CURSE Folklore Film Festival at Cultplex

A new film festival promises to bring together the eerie, the mystical and the macabre at Manchester’s Cultplex cinema. CURSE Folklore Film Festival gathers together films that explore local legends, superstition and mythical creatures from across the globe, over the weekend of Friday 28 February – Sunday 2 March. From Great Britain and Ireland, Spain and Japan, these tales are rooted in ancient landscapes and feature stories handed down for generations, all presented afresh through the (relatively) modern prism of cinema.

Highlights of the CURSE weekender include a chance to hear from one of the finest purveyors of folk horror currently working in this country, as writer-director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, In the Earth) comes to town for a Q&A following a screening of his 2013 film A Field in England (Sat 1 March). Set during the civil war in 17th Century England, this black and white psychological horror film follows a group of deserters who fall under the influence of an alchemist who forces them to search for a mysterious treasure. Wheatley will also stick around after his film to introduce a still to be announced folklore favourite of his own.

Bookending the festival are two cornerstones of British folk horror in the form of Robin Hardy’s 1973 The Wicker Man and Michael Reeves’ 1968 Witchfinder General. Those iconic titles are joined by a pair of worthy contenders in Mark Jenkin’s gloriously lo-fi, 16mm Enys Men which delves into the depths of Cornish folklore, and Elliot Goldner’s 2013 The Borderlands. Producer Jen Handorf will be in attendance for the latter screening, answering your questions on the found footage film which follows Vatican investigators sent to the West Country to investigate paranormal goings on.

There’s a chance to involve the little ones with a family-friendly showing of Cartoon Saloon’s gorgeously wrought Song of the Sea on Saturday 1 March. Taking inspiration from the mythical Selkies of Irish folklore, this animation combines hand drawn and computer animation to stunning effect as a young boy follows his sister Saoirse, the last Seal-child, into an underwater world of fading legends.

Meanwhile, adding more global perspective is Guillermo Del Toro’s dark fairytale Pans Labyrinth, which takes us to 1944 Spain, and from Japan –Kaneto Shindo’s Onibaba. Filled with sex, murder and terrifying imagery, this visually arresting story is steeped in the in the symbolism and superstition of its Buddhist and Shintô roots.