I’m Gonna Haul Ass To Fantasia Festival!
Well…virtually, anyways.
We’re heading to Montreal to cover the 25th annual Fantasia Festival. Well, heading there in cyberspace fashion. So buckle up, ZeroCools—cuz it’s time to check out some fun genre titles from all over the world. Fantasia Fest has historically been a month long bacchanal of cinematic exuberance in Canada where folks watch dope movies, hang out with fellow awkward cinephilic nerds, and gorge themselves on Labatt and poutine. Or so I have been led to believe–I’ve never actually attended Fantasia Fest before.
And this time it will be JOHNNY MNEMONIC-style, so it’s not quite the same. But still, I’m pretty pumped to cover this film festival which runs from August 5 through August 25. There are a slew of films that I can’t wait to watch, with reviews showing up here.
Fantasia Fest is situated in a curious place in terms of the festival calendar. There are titles that have played Sundance, SXSW, and a few others, but also debuts that will show up at Fantastic Fest and others. Plus, as the year is beginning to draw to a close, a lot more award-potential films are showing up on the circuit (as academy/critic voters tend to have very short memories when it comes to nominations). This assortment thus far has a fun mix of movies from multiple geographic areas across the globe, of varying genres, with some being festival titles that are completely new and others that are another chance for people to check them out. For example, PAUL DOOD’S DEADLY LUNCH BREAK is playing Fantasia and I cannot emphasize how much fun that movie is—here’s my Daily Grindhouse review from SXSW 2021 which explains why I find it such an intoxicating mix of heart, darkness, hilarity, absurdity, and sweetness.
But there are many titles that are completely new to me. STRAWBERRY MANSIONS, OPERATION LUCHADOR, THE LAST THING MARY SAW, HOTEL POSEIDON, SATOSHI KON: THE ILLUSIONIST, JUNK HEAD, SEOBOK, and more.
The entire event is virtual—so folks can buy tickets to the timed screenings as they seek out. Not every film is available for press to review—though I will still do everything I possibly can to get my hands on Phil Tippett’s MAD GOD and Sion Sono’s PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND.
I’m excited to see so many of these as they are a mix of familiar artists and brand new talent. It’s always great to return to a filmmaker that you love and find them still doing outstanding work. But it’s also a massive surge of endorphins to discover a new voice that invigorates your mind with possibilities of all the future stories they will tell. Fantasia is a good mix of the established (at least, in certain film nerdery circles) talent and burgeoning artists.
So please join me in the coming weeks as reviews will land pretty regularly. Sometimes it’ll be quick capsule reviews of multiple films in one post, others will have an entire review dedicated to one movie. It all depends on the size of the reaction (good or bad) the work provokes within me. Either way, I don’t think I’ll find myself often having no real reaction or a muted “it’s fine” response to these movies—which is truly the thing to dread the most.
To stay abreast of Fantasia Fest, be sure to follow them on Twitter and the #Fantasia2021 hashtag.