From May 9 to 25, the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre is going to be the place to be for the genre cinema aficionado. The reason is Fantaspoa, the largest fantastic film festival in Latin America, which in 2014 is celebrating its tenth edition with a huge selection of films and an impressive list of guests. Fantaspoa 2014 revealed just yesterday its lineup and it includes more than a hundred movies from all over the world. There are many highlights, of course, and a couple of competitive sections; one for international cinema and the other for films from Ibero-America.
The latest works of such filmmakers as Nacho Vigalondo, Xan Cassevetes, Bill Plympton and Lucky McKee are amongst the International Competition selection, while the Ibero-America spot is dominated by Argentinean productions. Based on my ScreenAnarchy colleagues' reviews, Der Samurai, Escape from Tomorrow, Kid's Police, and Open Windows are definitely must-see films and all of them are part of Fantaspoa's International Competition.
Fantaspoa is also ready to celebrate Troma's 40th anniversary and the man himself, Lloyd Kaufman, is going to Brazil to share his guerrilla filmmaking knowledge with one of his Make Your Own Damn Movie master classes. The timing couldn't be better as Kaufman's own damn magnum opus, The Toxic Avenger, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year as well (it was released in 1984). The festival's homage to the truest American film independents offers their latest effort, Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1, and a very fine selection of classic Tromasterpieces, such as the complete Toxie saga, Class of Nuke 'Em High, and Trey Parker's Cannibal! The Musical.
Kaufman won't be the only film legend in Porto Alegre this May as Fantaspoa will honor too Basket Case's Frank Henenlotter, Dust Devil's Richard Stanley, and Simon Boswell, composer for such films as Santa Sangre, Shallow Grave and Lord of Illusions. For the special screenings, the festival chose a couple of Bruce LaBruce efforts (with the Canadian director in person), while their own production Jorge and Alberto vs the Neoliberal Demons is world premiering during the closing night of Fantaspoa X.
You can check out the full lineup in the gallery below; for schedule, visit the festival's official website.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
All Cheerleaders Die (US) - Lucky McKee, Chris Sivertson
Banshee Chapter (Germany, US) - Blair Erickson
Beneath (US) - Ben Ketai
Blood Glacier (Austria) - Marvin Kren
Channeling (US) - Drew Thomas
Cheatin’ (US) - Bill Plympton
Chimeres (Switzerland) - Olivier Beguin
Der Samurai (Germany) - Till Kleinert
De Wederopstanding van een Klootzak (Netherlands) - Guido van Driel
Discopathe (Canada) - Renaud Gauthier
Doomsdays (US) - Eddie Mullins
Escape from Tomorrow (US) - Randy Moore
Goldberg & Eisenberg (Israel) - Oren Carmi
Greatful Dead (Japan) - Eiji Uchida
Housebound (New Zealand) - Gerard Johnstone
In the Name of the Son (Belgium, France) - Vincent Lannoo
Jug Face (US) - Chad Crawford Kinkle
Kids Police (Japan) - Yuichi Fukuda
Kiss of the Damned (US) - Xan Cassavetes
LFO: The Movie (Sweden, Denmark) - Antonio Tublen
Love Eternal (Ireland) - Brendan Muldowney
Nymph (Montenegro) - Milan Todorovic
Open Windows (France, Spain, US) - Nacho Vigalondo
Proxy (US) - Zack Parker
Raze (US) - Josh C. Waller
Robin Hood (Germany) - Martin Schreier
Saint Bernard (US) - Gabriel Bartalos
Savaged (US) - Michael S. Ojeda
Septic Man (Canada) - Jesse Thomas Cook
Sororal (Australia) - Sam Barrett
Soulmate (UK) - Axelle Carolyn
Tasher Desh (India) - Qauship Mukherjee
The Curse of Styria (US, Hungary) - Mauricio Chernovetzky, Mark Devendorf
