British Cult Cinema - Guest: 

With our focus on British cult films, there's one monument from the 70's that can't possibly be ignored: the ultimate cult classic The Wicker Man by Robin Hardy. Few films from the period still have the same appeal, and fortunately the terrible Nicolas Cage remake from 2006 did little to diminish that. When a young girl mysteriously disappears, police Sergeant Howie travels to a remote island to investigate. But this pastoral community is not what it seems, as the devout Christian detective soon uncovers a secret society of wanton lust and pagan blasphemy. The film had a difficult start. The new owner of the production company disrespectfully cut more than fifteen minutes of material and released it as a B-film. It flopped and died a quiet death. When a long cut was released in the cinemas at the end of the 70's, the film was finally appreciated and critically praised as the “Citizen Kane of horror films”. But it still wasn't Hardy's original version. In 2013 a stock of previously considered lost material was found - which means that after forty years, Robin Hardy can finally present his definitive version to the Offscreen audience.

Robin Hardy is guest of the festival and will personally present his film.