Monster in the Mirror is a fictitious Film Festival, born out of the desire to take a deep dive into the dark imagery and themes of fantasy films; in particular, the ones of 2017 Best Director Award Winner Guillermo del Toro.
The selected films all share the common theme of humans as the true monsters of the story. Monster in the Mirror eludes to the main theme found in the films: Del Toro’s monsters tend to be compassionate and tender, while his human villains are the source of cruelty and horror.
This point of view is a way to tell stories from the perspective of “the other” and is a reversal of mainstream storytelling conventions. Hence, the visual language is dark, man made, vintage, and ornamented. It plays with duality: monster vs. human; addressing it in visual form via juxtaposition and transparencies, vellum, mirrors, duotones and lowered opacity.
