Fantasia International Film Festival 2025 - Week 1

Doc’s Fantasia Fest Journal
Week 1: Animation
The Fantasia International Film Festival runs until August 3rd
Get tickets HERE 

By “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

The Fantasia International Film Festival’s 29th year is off to quite a start. I’ve seen some truly w-i-l-d stuff, some of which I’ll be talking about below, but what’s most impressive and important is the variety! I don’t know about y’all, but I’m a sucker for animation. Though it has admittedly started to shift, for a long time animation in America was viewed as “for kids”, and most of the stuff that broke free of that label did so by leaning heavily on shock tactics like sex and violence. I believe that animation is its own art form, capable of telling any kind of story, and for any type of audience, exactly the same as film.

I think there should absolutely be animated features for all tastes. To that end, I’ve selected four animated features from this year’s Fantasia, and arranged them from most- to least-accessible to all audiences.

I Am Frankelda (Soy Frankelda)
Written by Arturo Ambriz, Roy Ambriz
Directed by Arturo Ambriz, Roy Ambriz, Mireya Mendoza

A sprawling storybook epic with maybe a turn or two too many, I Am Frankelda is still a marvelous debut feature as well as an actual triumph of stop-motion animation and creativity. And I Am Frankelda is all about creativity, about the world of fiction where dreams and nightmares come from. When an aspiring young writer’s stories enable that world to cross over with ours, an epic battle between the various clans inhabiting the so-called Realm of Spooks ensues. The worldbuilding is a little unclear, but, like a half-remembered dream, the logic doesn’t matter as much as the feeling you’re left with. I think animation geared towards children should do more than just distract them. To that end, I Am Frankelda is an impetus to follow your passions, both in its messaging and its methods. There are so many creative tricks and gorgeous visuals to be found that it’s worth watching on that metric alone, but as a sweet, all-ages friendly film about chasing your inspirations, it’s impossible to beat.

ChaO
Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki

A riff on The Little Mermaid (the 19th century fairy tale more than the 1989 animated film, to be clear) with touches of environmentalism, futurism, and a specific flavor of character design and animation common to STUDIO 4°c productions, ChaO is at its core a very sweet love story. When an aspiring engineer and designer, Stephen (Oji Suzuka) falls overboard during a punishment by his boss, he awakens in the hospital having somehow won the heart of the Princess of the Ocean. The movie follows their, pardon the pun, fish-out-of-water romance, which teaches a lesson about how buried traumas of the past run the risk of ruining good things in your future. I love the animation aesthetic of this studio; aside from shape-shifting merpeople, there are humans of all shapes and sizes (Stephen’s boss is mostly an orb for instance), but even the “standard” humans are exaggerated and instantly identifiable. The only thing keeping this from being all-ages friendly is some very inoffensive but juvenile moments, like a character perpetually picking their nose, or someone with the nickname “boobie rocket missiles”. Nothing to clutch pearls about.

Death Does Not Exist (La mort n'existe pas)
Written and directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière

When firebrand Helene (voiced by Zeneb Blanchet) freezes at the moment her group of ragtag revolutionaries storms the compound of a local wealthy family, she is forced to watch as everything falls apart. Fleeing into the wilderness to avoid security, she unknowingly sets off on a spiritual journey where she will confront her past, her future, and the horrible moment she is running away from. There are some shocking moments of violence, and graphic depictions of skinning and eating animals, which is balanced and almost heightened by comparison to the delicate, painterly-textured animation style that utilizes color in very unique ways. Emotionally moving, and with a tantalizing sense of the supernatural, Death Does Not Exist is a tremendous example of what the term “adult animation” can be.

Dog of God
Written by Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele, Ivo Briedis, Harijs Grundmanis
Directed by Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele 

To say that Dog of God has a lot going on would be an understatement, no matter how frequently or decisively you say it. First things first: the rotoscoped animation--a process which I’m particularly fond of, wherein filmed elements are animated directly over top of--constantly flirts with the uncanny valley by presenting characters and environments that feel realistic and tangible, but somehow off, and drenched in the color palette of a blacklight poster. Then there’s the subject matter: sex plays a major part in the narrative, with frequent appearances from butts, bare breasts, penises of many shapes and sizes, and The Devil’s Testicles (I don’t know why I capitalized that, it just felt polite). However, if you can look past what seems like shock tactics, there’s also a very mystically fascinating film constructed here. Though playing with a power struggle between the local pastor and a local baron, wherein barmaid Neze (voiced by Agate Krista) is either dangerous witch or a helpful naturalist healer, the depiction of the supernatural crosses into numerous houses of belief. Imagine Ken Russell’s The Devils set at the foot of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain, with the palette of Panos Cosmatos, and the whole thing is a segment in 1981’s Heavy Metal, and you’re getting close to the aura of Dog of God. Not for everyone, but extremely for some of us.

 

Fantasia International Film Festival 2025 - Preview

FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL returns for its 29th year

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

In the last 29 years, the Mission:Impossible franchise has released eight espionage action films of varying quality, while, despite the title, there are only 23 years between zombie flick 28 Years Later and its franchise originator. In 29 years you could experience almost an entire year on Saturn, which equals 29.4 Earth years, though interestingly the days on Saturn only last a little over ten and a half hours. If you had money to burn, you could build an elaborate and expensive 500,000 gallon pool in your backyard in Covington, Tennessee like this guy, or circumnavigate the globe in the exact path and manners of travel as in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days approximately 132 and a half times! Or you could be like the Fantasia International Film Festival and grow into a renowned exhibition of films from around the world!

Founded in 1996, the Fantasia International Film Festival has evolved from merely celebrating Asian genre cinema--a noble pursuit in itself, certainly--into an annual destination for genre films and filmmakers of all stripes from around the world. It has become a place to seek out highly anticipated films from the more independent-minded creators in the industry, and to see world premieres of films great and small! To still be around after 29 years is an amazing feat.

In my past experiences with the festival I’ve discovered some truly amazing films, and this year’s crop of films is as exciting as you could hope. There’s an animated zombie-style film from legend Takashi Miike with cats in place of the zombies (as in: if you get bitten by a cat, you turn into a cat) called Nyaight of the Living Cat; there’s Ari Aster’s cognitive dissonance COVID conflict film Eddington; there are pictures about stalkers, screenlife, stop-motion, and Smurfs! Truly, there’s something for probably everyone.

To that end, while the following films are the ones I am most excited for, that doesn’t make the others any less worthwhile. One of my favorite aspects of film festivals is watching something you were only medium-eager to see and having it be one of your favorite films of the year. It’s happened to me many times, and I’m always so grateful for it. With that in mind, let’s take a look at just some of what will be available at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

Dog of God
Directed by Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele
Canadian Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

Apparently based on “the most famous werewolf trial”, this rotoscope animated film capitalizes on the attention that Academy Award winning feature Flow has brought to animation from Latvia, but to very different stylistic ends. Brother directors Lauris and Raitis Abele have made something with fascinating and tantalizing visuals that tells a story about the struggle for power between a priest and a baron involving witchcraft, hedonistic frenzy, violent madness, and *checks notes* the Devil’s testicles! Aside from the incredibly unique animation, the sex and the violence, there’s something special about Dog of God that immediately made me think “I bet Ken Russell would have loved this”. As a diehard Ken Russell appreciator, I can’t wait to check it out.

Anything That Moves
Directed by Alex Phillips
World Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

Having not even seen a trailer for this film yet, I can say it is high on my Want To Watch list. Director Alex Phillips’ previous film, 2022’s All Jacked Up and Full of Worms, caught me by surprise--I would never have imagined that a film about being able to get high by stuffing worms under your skin would be as sweet and as genuinely funny as it was--and made me very excited for whatever Phillips made next. Turns out it’s Anything That Moves, apparently a loving throwback to the earnestness of 1970s era pornography about a bike courier / sex worker and his various clients. Shot on Super 16mm to better emulate the feel of the films which inspired it, I’m curious to see what, no pun intended, comes from this.

ChaO
Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki
North American Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

As an appreciator of animation, I’m a fan of Studio 4ºC who have been involved with numerous very singular projects--Tekkonkinkreet, MFKZ (a.k.a. Mutafukaz), several segments from The Animatrix, among many others--so their credit in this trailer immediately grabbed my attention. Beyond that, this take on a star-crossed love story uniting the differing worlds of mankind and fish-folk looks sweet, stirring, and genuinely hilarious. A reimagining of The Little Mermaid that seems focused on mankind learning to live more harmoniously with nature, ChaO really seems like my kind of flick. Fun fact: Another Studio 4ºC feature, All You Need is Kill has its North American Premiere at Fantasia as well!

