Fans of daring cinema and divine wine are gathering in Ljutomer, Slovenia, where the jubilee 10th Grossmann Festival starts today and will last until Saturday, July 19th. In five days it will offer a massive dose of horror, science fiction, thrillers, comedies, action and music documentaries from 23 countries from all around the world.  

This year's guest of honour is Serbian director Djordje Kadijević, author of numerous cinematic masterpieces and pioneer of fantastic film in Yugoslavia. We will pay tribute to him at Saturday's Closing Ceremony where he will receive the Honorary Vicious Cat Award for lifetime achievement.

The festival will also feature art exhibitions, live concerts, workshops, book presentations and numerous wine tasting events. On Friday and Saturday there will also be a Subculture Fair at Ljutomer's Main Square, offering new and second hand DVDs, CDs, LPs, movie posters, books, comics and unique artifacts. The final spectacle will be provided by Zombie Quadrille, in which dancing couples at the height of decomposition will take us towards Guinness world record.

The festival will begin at 18:00h at Ljutomer's Culture House with the opening of two magnificent art exhibitions. Serbian artist Arpad Slančik will present his macabre sculptures under the title Mother and Dirty Children, while All the Wild Bunches of Zoran Smiljanić will bring joy with drawings and illustrations by renowned Slovenian comic book artist who is also a member of this year's short film jury.

Symbolic wine road will present premium wines from this year's competition program, courtesy of Vinakoper, P&F Wineries, KZ Metlika, Zlati Grič, Vinoreja Kaučič, Tourist Farm Hlebec and Kos Winery.

The 150th anniversary of birth of Slovenian film pioneer after whom the festival was named will be celebrated with the opening film Efforts in Preserving the First Film Footage by Dr. Karol Grossmann, introduced by author Marko Mitja Feguš.

Our feature film competition will be kick-started by Spanish occult horror Asmodexia, introduced by co-writer /director Marc Carreté. Grossmann's audience knows him for his short film Castidermia which was shown in last year's Melies d'Argent competition. Asmodexia is his debut feature, a spine-chilling tale of exorcist priest and his granddaughter fighting against an epidemic of evil that will take you to the very edge of hell and beyond. Writing credits are shared by our European Fantastic Film Festival Federation colleague Mike Hostench, deputy director of Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival.

First fabulous item in our Noisy Cat competition will be documentary Persistent Invocation of Angels, director Slobodan Simojlović's portrait of legendary Serbian rock band Riblja čorba. Through interviews with current and former group members, their collaborators and contemporaries you will find out everything about the band's colourful history, from magnificent successes and unforgettable albums to tragedies and controversies, in their trademark straightforward fashion.

Film program will also offer hypnotic Argentinian neo-giallo Deep Sleep that has already won numerous awards on its triumphant journey through festivals all over the world, US indie sci-fi gem Time Lapse with its original take on the ever popular theme of timewarping, and program section On the Fantastic Side of the Alps featuring three Slovenian short films. Kresnik: The Lore of Fire by David Sipoš is inspired by ancient Slavic mythology and already became a part of history as the first Slovenian film project on Kickstarter. The irreverent Schupakface: Genesis is director Gašper Antauer's third film about the assfaced superhero who started his fight against crime in Grossmann's Little Workshop of Horrors four years ago. Food Fetish is a quirky short comedy by Miha Šubic whose short films have been screened on several past editions of Grossmann Festival.

More info on our film, wine and accompanying program can be found on our website www.grossmann.si.


Let the Vicious Cat roar into the night and fill our heads with cinematic delight!