Halloween is approaching, and Final Girls Berlin Film Fest has all of your grizzly horror needs covered. The second part of its 6th edition will be held in City Kino Wedding from October 29th-31st. This Halloween weekend you’ll find shorts and feature films directed, written, and/or produced by women and non-binary filmmakers, talks by horror specialists, a book launch, and an exciting retrospective. Opening night will feature the highly acclaimed SAINT MAUD, directed by Rose Glass, a psychological bone-chiller on religious fanaticism. There will be a retrospective screening of Stephanie Rothman’s 1970s tale of bisexual vampiric seduction, THE VELVET VAMPIRE, as well as Kier-La Janisse’s award-winning debut feature which is also making its German Premiere at Final Girls on Saturday, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED, a fascinating 3+ hour documentary about the history of folk horror cinema. Saturday night will close with the controversial VIOLATION, directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dustin Mancinelli, which casts an unflinching gaze on the themes of sexual assault, gaslighting, and retribution. SHE DIES TOMORROW, directed by Amy Seimetz, is a sinister, slow-burn, psychologically sticky descent into madness. And Sunday’s closing feature, RELIC, directed by returning director Natalia Erika James, is a harrowing exploration of aging, dementia, and haunting intergenerational legacies, not to be missed.
As always, there will be plenty of shorts to satiate all of your horror desires with blocks dedicated to social ills, family horror, horror-adjacent films, queer horror, witches, and midnight mayhem.
Visiting feminist horror film scholars will deliver lectures on their work, including Valeria Villegas Lindvall on “The Awakening of female* horror in Latin America” and Patricia Pisters on “Growing Pains: Breasts, Bloods, and Fangs.” A selection of screenings will also be available for streaming for the duration of the festival, in order to reach international horror fans who cannot attend in person. Hygiene and Covid safety measures will be strictly maintained in the cinema. Pack some Halloween candy, wear your best costume, and prepare yourselves for a deep dive into the world of female*-made horror!