Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 - Week 1

The Fantasia International Film festival kicks off its 28th year this week!

by: "Doc" Hunter Bush, contributor & podcast czar

This year's Fantasia International Film Festival is off to a great start, for me at least! Everyone's experiences will differ, surely - your mileage may vary, as the the saying goes - but I can say that I'm having a blast. Below are just a few of the titles screening this year for you to keep an eye on, and there are more coming (which I'm not allowed to mention quite yet, so keep your eyes out for future updates):

Features:

Vulcanizadora
Directed & Written by Joel Potrykus
Starring Joshua Burge & Joel Potrykus
Running time 1 hour, 25 minutes

Two friends calmly walking into the woods, one laden with camping gear and the other in jeans and a hoodie. The over-prepared friend realizes that he left all his keys on the bus and the other man asks him "What does it matter? It's not like you're gonna need them anymore." while the soundtrack blasts (what might be) thrash metal at the audience. This is, essentially, the opening to writer/director Joel Potrykus' latest film, Vulcanizadora, a film which explores friendship, guilt, aging, responsibility, and the fear that a person can ruin their life - or someone else's - in the blink of an eye. "It has a weird tone that I've been trying to hit for a long time... which should be sad, funny, and scary—oftentimes hitting all three in the same scene" Potrykus says in the press materials, and I'm inclined to agree with him. A mounting dread, sometimes building to a crescendo, sometimes diminishing to almost nothing, was my companion as I watched these two friends (Potrykus & Joshua Burge, both excellent) trudge through the Michigan woods to make good on some obscure pact, then deal with the repercussions. The (what might be) slowcore build of the first half of the film might not be for everyone, but if you stick with Vulcanizadora, you'll be rewarded.

Adrianne & the Castle
Directed by Shannon Walsh
Written by Little Scream & Shannon Walsh
Starring Alan St-George, Nathan McDonald, SLee
Running time 1 hour, 26 minutes

If you've previously read my kickoff Curtain Riser article, you may remember that I was really looking forward to the experience of Adrianne & the Castle. The documentary uses artist and entrepreneur Alan St-George's house, Havencrest Castle, as a lens through which to examine his relationship with and love for his dearly departed wife Adrianne. Only tangentially familiar with Havencrest, I referred to it as "like a benevolent Winchester Mystery House", and I could not be happier to have been correct. Through re-enactments, Alan explains the circumstances both biographical and emotional, through which he met, fell in love with, married, and spent a lifetime with his beloved. Havencrest itself was born out of a desire for Adrianne to feel at home in their new home, and its fanciful evolution continues to this day. "When it's finally done, if it's ever done," Alan says "I don't know what I'll do." I truly loved this experience, watching Alan interacting with the performers playing his & Adrianne's younger selves, almost being interrogated by his memories. There's a lot of cleverness on display in Adrianne & the Castle, thanks to director Shannon Walsh and co-writer Little Scream, a lot of being made aware of the art and artifice of making the documentary itself. It almost functions in the same way as the house, a living document; a testament to a great love. Seek this out. I can't recommend it strongly enough.

Dark Match
Directed & Written by Lowell Dean
Starring Ayisha Issa, Steven Ogg, Chris Jericho
Running time 1 hour, 34 minutes

Professional wrestling and horror movies go together like ...well, I dunno, but a lot of people sure do enjoy both things - including me! Why then am I having such a hard time thinking of a better wrestling horror movie than Dark Match? (*) When the small independent wrestling promotion S.A.W. get offered a sizable payday to put on a show for a religious group in the middle of nowhere, they can hardly afford to pass up the opportunity. But the group turn out to be a nefarious cult lead by former wrestler The Prophet (Chris Jericho) with a grudge against one of S.A.W.'s star performers, Mean Joe Lean (Steven Ogg)! Dark Match combines all the colorful showmanship of pro-wrestling with the sinister undercurrent of occult ritual, anchored by engaging performances, notably Ayisha Issa as Miss Behave. The central concept here is so fun that I was totally hooked, and the pace is excellent. Dare I say Dark Match might be the best wrestling horror movie? If you can think of a better one, let me know!

