Rocket Cinema Festival Opens in Amsterdam
Monster Movies Set Halloween Tone at Dutch Film Fest
Oct 23, 2009
Opening on October 24, 2009 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the second edition of the Rocket Cinema Festival hosts a week of films with the theme ‘monster movies at mega locations’. Running until November 1, which includes Halloween on October 31, this grisly theme is very appropriate.
Unlike more traditional film festivals, which tend to have a base and are usually held in one or several movie theaters, the small Rocket Cinema Festival distinguishes itself in several ways. This year the locations of the screenings – none of which are in movie theaters - are almost as important as the movies themselves and have been chosen to enhance the viewing experience.
Movies Screened at Unusual Locations
The festival’s opening film, Daniel Myrick’s creepy, low-budget horror flick The Blair Witch Project (1999), for example, will be ‘shown’ in the leafy Vondelpark. Armed with a headset, visitors will be sent into the park at night along a pre-designed route, as the movie plays in their ears, synching with art installations they pass along the way.
James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) will be screened in De Oude Kerk, a church dating from the mid-13th century in the centre of the city’s famous Red Light District; and Steven Spielberg’s iconic shark film Jaws (1975) will make waves in swimming pool Het Zuiderbad.
The other movies in the festival’s lineup are King Kong vs. Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1963), screened in the imposing City Archives’ building De Bazel, and the French-language adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, La Belle et La Bête (Jacques Cocteau, 1946), shown in the Posthoorn Church.
DJs and Musicians Compose New Soundtracks for Movies
In addition to the locations, the Rocket Cinema Festival also stands out for its musical element. Each movie will be accompanied by an especially composed soundtrack. Detroit techno DJ Carl Craig has produced a new score for The Blair Witch Project, for example, while psychedelic band zZz has composed a new arrangement for Frankenstein, performed on an organ – appropriate given the film’s screening location in a church.
Mexican Day of the Dead Celebrated at Closing Party
The festival will close on November 1 with a party celebrating ‘Día de Los Muertos’, the Day of the Dead. Like Halloween, this Mexican holiday starts on October 31, but unlike Halloween, it goes on to November 2. And rather than portraying death as something to be feared, the holiday celebrates death and those who have died.
The Rocket Cinema Festival may still be young and its programming limited, but it is already proving that it can offer experiential cinema at its most literal. Move over IMAX. Visit Rocket Cinema Festival website for full time, location and price details.
