20 years
of horror, thrills and community: The Fantasia
International Film Festival will be celebrating its 20th year when it
opens on July 14th. Settled in the Montreal downtown at Concordia University, where
most of the screenings take place, the festival has long been accepted as a
pillar of Montreal’s summer festival season. One of the longest film festivals
in the world featuring over 130 features and 300 short films over 19 jam-packed
days, the festival has increasingly become the testing grounds for major
distributors looking to gauge the potential of their genre films (mostly
horror). The festival, however, has managed to keep its community roots and
holds on for dear life to its spirit of discovery. As large as Fantasia is, it
embodies a deep sense of intimacy and a strong dialogue between organizers and
fans. While it features a number of high-profile films from the festival
circuit and beyond, it also never fails to showcase bright, emerging and
innovative talents from across the world.
This year’s
festival, in particular, looks inward, focusing on Quebec’s history of genre,
while looking forward to what the future has in store. Looking back, the
festival has introduced the first Denis Héroux Award, named after the famed
filmmaker who died late last year and who is best known for his softcore
masterpiece, “Valérie” (1969). The prize will recognize exceptional
contributions to the development of genre cinema and independent cinema from
Quebec and the first recipient will be living legend Jean-Claude Lord. In honor
of his career, the festival will be screening his rarely seen first film, “Délivre-nous du mal” (1969) about a
homosexual couple’s relationship woes and their sadomasochistic co-dependency.
The film
will be playing as a part of a larger program called Genre de pays, devoted to the best-underseen genre cinema of
Quebec’s past. Most notably, this program includes a newly restored screening
of one of the greatest Quebec films ever made, “Requiem pour un beau sans-cœur” (Robert Morin, 1992), a
Rashomon-esque crime thriller. Due very much for discovery by an international
audience, the film will be presented by Morin in a free screening in
collaboration with The Cinematheque Quebecoise.
As for contemporary
Quebec and Canadian cinema, there is a rich array of promising films and
filmmakers. The festival opens with the world premiere of “King Dave,” a film that features a 98-minute shot, the newest by
one of Quebec’s brightest stars Daniel Grou (better known as Podz). The twist
on the formula is that the shot does not take place in real time, but over the
course of ten days, as a wannabe tough guy seeks revenge on the man he saw
dancing with his girl. With a theme of blurring the line between fact and
fiction, other notable films from Quebec and Canada include: “Operation Avalanche,” a
faux-documentary about the moon landing from the makers of “The Dirties”; “Mon Ami Dino,” which puts in the
spotlight Quebec icon Dino Tavarone, playing himself; and “Écartée,” a dark comedy about a social worker’s improvised
documentary gone wrong.
Among the
international and world premieres, the selection is varied, covering many
genres and countries: “Born of Woman,”
a short film showcase of intimate and auteur films from some of the most
promising women filmmakers exploring issues related to body and identity; “Goran,” a darkly funny Croatian film
about a horrific, alcoholic, binge-drinking birthday; “I, Olga Hepnarova,” based on the true story of a 22-year-old girl
who drove a truck into a group of strangers, starring Michalina Olszanska who also
appears in “The Lure” (also playing at Fantasia); “Little Sister,” the newest film from Zach Clark about an unlikely
family reunion involving nuns, the Iraq war and disfigurement; “She’s Allergic to Cats,” an
underground film made by a former dog groomer who funded the film by working as
a body double for one of the Daft Punk Robots; and “Train to Busan,” a South Korean action film that made a huge
splash at Cannes.
Among the other
notable selections of the festival include two new films from Takeshi Miike—“Terra Formars”
and “As the Gods Will”—who will be present at the festival to receive a
lifetime achievement award. There will be a program devoted for the first time
ever to virtual reality, including 11 films, open for free to the public. The
festival will also include special advanced screenings of Mike Flanagan’s “Before I Wake” and Fede Alvarez’s “Don’t Breathe.” The film’s closing
film, “Blood Father,” is straight
from Cannes—starring a bearded Mel Gibson trying to save his daughter from a
vicious drug cartel, and directed by Jean-François Richet. Other notable guests
include Guillermo Del Toro, Adam Nimoy (“For the Love of Spock”), Christopher
Lloyd (“I Am Not a Serial Killer”), Marilyn Manson (“Let Me Make you a Martyr”),
Lloyd Kaufman (“The Toxic Avenger”) and Kevin Smith and Harley Quinn Smith (“Yoga
Hosers”).
This year’s
edition of Fantasia runs from July 14th until August 3rd in Montreal. Click here for more information.