Ya Boy Kongming! The Movie
Directed by Shuhei Shibue
North American Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

Though I am unfamiliar with the manga this is adapted from, it sounds like something I’d enjoy reading: As he lay dying in battle in 234, military strategist Zhuge Kongming wished that his next life would be one of peace, and he is reincarnated in modern Tokyo where he is adopted by club kids and falls in love. The trailer mainly showcases Kongming’s day job as a DoorDash delivery courier, and his getting involved with a popstar, encouraging her to enter a contest to win a record contract. It might not be the most original plot, but the heightened nature of the characters, along with the lushness of the feature’s visuals, it all projects “FUN”! I’m looking forward to checking it out.

I am Frankelda
Directed by Arturo Ambriz, Roy Ambriz
North American Premier
Acquire tickets HERE

Another animated feature from another pair of brothers, Arturo and Roy Ambriz--proteges of Fantasia supporter, Oscar winner, and big ol’ monster-loving sweetie Guillermo del Toro--bring Mexico’s first stop-motion animated feature! When author Francisca Imelda attracts the attention of the owl-boy prince of the world her stories describe, he attempts to break the membrane between the worlds to be with her at the same time that his parents are actively endangering both worlds! Previously appearing in a series of Cartoon Network interstitial shorts, the characters and world of I am Frankelda appear as a carefully crafted love letter to fantasy and the arts. I am thoroughly ready to be enchanted.

What do you think? Do any of these titles jump out at you? I encourage you to visit Fantasia’s site for titles and updates, and see which other films pique your interest. I’m sure there will be at least a few. If you’re able to attend in person, Fantasia offers numerous live events including a book launch for MovieJawn contributor Payton McCarty-Simas’ new book That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film, talks from industry professionals like producer Anne-Marie Gélinas, composer Danny Elfman, or Troma head Lloyd Kaufman, and even an opportunity to see the I am Frankelda puppets in person!

The festival has an especially robust Fantasia Retro lineup as well. This batch of restorations and 35mm repertory screenings is frequently only available in-person. This year’s titles include angelpunk anime Angel’s Egg (a collaboration between Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii & Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano), John Woo’s previously hard to find Bullet in the Head, J-Horror classic Noroi: The Curse, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the 1980s sleaze-revenge flick Night of the Juggler starring James Brolin, among many more!

Stay tuned to MovieJawn for further coverage of the Fantasia International Film Festival from myself and fellow MJ contributor Rachel Shatto, and as always: Long Live the Movies!

CUCKOO (2024)

Cuckoo
Written and directed by Tilman Singer
Stars Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jan Bluthardt
Running Time 1 hour, 42 minutes
MPAA rated R for violence, bloody images, language and brief teen drug use

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, contributor and podcast czar

In my day-to-day life, I am somewhat unplugged from knowing which films people may or may not be excited for, aside from the folks crowing loudest about the next big franchise thing. I know a few people personally who are looking forward to checking out Cuckoo, the sophomore feature film from German director Tilman Singer, but are you, in the wider world, psyched for this one?

Well, you better get psyched!

With Cuckoo, Singer's follow up to 2018's Luz, he has crafted a monster movie in the tradition of the Universal Monsters classics and in doing so, has firmly established himself as a unique and compelling creative voice within the horror genre. This ain't hyperbole, turkey! Cuckoo has all the Universal Monsters earmarks right out of the gate: a family moving to an insular area because step-mom and dad have taken a new career in a new town, there's some fringe science, and a monstrous presence that makes itself known with eerie calls and tones coming from the woods.

Disclaimer: in an effort to avoid spoilers, I will only be referring to the monstrous presence at the center of Cuckoo as "the woman-thing", a term I coined in my Fantasia Fest preview based entirely on its appearance in the trailer.

Hunter Schafer gives a great performance as Gretchen, who would much rather be with her mother in the U.S. than with her dad, her step-mom, and her mute step-sister in the Alps. She's not subtle about it either, always hovering somewhere around a 6 (out of 10) on the Simmering Hormonal Teenage Rage scale, on the verge of behaving like a total loon. All she really needs is some money to get a ticket to fly away home. Luckily, Herr König (Dan Stevens) offers her a job running the welcome desk at the local spa and resort, which he owns. Sure, her supervisor Beth (Jessica Henwick) will duck out early for a date, or the occasional guest will suddenly vomit in the lobby, but it's mostly your average, boring customer service job.

The feather in Tilman Singer's cap is how well he captures the teenage angst of Gretchen. We feel her frustrations constantly humming beneath the surface, her soul-crushing boredom, her general aimlessness. But before long, she has her first encounter with the woman-thing, at which point you can add feelings of persecution to Gretchen's potent emotional cocktail, because of course almost no one believes her.

Enter Henry (Jan Bluthardt), a sketchy, disheveled cop who seems to be the only person who lends her story any credence, but also definitely seems to have ulterior motives as well. Henry is sniffing around the resort, and around Herr König, but we don't know why exactly. He keeps things pretty mercenary, even while trying to recruit Gretchen into his flock of one.

For his part, Dan Stevens is masterfully cast here. I'll cop to being biased and in the pocket for Stevens anyway (I just enjoy the man's work), but his performance as the serene, flute playing philanthropist is such an understated gem. He's obviously up to no good, but he goes about it more like a Willy Wonka - who doesn't see why anything he's doing might be unusual - than a scenery chewing cock of the walk, Lex Luthor type.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly, is the woman-thing her/itself. Truly an unsettling creation to add to the latest pantheon of movie monsters - I would offer she/it be placed alongside the wooden man from Damian Mc Carthy's Oddity (another film I strongly recommend) - and one that I can imagine hatching many nightmares. The look, a hybrid of familiar and uncanny, the jumpy movements, the weaponized sound design; it all works excellently.

Famously, cuckoos are known for leaving their eggs in the nests of other birds to be raised by them, and to exhaust the greater portion of its nestlings' provisions. Not as an act of malice, but just as a function of their biology. Cuckoo, above all, is a film about men who think that they know best. The kind of men who say - and importantly, believe - that they're doing what's best for others. Dangerous allies. The true cuckoos of the film.

Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 - Closer

It's Fantasia International Film Festival's final week!

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

This is it, folks! My time at this year's Fantasia International Film Festival is winding to a close. I saw some films I genuinely loved, a lot that I liked, and above all I saw films I might never have been exposed to at all! In a landscape where films are so often judged on profitability over content, and profitability relies more on audience familiarity than any promise of quality, the movies we love so dearly are becoming reduced to something like fast food commodities in the popular view. While there's nothing wrong with the occasional Big Buford burger or Frosty milkshake, you should make sure to keep your palate diverse, and I view my time at Fantasia like wandering through an international buffet: flavors and textures that might otherwise go overlooked.

To give my Fantasia coverage a proper send-off, I'm adding an additional feature and short below.

Features:

A Samurai in Time

Written & directed by Jun'ichi Yasuda
Running time 2 hours, 11 minutes

A very simple premise, given a few clever tweaks, and performances that are honestly much better than they needed to be has made A Samurai in Time one of my hands-down favorite films from Fantasia 2024. When he is struck by lightning during a sword fight in Edo period Japan, samurai Shinzaemon Kosaka (Makiya Yamaguchi) awakens in the modern day, but on the set of a jidaigeki ("period drama") TV series set in the exact time he came from! Yamaguchi's performance is powerfully funny sometimes in very subtle ways, and at others truly charming. Watching a samurai 400 years out of his time slowly become a well-loved TV star is the surprisingly enchanting, heartwarming story I didn't know I needed. Plus: sword fights!

Sunburnt Unicorn

Written & directed by Nick Johnson
Running time 1 hour, 21 minutes

Between the narrative of a young man wandering into the desert on a journey of self-discovery, the unique visual aesthetic, and the silly yet evocative title, Sunburnt Unicorn may sound like something cooked up in a tent at Burning Man (and Hell, what do I know, maybe it was) but it's much more satisfying than you might expect. I frequently kickflip up onto my soapbox to preach that I think children's entertainment should be ever so slightly challenging, because kids deserve it, and with its ominous tonal undercurrent, I think this scratches that itch. I can only imagine how long it took to create something of this scale and this level of creativity, but I hope it isn't too long until we see more from Nick Johnson.

Mash Ville

Written by Lim Dong-min, Wook Hwang
Directed by Wook Hwang
Running time 2 hour, 6 minutes

Described as "an eastern comedy with western action", Mash Ville follows a handful of interconnected chararters' storylines, all revolving around a tainted batch of moonshine and a small village under assault from a religious cult. The characters are at times cartoonish, but the performances do a great job of grounding them as well as could be expected. The tonal whiplash can be a bit difficult to parse from moment to moment, but the direction and the pure look of this film put it high on my recommendation list.

The Umbrella Fairy

Written by Youcong Li, Min Liu
Directed by Jie Shen
Running time 1 hour, 30 minutes

From the opening moments of The Umbrella Fairy, I knew this would end up being a somewhat melancholy tale, centered around the fairies that inhabit two royal items now consigned to the Hall of Relics, never to be used again. Qingdai, the titular fairy spirit of the imperial umbrella, is sad but willing to accept this new fate, while her partner Wanggui, the spirit of the Black Jade sword, is defiantly not. When Wanggui somehow escapes, Qingdai and the human apprentice keeper of the Hall set off to investigate how and why. This beautifully animated literal fairy tale is sweet, emotionally gripping, and full of creative magical worldbuilding, inventive sequences, and delightfully designed characters. Melancholy but ultimately hopeful, and truly beautiful; add this one to your watchlists.

Salute your Shorts:

Escape Attempt

Written by Christina Lazaridi, Daniel Shapiro, Alex Topaller (based on the novel by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky)
Directed by Daniel Shapiro, Alex Topaller
Running time 29 minutes

So often, a film will remind me of the old adage "Less is more". Usually they do this by overstaying their welcome, or explaining something that makes less sense when they're finished, but this adaptation of the Strugatsky Bros. novel, Escape Attempt left me genuinely wanting more. More time in its worlds, more discussion about what's happening. Not because it lacks logic, but because all of it was so fascinating to me. With shockingly high production values, this half hour short stacks up against the best short-form sci-fi we've gotten in recent years.

Dirty Bad Wrong

Written and directed by Erica Orofino
Running time 14 minutes

A single mother sex worker finds herself in a situation where the only way to deliver a promised birthday party to her your son is for her to agree to do something unsavory with a repeat customer. This set-up is sure to set some people on edge right from the get-go, and while it all plays out in just under 15 minutes, the emotional weight and the expansive feel from subtle worldbuilding make this horror-adjacent character piece feel much deeper. Lead actress Michaela Kurimsky conveys a lot through very small actions, and really sells the core concept of how far we'll go for those we love.

HI! YOU ARE CURRENTLY BEING RECORDED

Written and directed by Kyle Garrett Greenberg, Anna Maguire
Running Time 8 minutes

Light on narrative and dialogue, this one-woman show (co-writer/co-director Anna Maguire stars) isn't telling a story so much as asking a question: What is the line where being constantly monitored goes from unnerving to comforting? While checking out her new neighborhood Anna quickly realizes the neighborhood is checking her out too. The mix of footage styles, changing between digital, videotape, and film with increasing frenzy, really conveys an indifference and an alienness that makes Anna's mounting paranoia feel justified. Also shout out to her very cool jacket.

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

Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 - Week 2

The Fantasia International Film Festival, week 2!

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

My second week of Fantasia International Film Festival offerings has been incredible. I've been lucky enough to watch some films I've been eagerly anticipating, and been caught off-guard by films I'd underestimated - remember, kids: You Can't Trust the Trailers. below are just a few feature and short film recommendations. Check back with MovieJawn next week for a wrap-up round-up with a few more, and I'll also be doing a full write-up of Tilman Singer's Cuckoo, so if you're interested in that one, stay tuned.

Features:

Párvulos

Written by Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes, Isaac Ezban
Directed by Isaac Ezban
Running time 1 hour, 58 minutes

Párvulos ("Little ones") is the film I've been most excited to tell everyone about. Director Issac Ezban (co-writing with Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes) takes the zombie movie - a genre which at this point seems as past-its-prime as the zombies themselves - and actually manages to inject new life (no pun intended) into it. With characters that are easy to care about, interesting world building with a tone akin to Amblin at times, and a unique twist on the desaturated visuals (where you can just see the color underneath, like remembering the world that was) Párvulos is absolutely dynamite. Don't let the surprisingly lighthearted first half fool you though, this film has sharp teeth just waiting for you to let your guard down.

The Silent Planet
Written and directed by Jeffrey St. Jules
Running time 1 hour, 35 minutes

If I can be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect with The Silent Planet. I knew the underappreciated Elias Koteas was playing a man imprisoned on a penal planet alone until a ship carrying a new prisoner (Briana Middleton) lands. I was not prepared for what is essentially a classic episode of Dr. Who! Between the lived-in worldbuilding, moral and socio-political analogies, character-defining monologues, and occasionally cheesy special effects (complimentary), I was in old school sci-fi heaven. The above-listed qualities, and measured pace may not work for everyone but them most assuredly worked for me.

The Soul Eater
Written by Annelyse Batrel, Ludovic Lefebvre, based on the work of Alexis Laipsker
Directed by Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Running time 1 hour, 48 minutes

The Soul Eater stood out to me from this year's Fantasia features because it managed to be something unique and apart from anything I've watched so far, and to manage a tone that feels, similarly, just a mite different from anything else this year. A French crime procedural with potentially supernatural undercurrents and the general feeling of overturning a rock in the forest and seeing what scurries out from underneath, The Soul Eater is an unsettling watch to say the least. With some shocking violence, and other even more disturbing crimes (mercifully implied indirectly) at its fringes, the film feels like an adaptation that will appeal to fans of the Jack Reacher series, or maybe Laird Barron's Isaiah Coleridge novels.

Salute your Shorts:

Berta
Written by Lucía Forner Segarra
Directed by Lucía Forner Segarra
Running time 17 minutes

Berta is the third in a thematic trilogy of feminist horror shorts from Spanish writer/director Lucía Forner Segarra. The subject matter is relatively dark, but the tone has a populist sensibility that almost feels akin to the type of revenge thrillers that see broad theatrical release. The world build around Berta (Nerea Barros) and her victim Alex (Elías González) feels real, reasoned, and fully conceived. In just under 20 minutes Segarra delivers something that could, and does, function as a complete story, but that you wouldn't mind spending more time with. I'll be looking for somewhere to watch the two previous thematic installments - Marta and Dana - ASAP.

FACES
Written by Blake Simon
Directed by Blake Simon
Running Time 14 minutes

Like Párvulos above, I've been dying to spread the word about this short from Blake Simon. "I wanted to explore something that I had been witnessing around me that nobody was openly talking about" Simon says in the press materials "...that search for identity that lies under the surface of all of us." But before you get the wrong idea, this insight into the human experience didn't lead Simon to creating an austere drama, but a genuinely unsettling supernaturally-tinged urban legend of a horror short. Supported by solid performances (notably Ethan Daniel Corbett) and the excellent, creative cinematography of Andrew Fronczak, FACES is a really intriguing short-form chiller.

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

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.

FANTASIA 27 - Week 1

Fantasia International Film Festival
27th Edition
Week 1

By “Doc” Hunter Bush, staff writer and podcast czar

My first exposure to The Fantasia International Film Festival was in 2020 where I saw a half dozen tremendous films that I would otherwise probably not have been exposed to (I’ve only encountered two of them on streaming services in the years since). This is the strength of all film festivals, but especially ones like Fantasia which gather movies, documentaries and shorts from around the world - essentially each year I excitedly open the festival preview emails whispering “Yes… expand my cinematic horizons, daddy.”

I try to take in as many films as I am given access to, not just for my own enjoyment, but yours reading this as well. While I won’t be going into deep detail on any of the films below, maybe one of them sounds like your kind of jam. Then the impetus is on you to seek it out, and I hope you like what you find.

Stay Online
Written by Anton Skrypets, Eva Strelnikova
Directed by Eva Strelnikova
Starring Elizaveta Zaitseva, Oleksandr Rudynskyy, Ekaterina Kisten

Stay Online wasn’t something that I was champing at the bit to see, but it pleasantly surprised me with its creativity and ability to keep its numerous simultaneous plot lines engaging. Stay Online is what’s being called a screenlife film - a film told entirely through a computer or smartphone screen via text windows, video messaging, and surfing the ‘net - set in the Ukraine during Russia’s invasion (which is still ongoing btw). Katya (Elizaveta Zaitseva) checks in with her brother Vitya (Oleksandr Rudynskyy) on the front line, her American friend Ryan (Anton Skrypets) a volunteer helping refugees get to safe zones, and keeps her & Vitya’s mother up to date on Vitya’s status, while also finding time to secure and ship a Spider-Man costume for a young boy whose parents may not have gotten safely out of a war zone. That’s in between sheltering in the bathroom when the air raid sirens go off.

