For a quarter century, English cinephiles have tended to resist Jean Rollin's work, his descents into hermetically sealed worlds of desolate chateaus, solitary vampires and violent seduction, and above all the bizarre genius and poetic imagery with which he waves his morbid fascinations.  My claim then is a minority one; however, I feel Rollin's burgeoning renaissance is far from its zenith, and whilst the majority of the sexual interpretations of the vampire myth of the last quarter of a century now seem little more than kitsch anachronisms, his work remains raw and ripe for reappraisal.  Unlike many filmmakers, Rollin's lineage is one of writers, poets, painters, serialists, and comic strip artists as well as filmmakers.  The vampire, the (pair of) virgin(s) and the castle form the cardinal points of Rollin's art.  The vampire is often portrayed as the embodiment of both sex and death, so it seems natural that Rollin's perception lies confined to more salacious variations of the 'exploitation filmmaker' legend.  However, despite these 'low art' connotations, his nocturnal fantasies perhaps dwell more readily in the company of those belonging to Tristan Corbiere, Gaston Leroux and Jean Ray rather than those of say, Jess Franco.  What Rollin has done is to have created some of the most arresting images to be captured on film.  He is a genuine poet composing in the cinematic medium." (Daniel Bird)

CineMuerte is extremely proud to have the legendary French auteur Jean Rollin as a guest for this year's event -- a man whose accomplishments give a good swift kick to all the whining film students who claim they can't afford to make their own films.  In a continent where 'independent film' means that some subsidiary of Miramax was involved somewhere along the line, Jean Rollin is a breath of fresh air, having made over thirty films in as many years without any grant money or studio involvement.  Fans and aspiring filmmakers will have the chance to meet Rollin on Sunday, July 2nd, when he is awarded the Golden Hatchet Award for Lifetime Achievement between the two of his films that will be screened.

La rose de fer
(dir. Jean Rollin, France, 1972, 95 min., format: video)
A young couple spend the night in a cemetery, undertaking a revelatory journey among the crypts and gravestones that reveals the madness in one and the soul-lessness of the other.  The girl is full of an intense passion that she soon discovers her boyfriend is not capable of reciprocating.  She wanders off on her own, and slowly begins projecting her frustrated passions onto the cemetery itself, surrealistically enveloping herself within its atmosphere, as she tragically loses her mind.  Rollin's biggest commercial failure is also his undeniable masterpiece.  It is an ultimate gothic romance, set in a place where the symbols of the dead are infused with more passion that the bodies of the living.  It is a haunting portrait of the agony of directionless emotion, laced with unforgettable imagery that is as breathtaking as it is devastating in its melancholic poetry.  Simply put, La rose de fer is the most touching, radical and wildly individualistic film that Rollin has ever made.  He himself has described it as "an animated painting", and this is no exaggeration.  Told virtually without dialogue, it is a film that will shake you to the roots of your soul.  While it might not have the rabid following that Rollin's more accessible films have amassed, it will doubtlessly live on long after its contemporaries have faded away, like so many roses over forgotten graves.  (Mitch Davis)

Les deux orphelines vampires
(The Two Vampire Orphans)
(dir. Jean Rollin, France, 1995, format: video)
Les deux orphelines vampires may be Rollin's most accessible and accomplished film.  Rollin's films in general often derive their influences from literary precedents (as opposed to cinematic ones), and this film is perhaps the perfect example of this predilection, as it is based on the first of a cycle of five pulp novels by Rollin himself.  The novels revolve around the blind orphans Henriette and Louise, who regain their eyesight at night as they simultaneously turn into a deadly pair of vampires.  In addition to the two breathtaking orphans (played by Alexandra Pic and Isabelle Teboul), the cast is also home to the many talents of Nordic sex-kitten Brigitte Lahaie, who is one of Rollin's most familiar faces, and Tina Aumont (Salon Kitty), who Craig Ledbetter calls "the scandal-attracting Enfant-Terrible of French cinema."  Filled with the poetic setpieces one has come to expect of Rollin -- including dilapidated chapels, the circus (featuring the ever-present Rollin clowns, no doubt), and a vampire attack on the infamous Pere Lachaise cemetery -- Les deux orphelines vampires marks a new era of appreciation for Rollin's brand of surrealism, as well as for French fantastic cinema in general.  Any euro-vampire fan will spit blood when faced with the disarming beauty of this film and its inhabitants.