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Final Girls Berlin 2024 Preview

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by Tori Potenza, Staff Writer

The winter time can be bleak for many of us, seasonal depression and a biting cold that makes us want to cozy up and never leave the house. However, there is always one event I look forward to as we enter February and that is The Final Girls Berlin Film Fest. If you do not know anything about the festival Final Girls Berlin Film Fest “howcases horror cinema that’s directed, written, or produced by women and non-binary filmmakers. We are committed to creating space for female voices and visions, whether monstrous, heroic or some messy combination of the two, in the horror genre. We've seen more than enough representations of women as beautified victims and constructions of male fantasies or anxieties, and are working towards the primacy of women as subjects and storytellers in horror.” This year will be the 9th annual festival and will take place in person at City Kino Wedding as well as online from February 7-11th. 

I got to cover the festival for the first time in 2021, and it was such a comfort a year into the pandemic. I am grateful they have continued offering their online portion of programming and their focus on women and non-binary horror filmmakers has always made it feel like a space where I, and others like me, fit in perfectly. I’ve continuously come back to cover the festival as I have found the quality of the programming to be amazing and the programmers to be thoughtful in their choices of feature films, shorts, and events for those that love horror as much as me. I hope to join in person someday but continue to enjoy cuddling up in and throwing on an array of unique films from the comfort of my own home especially in these cold winter months. This year promises to have the same quality programming and there is plenty for horror fans to look forward to. 

There are several features I have had the privilege of watching already and think folks should check. There is the body horror feature Birth/Rebirth from director Laura Moss starring Marin Ireland and Judy Reyes. This is a bleak Frankenstein tale with great performances and is a welcome entry into more women made body horror movies. There is also the steamy coming of age werewolf tale My Animal. This is Jacqueline Castel’s first feature and is a great monstrous feminine tale. Bobbi Salvör Menuez and Amandla Stenberg star in the queer horror film and have incredible chemistry. I highly recommend giving it a watch. I was also lucky enough to see the new feature from the talented Adams Family, Where the Devil Roams, this fall at Brooklyn Horror Fest. I love the Adams family and this is one of my favorite of their films so far. It is a dark and murderous tale focusing on a family who is a part of a small carnival troupe. It has wintery New England vibes and is a perfect watch for the wintertime. As always there is incredible music, filmmaking, and sets. These three movies alone show how much quality programming FGBFF offers. 

There are also quite a few features I am looking forward to checking out. The movie Booger will be making its German premier at the festival. After the tragic death of a friend, Anna struggles to keep her life together. Things get even more difficult when Anna gets bitten by her friend's cat and begins to go through a strange transformation. This promises to be a bizarre and touching meditation on grief which I am very excited to see. Another feature that piqued my interest is Somewhere Quiet. After escaping from a traumatic kidnapping a woman decides to get some rest with her husband on his family’s remote Cape Cod compound. But as she spends time there she begins to distrust those around her, including her husband. This has some New England cult vibes that immediately made me excited. One other feature I have been looking forward to seeing is Tiger Stripes, a Malaysian coming of age horror film about a girl who experiences a monstrous transformation after hitting puberty. I love coming of age horror and always look forward to checking out international horror features so I have high hopes for Tiger Stripes. Australian filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay will also be featuring another one of her creative narratives, T Blockers. The queer, punk rock energy of her films is always a blast so folks should look forward to it. 

One of my favorite parts of this festival, and many other festivals, is the shorts programming. It is often an opportunity to see films from up and coming filmmakers. It is also an easy way to see a wide variety of creative narratives that span various subject matters and come from all over the world. This year the festival has a whopping total of twelve shorts blocks, making it particularly hard to decide what to watch. I always go for their “Queer Horror” block as queer horror is a particular favorite of mine. However I am also looking forward to their “Body Politics,” “Eco Horror,” and “Absurd and Surreal” blocks. But whatever your horror interests there will most likely be a shorts block for you; little kid horror, family, tech, and workplace horror are also some of the themes for their blocks to make sure to look through and whatever you choose you are sure to see some gems. 

If you have the opportunity to attend the fest in person there are plenty of great events and workshops available. Dr. Alison Pierse & May Santiago will be presenting “Horror Film as Feminist Archive: A Doing Women’s Global Horror Film History showcase” featuring video essays from women all over the world on women filmmakers from all over the world. Mars Nicolí will have a presentation on transgender horror narratives, there will be a book launch for Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator, and a presentation on vomiting women in horror. These events really run the gambit of interests and specialities and always feature amazing speakers and voices in the horror community. 

I will be back to report on my festival watches later in the week but make sure to check out Final Girls Berlin Film Fest’s website to get information on this year’s program and to purchase individual or all access passes. You can also watch their trailer and follow their social media for more information. It is a small festival run by passionate people so also consider donating or checking out their patreon to support their incredible mission and vision so they can continue with this important work and programming. Do yourself a favor and support incredible underrepresented filmmakers by checking out the festival and spreading the word. 

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