, an ex-Federal agent, who is recruited by the president to take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has constructed a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet. Danny Trejo and Alexa Vega are both slated to make appearances for the film.
Halley, the production from Mexico and the Netherlands directed by Sebastian Hoffman, which made its U.S. premiere at Sundance Film Festival, makes its Texas premiere this time. The film details the story of Beto, a security guard in a Mexico City gym who is decomposing and can no longer hide, so he decides to withdraw from the world. Before yielding to his living death, he forms an unusual friendship with Silvia, the manager of the gym where he works as a guard.
Making its North American premiere is the Argentine film, She Wolf / Mujer lobo (pictured right) directed by Tamae Garateguy. The director has described the story an erotic police story featuring edgy situations. The she wolf of the title is a multi-faced serial killer in Buenos Aires who seduces men, takes them to bed first and them immediately to the grave. She continues this pattern until she bumps into a difficult problem. Also making its Texas premiere at the festival is Shaul Schwarz's documentary Narco Cultura, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is an explosive look at the drug cartels' pop culture influence on both sides of the border seen through the eyes of an LA narcocorrido singer and a Juarez crime scene on the front line of Mexico's drug war.
Fantastic Fest will run from September 19-26 at the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline in Austin, Texas.