The Demon’s Rook (US) - James Sizemore
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (Belgium) - Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani
Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles (Philippines) - Erik Matti
Time Lapse (US) - Bradley King
Tombville (Belgium) - Nikolas List
Willow Creek (US) - Bobcat Goldthwait
IBERO-AMERICA COMPETITION
180 Segundos (Colombia) - Alexander Giraldo
Asmodexia (Spain) - Marc Carreté
Darkness by Day (Argentina) - Martín De Salvo
Hooked Up (Spain) - Pablo Larcuen
Levantamuertos (Mexico, US) - Miguel Nuñez
Maknum González (Chile) - George Vonknorring
Para Elisa (Spain) - Juanra Fernández
Rabbit Woman (Argentina, Spain, Venezuela) - Verónica Chen
She Wolf (Argentina) - Tamae Garateguy
Some Girls (Argentina) - Santiago Palavecino
The Desert (Argentina) - Christoph Behl
HOMAGE: LLOYD KAUFMAN / TROMA
Cannibal! The Musical (1993) - Trey Parker
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000) - Lloyd Kaufman
Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986) - Lloyd Kaufman, Richard W. Haines
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006) - Lloyd Kaufman
Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1 (2013) - Lloyd Kaufman
Terror Firmer (1999) - Lloyd Kaufman
The Toxic Avenger (1984) - Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989) - Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989) - Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
Troma’s War (1988) - Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
HOMAGE: FRANK HENENLOTTER
Bad Biology (2008) - Frank Henenlotter
Basket Case (1982) - Frank Henenlotter
Basket Case 2 (1990) - Frank Henenlotter
Basket Case 3 (1991) - Frank Henenlotter
Brain Damage (1988) - Frank Henenlotter
Frankenhooker (1990) - Frank Henenlotter
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010) - Frank Henenlotter, Jimmy Maslon
That’s Sexploitation! (2013) - Frank Henenlotter
HOMAGE: RICHARD STANLEY
Dust Devil (1992) - Richard Stanley
Hardware (1990) - Richard Stanley
L’autre monde (2013) - Richard Stanley
HOMAGE: SIMON BOSWELL
Deliria (1987) - Michele Soavi
Hackers (1995) - Iain Softley
Lord of Illusions (1995) - Clive Barker
Next Door (2005) - Pal Sletaune
Perdita Durango (1997) - Alex de la Iglesia
Santa Sangre (1989) - Alejandro Jodorowsky
Shallow Grave (1994) - Danny Boyle
PANORAMA EXHIBITION
Baby Blues (Poland) - Kasia Roslaniec
Chameleon (Azerbaijan, France, Russia) - Elvin Adigozel, Ru Hasanov
Cold War (Hong Kong) - Lok Man Leung, Kim-ching Luk
Feed Me with Your Words (Slovenia) - Martin Turk
Fynbos (South Africa, Greece, US) - Harry Patramanis
Harmony Lessons (Kazakhstan, Germany, France) - Emir Baigazin
Heavenly Shift (Hungary) - Márk Bodzsár
Kil (Malaysia) - Nik Amir Mustapha
Robo Ji (Japan) - Shinobu Yaguchi
Ruin (Australia, Cambodia) - Michael Cody, Amiel Courtin-Wilson
The Dirties (Canada) - Matt Johnson
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
2013 Menos 1 (Brazil, 2012) - Vitor Baumgratz
A Maldição do Sanguanel (Brazil, 2014) - Eliseu Demari, Ricardo Ghiorzi, Rafael Giovanella, Felipe M. Guerra
Cinelab (Brazil, 2014) - TV Series
Gerontophilia (Canada, 2013) - Bruce LaBruce
God Bless America (US, 2011) - Bobcat Goldthwait
Jorge and Alberto vs the Neoliberal Demons (Argentina, Brazil, 2014) - Gonzalo Quintana, Hernán Quintana
Otto; or, Up with Dead People (Germany, Canada, 2008) - Bruce LaBruce
ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE EXHIBITION
Antisocial (Canada) – Cody Calahan
Cannon Fodder (Israel) - Eitan Gafny
Dead Banging (Japan) - Eiji Uchida
Devil in My Ride (US) - Gary Michael Schultz
Stalled (UK) - Christian James
Videoclub (Chile) - Pablo Illanes