'Melancholia,' 'Contagion' to Go to Spain's Sitges' Fantastic Panorama

MADRID - Danish director Lars Von Trier's long-awaited Melancholia and Steven Soderbergh's Contagion will run in the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival's Panorama Section, organizers announced Friday.

The Panorama section, which runs side-by-side with the official competition section, will focus on paranoia in today's society, particularly in the aftermath of September 2001 attacks in the U.S., according to festival programmers.

In addition to these titles there is Bela Tarr’s apocalyptic vision in The Turin Horse (winner of the Special Jury Award at the latest Berlin Festival). The selection will also present other much-anticipated titles in this year’s fantastic cinema like: Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark, produced by Guillermo Del Toro, Mary Haron' s vampire epicThe Moth Diaries, the spectacular 3D Korean blockbuster Sector 7 or the sinister version of Jane Eyre, starring Michael Fassbender. Added to all this is the previously announced Mientras duermes (Sleep Tight), Jaume Balaguero’s disturbing psychological thriller.  Also included in Panorama: Eric Koo's adult animation film Tatsumi and Nicolas Winding-Refn's adrenaline-packed Drive.

Sitges runs Oct. 6-16 in Spain's northeastern Catalan region.