I’m Gonna Haul Ass to Fantastic Fest 2021!
Fantastic Fest 2021 is still happening. In person. Kinda.
Despite my deep New England roots, I currently live in Austin and have for the past eight years. It’s a nice place with lots of fun quirks and suitably caring quirky people…though the gentrification that began 20+ years has ramped up even in my short tenure here, especially with the techbros moving en masse and pushing out a bunch of the citizenry from once affordable living spots. There’s erasure in them thar Silicon Hills! Plus venturing out of Austin is to plunge into the midnight wastelands where people (gasp) approve of Governor Gregg Abbott and every other Texas politician whose names you know, but really have no reason to know them outside of the fact that they’re national embarrassments whose levels of jackassery have only previously been speculated about by scientists of the past. Cue Mick Jones’ guitar as I ponder continuing the fight here or leaving Bartertown to its own inevitable demise.
But, as noted, there are many bright spots in Austin and one that first hooked me was Fantastic Fest. The weeklong film festival happens every September at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar where a ton of dope genre movies from the past, present, and future congregate from around the world to be enjoyed and cheered on by a misfit group of film fiends who speak the common tongue of nerd references, self-deprecation, and awkward jokes that can’t but bolster a sense of community. Fantastic Fest had gone from a small niche group into a well-known stopping point for all manner of films and studios that wanted to look cool and/or get some sweet buzz going on social media.
That lasted for a while before it all exploded as troubles that were always around came to the fore and people realized that the particular flock was being shepherded by some real wolf-sympathizers who would brush off terrible acts of sexual harassment and assault. But then…Fantastic Fest started to change…a Board was installed and previously powerful folks sauntered off…there was a Code of Conduct…bands of underrepresented and over-harassed groups met and discussed to push for continued change…maybe something can grow from the ashes of the forest fire? And then came the plague and it went to shit again. So now this year.
This year, Fantastic Fest is happening in person, albeit in slightly different ways than recent years. Firstly, there’s no badges (even though people had bought them…it’s complicated) which has resulted in a ticketing system which has thrown some Fantastic Fiends’ plans into disarray as they were unable to get into various screenings they had hoped. But to be fair, that did happen (to a lesser extent) in previous years and sometimes that’s how people accidentally discover their favorite movie of the fest.
It also is not just confined to Drafthouse South Lamar but a few other locations for a few showings. There won’t be as much indoor partying or events it seems. Everyone must have proof of vaccination (or a very recent negative test), wear masks, try to socially distant, and all the rest. This was all announced and implemented within the past three months, echoing the panic and chaos of other major events that desperately don’t want a strain of COVID-19 named after them.
“Fantastic Variant” isn’t the worst moniker, though. What struggling to breathe person doesn’t love irony? (I can say that because I’m asthmatic, a former smoker, and kind of a dick.)
But as Mrs. Lincoln said that fateful night, the show must go on! Fantastic Fest 2021 has some great titles (mostly international films) that look to be a lot of fun to experience. Many of them either already have, or by the end of the Fest will end up with, distribution and so should be making their rounds shortly. TITANE, LAMB, THERE’S SOMEONE IN THE HOUSE, SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE remake, BELLE, and more will in theaters and on streaming services not too long after the Fest ends. And Fantastic Fest @Home, happening online from September 30 to October 11, will have some of these titles along with some great films from previous years’ Fests. Hopefully all of these facts combine to provide consolidation to those who will not be in attendance for the festival for a whole host of reasons.
But I will be in attendance, shirking work calls from the office even though they know I am on PTO and there’s no way I can access that spreadsheet from the alley next to Drafthouse, and look forward to a great number of films there. It will be weird the amount of people I won’t see. I’m truly dreading forgetting someone’s name and being unable to seek solace in their badge, leaving only have the upper half of their face to use as reference. That’ll be neat.
I’ll be covering the event for Daily Grindhouse, so please watch for my reviews there and read them and tell me how wrong I am.
There are a whole host of movies that will be at Fantastic Fest that I am pretty excited to check out. Although almost every year there’s some title I forgot I read about or that I even signed up to watch it and it turns out to be in my top three of the festival as I annoy everyone to “keep an eye out for it”.
But here (in no particular order) are just some of the Festival’s cinematic offerings that intrigue me, even as I try to dampen expectations rather than be crushed by disappointment. Some are based purely on the filmmakers involved, many on premise or trailers/photos I’ve seen, a few on word-of-mouth, and then a couple that feel like a “roll the dice and see what comes up” kind of movies:
…okay there is one that I have to call out specifically first: THE TIMEKEEPERS OF INSANITY. It’s a world premiere from Greek filmmaker Aristotelis Maragkos and is a bit of remix art with the following logline:
In this mesmerizing experimental film, a Stephen King television movie is compressed and transformed through hypnotic black and white collage animation that meticulously reconstructs and reshapes its supernatural drama to an eerie and profound effect.
The King TV movie in question? THE LANGOLIERS. Yeah. The one made by the director of CHILD’S PLAY and FRIGHT NIGHT where the time testicles with teeth from Rick And Morty try to eat Balki from Perfect Strangers, who also shanks a blind girl two-thirds of the way through the film. I am in. I think this will be an incredible experience that will expand my brain and haunt my soul for the rest of living days. Here’s the teaser:
Okay. Now here’s a list of intriguing films in no particular order….
