Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.
Fantasia is back for its 28th edition in Montreal with a fantastic selection of movies from across the world. In recent years, Fantasia has brought us The Righteous, Mad God, Femme, Kratt, Seobok, The Last Thing Mary Saw, Skin Deep, Devils, and more, offering an eclectic mix of world-class films ranging from thrillers to horror, sci-fi, and fantasy as it celebrates cinematic diversity.
This year, the festival will open with a joyride into the wild, bringing us Ant Timpson’s moving and hilarious BOOKWORM. Reuniting the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker with his COME TO DADDY star Elijah Wood, who matches the through-the-roof comic chemistry of his gifted young co-star Nell Fisher (Evil Dead Rise).
BOOKWORM is as entertaining as it is richly cinematic. Mildred (Fisher), a precocious eleven-year-old bookworm, escapes her humdrum existence by immersing herself in novels where literary adventures abound, with a long-dreamed quest to capture proof of a mythological beast known as The Canterbury Panther. When an unusual accident occurs, Mildred’s long-absent father, Strawn Wise (Wood), a washed-up illusionist, flies to New Zealand to look after a daughter he’s never met. When they agree to go camping despite neither being outdoorsy, this ultimate test in family bonding leads the duo on a string of increasingly absurd and treacherous adventures.
Closing this year’s festival is André Forcier’s ABABOUINÉ, which takes us back to the 1950s, when the Catholic Church ruled over Quebec with an iron fist, and a rowdy group of kids went to war against the church. In his latest masterpiece, André Forcier revisits a dark period of Quebec’s history through an often shocking – yet undeniably and absurdly funny – lens. Starring Rémy Girard, Gaston Lepage, Pascale Montpetit, Éric Bruneau, and Mylène Mackay, the film brings together an incredible cast of some of the province’s most established actors alongside its most talented newcomers. With a deft hand, Forcier navigates the historical abuses of the church and the hope of a society on the brink of change – with sensitivity, humour, and, quite literally, a lot of heart.
The 2024 Career Achievement Award will be presented to the indomitable Mike Flanagan for his imaginative and heartfelt horror visions, boundary-breaking achievements in making soulful, character-driven genre television commercially viable without compromises, and the extraordinary work he’s done in popularising landmark authors to a new generation. Fantasia will be awarding its 2024 Cheval Noir career award to U.S. filmmaker Mike Flanagan.
Flanagan is an artist Fantasia has adored since his first visit to the festival for the Canadian premiere of his haunting 2011 indie debut Absentia, a foundational feature that contains all the core elements that have come to define the artist’s work: a unique perspective on occult possibilities, engrossing slow-burn storytelling approaches, inventively cinematic aesthetics, and above all else – deeply compassionate horror narratives built on agonizingly personal themes of loss. These elements have been consistent throughout his career, regardless of whether the work is a standalone creation or an adaptation of classic literature.
While it may strike some as odd to bestow an achievement award to an artist who’s almost certainly not yet reached a mid-career place, Flanagan has been so extraordinarily prolific and consistently brilliant in his output that the filmmaker has already accomplished several lifetimes of creation.
Beyond being one of the most inspired storytelling voices of his generation, Mike Flanagan is a bona fide, culture-shifting master of horror, having changed the landscape of the genre since emerging in 2011. Since then, Flanagan has brought audiences such modern classics as Oculus (2013), Hush (2016), Before I Wake (2016), Gerald’s Game (2017), and Doctor Sleep (2019), as well as the Netflix miniseries events The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Midnight Mass (2021), The Midnight Club (2022), and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023). His next feature is the forthcoming Stephen King adaptation, The Life of Chuck (2024), starring Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Fantasia will bestow its 2024 Canadian Trailblazer Award to visionary filmmaker Vincenzo Natali, whose landmark 1997 debut Cube blew open the doors on what became a new wave of individual and provocative Canuck genre works (including John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps, Jen and Sylvia Soska’s American Mary, and countless more) in addition to siring both a film franchise and a Japanese remake.
Natali went on to make the equally idiosyncratic and quite underrated science fiction films Cypher and Nothing, the latter reuniting him with Cube stars David Hewlett, Andrew Miller, and Maurice Dean Wint. He’s had his biggest hit to date with the Frankenstein-ian SPLICE; helmed the intriguing ghost story Haunter’ the nightmarish Netflix Original In the Tall Grass, based on the novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill; and has since been busy on blockbuster series like NBC’s Hannibal, FX’s The Strain, HBO’s Westworld, Starz American Gods, and the Netflix’s Locke & Key and Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Natali will receive his award before the World Premiere of the Canadian Film Centre’s new 4K restoration of Cube, the film that started it all.
With a bulging programme of world, Canadian and North American premieres, it’s impossible for us to list every film Fantasia has to offer, but titles include,
THE TENANTS
In a dystopian Seoul, office worker Shin-dong, threatened with eviction, rents out his bathroom to an eccentric couple whose strange behaviour quickly escalates into a waking nightmare. A rising talent in the indie horror scene, writer-director Yoon Eun-kyoung creates a unique blend of soft science fiction, Kafkaesque absurdism, and dark comedy to highlight Korea’s very real social inequality problems. Winner of the Best Director Award and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival. Official Selection: Hong Kong International Film Festival 2024, Fantaspoa 2024.
HAUNTING IN OUR BLOOD
Leave it to an award-winning documentary filmmaker to do found-footage chills right. A perfectly calculated, slow-burning nightmare that opens with the feel of an indie doc and gradually evolves into something uniquely sinister, IN OUR BLOOD is the narrative feature debut of Oscar-nominated documentarian Pedro Kos. Nothing is as it seems when filmmaker Emily Wyland (a phenomenal Brittany O’Grady of HBO’s White Lotus) teams up with cinematographer Danny (E. J. Bonilla, FX’s The Old Man) to shoot an intimate documentary about reuniting with her mother (Alanna Ubach, HBO’s Euphoria) after a decade apart. When her mother suddenly goes missing, Emily and Danny must piece together increasingly disturbing clues, hoping to find her before it’s too late. Sad, scary, and unshakably convincing, this is a film that lingers like the ghosts of stolen futures.
THE SILENT PLANET
After his debut feature, BANG BANG BABY, premiered at TIFF in 2014 and took home Best Canadian First Feature Film, the vision of the award-winning director and writer Jeffrey St. Jules comes to Fantasia. His latest is a sci-fi meditation on humanity and the what-ifs about the worlds beyond our stars. In the future, two prisoners on a penal colony planet discover an unexpected connection, and they mine more than minerals as a horrible truth is revealed. With moving performances by Elias Koteas (CRASH, THE THIN RED LINE) and Briana Middleton (SHARPER), this futuristic view of accountability, regrets, and truths is packed with St. Jules’ signature touch of surrealism and imagination.
SUNBURNT UNICORN
It’s rare to come across a high-quality, CG-animated fantasy film for young audiences that challenges commercial conventions, but unlike actual unicorns, such a thing does exist. With the fascinating, eccentric SUNBURNT UNICORN, Canadian animator Nick Johnson has elevated the generic wilderness adventure to a hallucinatory, existential odyssey, following in the footsteps of fantasy films from the 1980s that, with their penchant for the unexpected and moments of true fright, acted as a gateway for kids to the horror genre. The pervasive eeriness is further heightened by an astounding score by Inuit sister duo Piqsiq, who, with only their two voices, conjure up a powerful atmosphere of wonder and dread.
THE CHAPEL
The stunning sophomore feature from award-winning director Carlota Pereda (PIGGY), THE CHAPEL, marks the fantastic return of atmospheric, character-driven supernatural Spanish horror. Emma (Maia Zaitegi) wants to learn how to communicate with the spirit of a little girl who has been trapped for centuries inside a chapel. She tries to convince Carol, a cynical and fake medium, to help her in the hopes that contacting the spirit may help her remain close to her dying mother after she passes. What Carol doesn’t suspect is that Emma really does have “the gift” and, if she keeps on trying to use it without her guidance, she will be putting her young life at terrifying risk. Winner: Best Actress, Belen Rueda, Cinefantasy 2023. Official Selection: Sitges 2023.
RITA
Following up on the international success of his brilliant LA LLORONA (2019), director Jayro Bustamante’s RITA fuses mythical fantasy and whimsical imagery with themes of childhood innocence and the potent emotional register of a story based on a harrowing real-life event, wherein 41 young women were needlessly burned to death inside a Guatemalan orphanage in the midst of a protest about inhumane conditions. At its core is the powerful performance of Guiliana Santa Cruz, who speaks for all the young women who suffered. As a result, the story speaks much to the power of female anger, yet the director never loses sight of the fact that, at its heart, Rita’s tale is one of girlhood, of dreams, of an innocence lost and regained within the bosom of female solidarity.
HUNTING DAZE
Lauded following its premiere at SXSW, Annick Blanc’s highly anticipated debut feature finally makes its way home. HUNTING DAZE takes us on a wild trip, following Nina’s (Nahéma Ricci, ANTIGONE) journey as she takes refuge with a rowdy group of men after being stranded in a northern forest. The film plays like a drunken fever dream, exposing a microcosm of masculinity in which one’s desire to belong threatens to upend the group. With dreamy visuals and transfixing performances by a cast of Quebec talent (Marc Beaupré, