The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 20 to August 9 this year in Montreal. It's epic length is lovingly referred to by long time attendees as a 'summer camp for genre nerds.' Given that it runs for weeks across multiple venues -- mainly in the halls and classrooms of Concordia University while the students are out between semesters -- it is difficult to pin down the breadth of its programming, industry events, book launches, retrospectives, and various after-hours shenanigans.
The festvial pretty much runs all day and night and is a full-tilt smorgasboard for those willing to dive in. A few of Screen Anarchists will be in attendance this year, albeit on top of each other in the busiest weekend of the festival. We have put together a rogues gallery below for what we are anticipating (or standouts on the festival circuit we have already seen) in Quebec's bête of a festival.
Restore Point
Rare is a science fiction film to come out of the Czech Republic. In fact, this is billed as the first one to do so in 40 years. Robert Hloz's mystery-thriller, set in mid-21st century Prague, promises a Blade Runner like dystopia with a very modern concern, how much of 'us' as data is uploaded into the cloud. - Kurt
We Are Zombies
This one hardly needs selling, does it? The festival page says it all, “Roadkill Superstars, the enfants terribles of Fantasia, are back!” The hometown heroes are coming back to Fantasia with their adaptation of the comic The Zombies That Ate the World. It will be a welcome return to the genre of horror-comedy after killing it with their debut, Turbo Kid, followed by the more serious fare that was Summer of 84 (R.I.P. Woody). If you are not excited about this one, who are you even? - Andrew
The Primevals
Before I knew who David Allen was, he already had an impact on my moviegoing life. Young Sherlock Holmes, *batteries not included and Willow were Hollywood productions that would become ingrained in my subconscious. As I spread out into subgenre fare, I would become eternally linked to his body of work for years to come. Cancer is a bastard and Allen was taken away from us, but now we get to see his final, posthumous work, a film he worked on for nearly a decade. Likely spurred on by the success of Phil Tippet’s long-term project, Mad God, the film’s producer Charles Band is bringing this love letter to the films of Ray Harryhausen to the festival and the kid in me who was inspired by all those films years ago has demanded that I not miss this one. -Andrew
River
Having already won a tonne of fans with their debut feature film, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, Japanese director Junta Yamaguchi is back once again… and again… and again… and -- you get it. Yamaguchi looks to improve upon the first film’s concept, a group of people stuck in a seemingly infinite two-minute time loop, by placing it in a different setting and creating a deeper character structure. Yamaguchi has left the city for an inn located in a wintry valley town. One of the inn’s waitresses, Mikoto, discovers the loop and with the help of her employer, the inn’s patrons and her crush, they will try to solve this timey-wimey riddle. If you are a fan of the first film, this is a definite must see. - Andrew
Aporia
Jared Moshé's time travelling drama looks to put a new stamp on the sub-genre, in an attempt to balance suspense, grief, science, and the glue that binds families together. It has the bonus of being set in parts of Los Angeles that -- outside of something like Running Time or Punch Drunk Love -- do not get a lot of time up on screen. It also offers a rare lead performance from prolific character actor Judy Greer. -Kurt
Where The Devil Roams
One of the curious delights of Fantasia over the past few years, has been watching the family-filmmaking-collective known as "The Adams Family" come into their own. From The Deeper You Dig to Hellbender, there was a significant jump in storytelling and craft. I expect good things from their latest supernatural horror picture, a period piece, which revolves around the carnival circuit in the 1930s. - Kurt
Hundreds of Beavers
I have a deep soft spot for 'modern silent movies' and Mike Cheslik's black and white horror comedy, steeped in old time cinema spirit, and a hybrid of modern animation, comes recommended from the master of the form, Guy Maddin (The Heart of The World), himself: “Steroidally swollen with gags and smarts.”
Hundreds of Beavers has been tearing up the festival circuit for some time now, and I look immensely forward to catching it with the high energy of a Fantasia audience. - Kurt
God of Cookery
One of the most exciting elements of Fantasia every year is a very healthy repertory program. This year is no different, with multiple strains going, but the one I'm most excited for is the Stephen Chow classic, God of Cookery. This is Chow at his mid '90s best, absolutely hilarious and entertaining, combining his love of wu xia and nonsense humor. With a cast that includes the late, great Ng Man Tat and Karen Mok, this is a screening not to miss. Released in 1996 several years ahead of his international breakout, Shaolin Soccer, God of Cookery is perhaps the apex of an incredible fruitful run that included films like Fight Back to School, The Sixty Million Dollar Man, From Beijing With Love, and many more, but for my money, Cookery beats them all. God of Cookery screens from a 35mm print on August 3.
-J Hurtado
Mayhem! (Farang)
Director Xavier Gans returns to Fantasia with a new action film. That sentence on its own is enough to get me super hyped!
The filmmaker behind New French Extremity classic Frontiere(s), Hitman, and much of the Gangs of London series knows what he's doing, and with Mayhem!, he is right in his sweet spot. Former MMA fighter Nassim Lyes leads the cast in this story of a man searching for freedom after paying his debt to society. It's not going to be easy, but Sam (Lyes) is determined to fight his way through the pain to get to his happy ending.
