Joe Dante to Receive Honorary Estrella del Fantástico Award at FANT Bilbao
Howard Gorman
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With little more than a month to go before the 24th edition of the FANT Bilbao film festival, we’ve just got word that the much-loved filmmaker Joe Dante will be popping over to accept the honorary “ESTRELLA DEL FANTÁSTICO” award. Not only that, but to coincide with Dante’s attendance, the FANT2FUN strand of the festival will play host to screenings of two of his most iconic movies: Gremlins and The Howling.
From the Press Release:
The Director of time-honored classics such as the movies Gremlins or Inner Space will attend the FANT Bilbao film festival this year to accept the honorary “ESTRELLA DEL FANTÁSTICO” (FANTASY STAR) award at the inaugural gala, on May 4.
Born in 1946 in the city of Morristown, New Jersey, Joseph James “Joe” Dante cut his teeth working as an editor for legendary producer Roger Corman until he made the leap to direction, co-directing alongside Allan Arkush for “Hollywood Boulevard” (1976). In 1978 he jumped into the deep end, pun intended, helming “Piranha”, penned by first-timer John Sayles, with whom he collaborated again on “The Howling” (1981).
In 1983 he forged a successful collaboration relationship with Steven Spielberg (as a producer) when he directed one of the segments of the film adaptation of the legendary series “The Twilight Zone”. This collaboration didn’t stop there and spawned the more than successful Gremlins (1984), its sequel Gremlins 2 (1990) and Inner Space (1987). Other well-known Dante titles include Explorers (1985), The Burbs (1989), Matinee (1993), Small Soldiers (1998) or Burying the Ex (2014), his last feature film to date.
FANT Bilbao presented its first ever ESTRELLA DEL FANTASTICO award just last year, to acclaimed actress Barbara Crampton (New York, 1958), star of Stuart Gordon’s classic Re-Animator (1985), who attended last year’s festival and presented one of her most recent festival hits, Beyond the Gates together with a special screening of Re-Animator.
The full line-up of films screening at this year’s FANT festival is expected to drop this coming Friday the 13th of April but for the time being, we’ll leave you with footage of last year’s event when Barbara Crampton dropped in to pick up her “ESTRELLA DEL FANTÁSTICO” award in recognition of her extensive career…
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