Like I said: It’s a lot of threads, all mingling through Katya and her donated laptop, but Stay Online uses some very clever tricks to maintain the illusion that it’s all happening in real time. It keeps the tension dialed up, builds emotional connection to flawed, complicated characters, and attempts to communicate a fraction of the overwhelming dread that existing in a war zone feels like.

Lovely, Dark, and Deep
Written by Teresa Sutherland
Directed by Teresa Sutherland
Starring Georgina Campbell, Nick Blood, Wai Ching Ho

Lovely, Dark, and Deep focuses on one of my favorite spooky topics: the volume of unexplained disappearances that take place in our National Parks. The first feature from writer Teresa Sutherland (Midnight Mass, The Wind), Lovely, Dark, and Deep is loaded with strange happenings, eerie details, and the inherent alienness of nature experienced in solitude. Lennon (Georgina Campbell) is competent and dedicated to her job as a new park ranger, but has an ulterior motive: investigating the disappearance of her sister when they were children. She sets out for days at a time to chart the various areas of the park all alone, but there are dangerous things in the wilderness, and they know she’s looking for them.

This has some top tier scares in it and sets the spooky mood with surety and finesse. In a movie that tackles these kinds of themes, everything hinges on the payoff; is the explanation of events satisfying or does it feel like the filmmakers have skirted the responsibility of an answer? Lovely, Dark, and Deep, despite budgetary constraints, hits just the right forlorn, eerie, existentially chilling tone that I think audiences will respond to.

White Noise
Written by Christina Saliba, Tamara Scherbak
Directed by Tamara Scherbak
Starring Bahia Watson, Ryan Hollyman, Guifre Bantjes-Rafols

Short films have comparatively little time and resources with which to draw an audience in, but White Noise from director Tamara Scherbak does an admirable job. Taking a real life aural disorder - misophonia, an aversion to sounds - and a real life oddity - an anechoic chamber - and crafting a tidy little scenario that builds tension to an unsettling finale.

The performances are mostly brief, with the exception of leading lady Ava (Bahia Watson), and uniformly solid, but the real star of White Noise is the sound mixing and effects. Once Ava is left for her session in the sound-canceling room, the blanketing silence is slowly replaced by increasingly unsettling biological sounds: her heartbeat, the blood in her veins, her joints creaking, and on and on, becoming an oppressive cacophony. It’s deeply unnerving and, if you’ll pardon the pun, disquieting.

Mami Wata
Written by C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
Directed by C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
Starring Evelyne Ily Juhen, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Emeka Amakeze

Shot in delectable black and white, Mami Wata tells a mythic story of heritage under attack from outside forces. Can the peaceful village of Iyi survive when its leadership, an intermediary between the village and a powerful water deity, falls under scrutiny through a perfect storm of mistrust, apathy, and jealousy?

Though the middle of this came across as a bit inert for me, I never lost interest due to the absolutely transfixing black and white cinematography (Lílis Soares) and direction (C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi).

Restore Point
Written by Tomislav Cecka, Zdenek Jecelin
Directed by Robert Hloz
Starring Andrea Mohylová, Matej Hádek, Milan Ondrík

Another film where the description left me expecting less, Restore Point has much more going on than just its ‘a future where a service exists allowing people to be brought back to life after an unnatural death’ setting. The world is nuanced and detailed, and the details matter: the fact that the RP must be backed up every 48 hours is a neat point that actually has significance.

But the overall story is what really shines here: a noir-adjacent thriller with cyberpunk undertones where a cop (Andrea Mohylová) must team up with a recently deceased scientist (Matej Hádek) to track a terrorist group trying to bring down the entire RP system on the eve of its privatization. The characters are flawed, desperate, and almost always just a step behind where they need to be, and that makes for a riveting watch.

Vincent Must Dies
Written by Mathieu Naert
Directed by Stéphan Castang
Starring Karim Leklou, Vimala Pons, François Chattot

Y’know how some things are said to be “shaped like a friend”? Well for some reason, many, many people one day seem to find that mild mannered office worker Vincent (Karim Leklou) is shaped like an enemy. Neither Vincent nor the movie seem that concerned with figuring out why, being more interested in Vincent’s just trying to figure out a way to be.

