If mainstream films make you barf, and the voluntarily odd is your bag, then rejoice! The Etrange Festival is back, and this year they’ve even got some Cannes winners in the line-up!

You may not have seen Drive yet, a film that earned Nicolas Winding Refn the best director prize at Cannes this year, nor Take Shelter, which garned the Grand Prize at the Cannes Critics Week in 2011, but both will be screening at the Étrange Festival at the Forum des Images (right in the heart of Paris) during the festival’s September run.

After 17 years, the festival has managed to keep its weird side while progressively opening up to more ‘classic’ American productions. Don’t worry though; there are still plenty of odd Asian films on offer, bizarre short films, crazy classics, fetishist movies, and the Nouveau Genre film prize.

Add to that some rather enticing guests (Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling…), a 3D exhibition, a Grindhouse night and much much more, and even the most exacting freaks should find something to their off-kilter taste! L’Étrange Festival is at the Forum des Images (in the Forum des Halles shopping centre, here) from 2nd – 11th September 2011

Official site (in English): www.etrangefestival.com