Festivals: Fantasia Interviews
SATAN WANTS YOU Interview: Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams Talk Moral Panics
Moral panics have been with us as a species since time immemorial. From the persecution of European pagans at the end of the Roman empire in the Fourth Century, to the Salem witch trials in New England in the 17th...
Interview: Timur Bekmambetov Talks PROFILE and ScreenLife Filmmaking
Timur Bekmambetov, the prolific Kazakh director, screenwriter, and producer, knows what he wants and knows how to go about getting it. He blew into Western genre awareness with a howl and a bang in the early aughts with his...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Lloyd Kaufman On #SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM and Challenges of Independent Filmmaking
Even though Lloyd Kaufman, co-founder of Troma Entertainment and director/star of #ShakespearesShitstorm, has a new movie to promote, his mind is always on the problems that American independent cinema has faced for years. “The independents in America don’t have any...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Director Sidharth Srinivasan Talks KRIYA, Death Rituals and Male Guilt
India’s representative at this year’s (virtual) Fantasia International Film Festival was Kriya, written and directed by Sidharth Srinivasan. At a nightclub party, the DJ, a young man named Neel (Noble Luke), ends up hooking up with a girl (Sitara, played...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Natasha Kermani and Brea Grant Get LUCKY
Orginally intended to premiere at SXSW and a slew of other festivals, Lucky plays for Canadian audiences via virtual Fantasia 2020. Natasha Kermani (Imitation Girl) directs writer and star Brea Grant (Dexter, Eastsiders; Grant is also the writer/director of 12 Hour Shift,...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Brea Grant Talks 12 HOUR SHIFT
Multi-hyphenate talent Brea Grant (Heroes, Dexter) has come into her own as a writer/director. She helmed the apocalypse buddy road trip film Best Friends Forever as well as episodes of Eastsiders and Pandora, and this year, she has two features coming out. Grant wrote...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Justin McConnell on Indie Filmmaking and CLAPBOARD JUNGLE
Canadian indie filmmaker Justin McConnell (Lifechanger) has been in the game for a good deal of his life, either by providing technical services, programming his Little Terrors short film series in Toronto, or by being behind the camera. It's the...
Fantasia 2020 Interview: Isabel Peppard and Josie Hess on MORGANA
Playing at Fantasia 2020, Morgana is one of the most interesting docs I've seen at this festival --- or ever, due to its sheer humanity and empathy. You can read the full review here. ScreenAnarchy was able to speak to...
Interview: Tilman Singer on LUZ, His Wildly Experimental Demonic Possession Film
In 2018, at the Berlin Film festival and then later at Fantasia, a wildly sophisticated student film by the name of Luz, flabbergasted moviegoers and blew some minds. The story of a demon attempting to possess 'the girl that got...
Interview: RKSS Talk Childhood, Serial Killers and SUMMER OF '84
On the afternoon prior to their sophomore feature film playing to the home-town crowd at Fantasia, I had an all too brief chat with the Quebecois director trio known as Road Kill Super Stars (RKSS) about Summer of '84. Sitting...
Fantasia 2018 Interview: AMIKO Director Yoko Yamanaka on Her New Rebellious Japanese Cinema
One of the most interesting films I saw at Fantasia this year was Amiko, the debut feature of Yoko Yamanaka. In addition to the film being a new twist on the recent wave of films about teenage girls, it stands...
Fantasia 2018 Interview: LIFECHANGER'S Justin McConnell on the Challenges of Filmmaking
Writer-director Justin McConnell was just in Montreal for the sold-out, world premiere of his new feature Lifechanger. It's the story of Drew, a wistful shapeshifter who becomes a detective, a bar fly, a dentist, a dental assistant, and other identities...
Fantasia 2017 Interview: Trent Haaga and Matthew Gray Gubler on 68 KILL, Death, Love, Sex and Biting
[Pictured above is AnnaLynne McCord as Liza.] Trent Haaga has a new film out produced by Snowfort Pictures -- 68 Kill -- but he’s been in the gore and exploitation biz for a while now, with his earliest professional beginnings at Troma....
Fantasia 2017 Interview: Steve Mitchell on Fighting to Make KING COHEN
[Photo of King Cohen's world premiere at Fantasia by King-Wei Chu. L-R: Mitch Davis, Larry Cohen, Steve Mitchell, Michael Moriarty] While attending Fantasia's 2017 season, I was able to catch the hilarious doc King Cohen --- an informative and entertaining look...
Fantasia 2017: Ana Asensio on MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND
On of the more intimate films that screened at Fantasia 2017 was Most Beautiful Island directed by Ana Asensio, who also wrote, produced, and starred in the film. It was a hit at SXSW and several other festivals before it finally screened...
Fantasia 2017: LOWLIFE's Ryan Prows on Murder, Locations and more
Sometimes, a great film comes out of nowhere heralding a strong new voice --- or in some cases, voices. I've found that the best directors raise up their teams along with them, and so it is with the helmer of...
Fantasia 2017 Interview: Director Chris Peckover Talks BETTER WATCH OUT
If you happen to like -- or LOVE -- holiday-themed horror films, pre-order the upcoming DVD/Blu-ray release of Better Watch Out. The story (which was formerly titled Safe Neighborhood) revolves around a babysitter about to move away. For one last night,...
Fantasia 2017 Interview: Ted Geoghegan Talks MOHAWK and How to Subvert Expectations
It was a sun-hammered day in Syracuse, the penultimate day of shooting Mohawk, that I was invited on set to poke around, take a few pictures, and talk to the cast and crew of Ted Geoghegan's early 19th century action picture....
FANTASIA 2017 Interview: KILLING GROUND Director Damien Power Talks On Screen Violence, Tension And Camping in Australia
Damien Power’s horror thriller Killing Ground pitched its tent on American shores on today. The film also played to a sold out crowd here in Montreal last Friday, July 14th. Screen Anarchy was invited to toss some questions his way...
Fantasia 2016 Interview: Steven Shainberg on RUPTURE
Rupture is the latest film from writer-director Steven Shainberg (Secretary) and it had its world premiere at Fantasia. Shainberg often works with complex female characters and stories, and Rupture is no different. In the film, Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Prometheus)...
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