I saw a brief interview with the director (Stéphan Castang) where he said that he was interested in crossing genre lines with this film, including horror, comedy, and romance, and while I think it does blur those boundaries, it does them a little modestly for my taste. I did enjoy the film overall, but would have liked a little something extra from it.

Shin Kamen Rider
Written by Hideaki Anno, Shotaro Ishinomori
Directed by Hideaki Anno
Starring Sôsuke Ikematsu, Minami Hamabe, Tasuku Emoto

I’m only familiar with the Kamen Rider mythos through cultural osmosis, so I’m not sure how much of this tale about a motorcyclist resurrected through cybernetic and genetic augmentation to fight other augmented cyborgs (all themed around insects) is accurate. BUT what’s important is: I don’t care. It’s impossible to stop and question the logic of Shin Kamen Rider when the story is barreling ahead like a grasshopper-themed cyborg on a specially-made motorcycle; his red scarf flapping heroically in the breeze.

This film crams what feels like an entire trilogy’s worth of story into one 2 hour block and it’s only the slightest bit overwhelming. But the pure vibrant, gory, action-packed fun makes it worth the small amount of emotional exhaustion. The tremendous villain performance from Mirai Moriyama as Ichiro doesn’t hurt either.

Transylvanie
Written by Rodrigue Huart, David A. Cassan, Axel Wursten
Directed by Rodrigue Huart
Starring Katell Vervat, Lucien Le Ho, Emma Guatier

Part Let the Right One In, part George Romero’s Martin, this French short is a complete blast. Watching 10 year old Ewa (Katell Vervat) plan to make handsome, slightly-older neighbor boy Hugo (Lucien Le Ho) in her legion of undead followers, despite his relationship to local mean girl Gwen (Emma Gautier) completely hooked me right from the jump.

Is the subject material familiar? Sure, but it’s handled with a freshness that lends each of its slim assemblage of scenes an energy that makes them hard to ignore. The worldbuilding done at the fringes of this short is subtle, but deeply effective. I felt more affection and camaraderie for Ewa within 20 minutes than I did for characters I’d spend several times that amount in other offerings. There’s not much market for short films, nor is there one simple place to seek them out, but I’m looking forward to anything director/co-writer Rodrigue Huart does in the future.

The First Slam Dunk
Written by Takehiko Inoue
Directed by Takehiko Inoue
Starring Shugo Nakamura, Subaru Kimora, Maaya Sakamoto

I’m familiar with the Slam Dunk series in reputation only but I was genuinely excited to check this out. I’m not sure what I expected of an animated feature film based on a basketball manga from the early ‘90s, but I’ll say this: I wasn’t disappointed. Set entirely during one important game, the psychology of the teams was fascinating, clearly explained, and doled out in reasonable amounts, and the characters were fleshed out through a series of flashbacks that were genuinely touching.

The film’s focal character is small fry Ryota Miyagi (Shugo Nakamura) who has struggled his whole life to escape from the shadow of his deceased basketball star older brother, but the standout character for me was red-haired troublemaker Hanamichi Sakuragi (Subaru Kimora) who - fun fact - it turns out is actually kind of the protagonist of the series as a whole! It’s worth noting that the animation is stunning and makes every gameplay minute riveting.

The Fantastic Golem Affairs
Written by Juan González, Nando Martínez
Directed by Juan González, Nando Martínez
Starring Brays Efe, Bruna Cusí, Javier Botet

Easily the most unique film I’ve seen thus far at Fantasia, The Fantastic Golem Affairs (El fantástico caso del Golem) exists in a world entirely its own. When Juan (Brays Efe)’s best friend David (David Menéndez) slips and falls from the apartment building’s roof during a game of movie title charades, instead of becoming a big messy pile of meat and bone, he shatters. Turns out David was a golem, artificial humanoids designed to be friends and lovers for socially deficient humans, whether the humans know it or not.

That’s only scratching the surface of the bizarre and creative, silly and horny, and through and through colorful world that Juan González and Nando Martínez have created, and I won’t spoil more than I’ve already mentioned but needless to say: it’s a lot of fun. The ending isn’t quite as bombastic or scintillating as the set-up and world as a whole, but it’s far from a let-down, and still entirely worth your time.

Fantasia International Film Festival runs until August 9th in Montreal, Quebec. Tickets are available HERE.