(*) Disclaimer: They Live is the best horror movie featuring a wrestler - Rowdy Roddy Piper as Nada - but it's not a horror movie about wrestling.

Salute your Shorts:

Hell is a Teenage Girl
Directed and Written by Stephen Sawchuk
Starring Skylar Radzion, Faly Mevamanana, Kevin Osea
Running time 15 minutes

Screening at Fantasia 2024 with the above-mentioned Dark Match is this sharp, meta-horror short. What if you were a teenage girl and your father was the local Michael Myers / Jason Voorhees type who appears every Halloween to eradicate any teens who break The Rules: Don't Drink, Don't do Drugs, and Don't have Sex? How would you feel? More importantly, what would you do? That's exactly Parker (Skylar Radzion)'s situation. Radzion is damned good here, maintaining a decently grounded tone in a film world that is heightened but not quite farcical, all within the slim runtime allotted. 

AstroNots
Directed by Andrew Seaton
Written by Adam Dunn, Aaron Glenane
Starring Adam Dunn, Aaron Glenane
Running Time 11 minutes

Like a less unhinged I Think You Should Leave sketch, AstroNots presents the unenviable position of being Commander Thomas Collins (Adam Dunn), grandson of Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins - the guy who went to the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin that nobody remembers - about to make his family proud by being one of the first men on Mars. The only problem is, the other guy in the cockpit, Pilot Abraham Adams (Aaron Glenane) admits that he has no idea what he's doing and he just kind of bullshitted his way and failed upwards into being mere moments from an historic space launch. Amusing as that concept is, the performances are what make AstroNots really take flight. This incredibly tense, potentially disastrous situation is handled with delicate levity, and directed with an eye for the excellent production design. I have heard a rumor that the team is working on future installments, and I'm genuinely excited for them. Blast off!

The 28th Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 18th to August 4th in Montreal. Get tickets HERE.

Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 - Preview

The Fantasia International Film festival returns for its thrilling 28th year!

by: "Doc" Hunter Bush, contributor & podcast czar

Let me take you back. It's 1996: Looney Tunes t-shirts are all the rage. Professional wrestler MJF is born, presumably to a chorus of boos. Chess champion Garry Kasparov defeats his computer opponent Deep Blue, beginning a war with artificial intelligence that rages to this day. But most importantly (as far as this article is concerned) the first ever Fantasia International Film Festival launches in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The program is entirely Asian cinema, with a focus on the films of Chow Yun-fat and Jet Li.

From these impressive, but comparatively humble beginnings has grown a destination for both filmmakers and film lovers that has hosted the premieres of movies from filmmakers like Satoshi Kon, Stuart Gordon, Dario Argento, and Tobe Hooper, among an actual legion of others. Today, nearly 30 years later, the festival is still going strong, having recently signed a 10 year partnership with Concordia University, which has hosted the festival since 2003.

This year's festival has a lineup of over 120 feature films and 25 themed collections of shorts including ones dedicated to various genres (animation, sci-fi, horror), to showcasing certain creators (women, outsider art), or geared towards specific audiences (children). Below, I've highlighted a handful of the films that jumped out at me and made me particularly excited to cover this year's Fantasia.

Kizumonogatari: Koyomi Vamp
Directed by Tatsuya Oishi

I've been on a bit of a vampire kick recently and, well, I'm always a sucker for animation. Koyomi Vamp is the prequel to the Kizumonogatari trilogy of animated films (themselves based on the second in a series of "light novels" in Japan), following lone wolf teenager Koyomi as he is inducted into a twilight realm of vampires. The animation showcases stunning motion and light effects, and some eye-popping visuals. I'm unfamiliar with the Monogatari stories, so hopefully this is as good a jumping on point as I've heard.