-J Hurtado
A Disturbance in the Force
As Star Wars fans bicker amongst themselves over the myriad of series coming out, what was good for the franchise and what is not, there is one thing that we nearly unanimously agree on: The Star Wars Holiday Special is spectacularly un-good. Created between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, it was an ill-fated attempt to keep Star Wars relevant to the social conscious. Following the format of the popular variety shows of the late 70s, the special only aired once and was quickly locked away. Oh, it’s out there still, serving as a reminder that Star Wars could always be worse. Directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak’s documentary follows up with many of those involved with the production to answer the question, “Just what the hell was that?”. A must for Star Wars fans. - Andrew
My Animal
If Fantasia were only home to one of the world's best film festival experiences, that would be enough, but when you add in the Frontieres Market, it takes it to a whole new level. Frontieres has long been a fundamental part of the genre film ecosystem, and it's always cool when a film that began its journey at the market comes full circle to the festival. Such is the case with Jacqueline Castel's queer coming of age story, My Animal, which pitched at the 2019 market and had its world premiere earlier this year at Sundance. I can't wait to see it!
-J Hurtado
Satan Wants You
Aficionados of the 1980s global occult hysteria, later branded as the Satanic Panic, will already know that patient zero was a young woman from rural Canada named Michelle Smith. As documented in the now discredited, lurid tell-all book, Michelle Remembers, authored by her therapist, Lawrence Pazder, its questionable recovered-memory technique was used to pull unconscious recall of satanic ritual abuses to Smith as a young child. The book became a global best seller. It incited the paranoia that satanists were hiding behind every corner in the cities and suburbs of America and beyond. Not unlike the QAnon theories of today, all it takes is a spark and a culture of fear to see this kind of thing get way out of hand.
Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams have assembled a superlative mix of archival footage, interviews with many of the key players (including family members of both Pazder and Smith), as well as a locally involved police officer, a retired FBI “Mind Hunter,” Satanic Panic investigative journalists, and an articulate member of Anton LaVey’s still-running, surprisingly erudite Church of Satan.
Accompanying the film with be an extended Q&A with the filmmakers, hosted by Spectacular Optical publisher and Satanic Panic: Pop Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s editor Kier-La Janisse. [Full disclosure: I am one of the contributors to that book]. - Kurt
Larry Kent Retrospective and Artist Talk
I have long been friends with octogenarian filmmaker Larry Kent, having many meals and fiery chats on street-side patios around Montreal. The man has opinions and is a feisty raconteur. Many of his films, spanning nearly six decades (!) including the still above from Sweet Substitute, can be found reviewed here on Screen Anarchy. As Canada’s first underground feature filmmaker, Larry has been a provocateur and pioneer for decades on the Canadian film scene, working across the country from British Colombia to Quebec. He is not nearly as well-known as he should be, given the scope and breadth of his work.
Fantasia has been trying to correct this for years. This year, the festival is giving Kent the first Canadian Trailblazer Award. The festival is showing a number of his films, featuring recent 4K restorations of The Bitter Ash (1963), Sweet Substitute (1964), and When Tomorrow Dies (1965), along with a rare 35mm print of Yesterday (1981) and a special screening of She Who Must Burn (2015).
There will also be an extended artist talk, moderated by writer and professor David Douglas, creator of the Pioneers in Independent Canadian Cinema Project. - Kurt
Blackout
I am fascinated by the monster that has to stick to a schedule, the werewolf who only appears on the full moon, the sense of impending doom or anxiety before the transformation. Charley Barrett is such a werewolf who sets out on a series of personal missions to complete before the next full moon and his transformation. Barrett sets out to expose a corrupt and ruthless developer, reconcile with a former lover, and potentially save the life of a migrant worker who has been framed for murders done by Barrett in his werewolf state. Larry Fessenden remains one of the true bastions of independent filmmaking in the U.S. with the freedom to create projects that reflect his personal convictions. With only himself looking over his own shoulders, it is an envious position of creative freedom. - Andrew
Deep Sea
In the style of Chinese ink wash painting, from director Tian Xiaopeng (Monkey King: Hero Is Back), this big-budget CGI feature is bold, baroque and colourful. Exploring the sadness and loneliness of the ocean through the eyes of a young girl who was abandoned by her parents, and looking for some way to heal, this is a little more emotionally ambitious than your average CGI spectacle; certainly it is aiming for the heights of Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. - Kurt
Lovely, Dark, And Deep
Teresa Sutherland's directorial debut -- she wrote the eerie prairie ghost story, The Wind -- promises a psychological, implacable bit of eco horror. At the very least, the primordial fear of being lost in the woods at night, as a rookie park ranger gets in way over her head, is relatable, and perhaps ripe for a reinvention with new voices. - Kurt
Late Night with The Devil
David Dastmalchian is ready for his close up! The legendary character actor takes the lead in The Cairnes Brothers' Late Night With the Devil, a found-footage journey exposing the final night of a talk show that went horribly wrong. I caught the film earlier this year at SXSW and absolutely adored it; it never tips its hand and you never know where it is going from one moment to the next. Dastmalchian really puts on a show as a TV host slowly losing not only control of his guests, but losing his grip on reality as the supernatural events he's attempting to debunk prove to be all too real. Don't miss this!
-J Hurtado
Sand Land
Adapted from Akira Toriyama's manga, this demon-infested, post-apocalyptic animated adventure arrives just in time to blend Mad Max shenanigans into stylized Japanese animation. Self described as "The adventure of a demon who stays up late and doesn't brush his teeth," it looks like a helluvalotta fun. - Kurt