The Chapel (original title La ermita)
Directed by Carlota Pereda 

Young girl Emma (Maia Zaitegi) wants to learn to speak to the ghost of a girl confined to the local chapel for centuries because she believes that learning to speak with spirits will help her stay in contact with her dying mother. She recruits sham medium Carol (Belen Rueda) to teach her, but it seems to Carol that Emma has true power and may need her help. This comes from Carlota Pereda, writer/director of 2022's fantastic Piggy, which I very much enjoyed and I'm always down for a well-told ghost yarn.

Adrianne & the Castle
Directed by Shannon Walsh

This documentary about sculptor and artist Alan St. George and the castle he built as a celebration of love for his wife seems absolutely magical. Like a benevolent version of the Winchester Mystery House, Alan and Adrianne St. George's unarguably eccentric Havencrest Castle was designed with purpose by Alan as an ongoing declaration of his love. The documentary seems to blend interview segments and reenactments in a very unique way, almost having projections from his past interrogate Alan about key moments in his life. I love artists, oddballs, and lovers, and this hooked me right from the get-go. Adrianne sadly passed in 2006, so while I'm sure viewing this will demand I have a hanky nearby, I get the impression that this will leave me feeling more inspired than depressed.

Electrophilia (original title Los Impactados)
Directed by Lucía Puenzo

Veterinarian Ada (Mariana Di Girólamo) wakes up from a six week coma after being struck by lightning to realize that her life is inexplicably different. The trailer for Electrophilia features absolutely gorgeous cinematography (by Nicolás Puenzo), enigmatic imagery, lots of steamy stuff both textual and subtextual, and a reclusive society of people who have been struck by lightning! Though what information I can find about the film is relatively light on plot, literally every other aspect of this film leaves it very, very high on my To Watch list.

Cuckoo
Directed by Tilman Singer

The first of the trailers I watched for this curtain riser that genuinely made me say "Hell yes" out loud. Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) moves in with her dad in the German Alps and gets a job at the local spa, working with Herr König (Dan Stevens) only to find herself increasingly drawn into the orbit of a maniacal woman-thing that's been terrorizing the area. Whatever this creature ends up being, natural or otherwise, it is extremely unsettling; moving in that jangly j-horror style, eyes and mouth horribly wide, creeping at a steady pace yet suddenly right over your shoulder. I am positively foaming at the mouth for this one.

There are literally dozens of films that I was tempted to spotlight here, and whittling them down for brevity's sake was an arduous task. Other points of interest include a new Jackie Chan film called A Legend which reunites him with director Stanley Tong, director of Rumble in the Bronx - a sentimental fave of mine -, new films from the respective directors of films like Caveat (Damian Mc Carthy), Psycho Goreman (Steven Kostanski), and Mad Fate (Soi Cheang); a new adaptation of The Count of Monte-Cristo (a favorite story of mine); and a film called Steppenwolf that's being described as John Ford by way of George Miller (and vice versa) and it's all just so ...exciting!

This year's Fantasia Fest also includes a number of film and culture-related events for in-person festival-goers. Filmmaker Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, recently Fall of the House of Usher), duo Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou (Every Frame a Painting), artist Gary Pullin, and film historian and critic Heidi Honeycutt all have individual presentations on various days, as well as a separate event to celebrate the release of Honeycutt's new book "I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies". A live recording of the Colors of the Dark Podcast with guest Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm St. 4: Dream Warriors) coincides with the Fantasia world premier of Russell's remake of 1986's cult hit Witchboard, and there are several events focused on introducing Korean culture to a wider audience, from fashion to food, including a rice wine called Makgeolli.

I hope you'll follow along over the next few weeks while I post updates of my Fantasia Fest viewing adventures here on MovieJawn about the films I've seen.

The 28th Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 18th to August 4th in Montreal. Get tickets HERE.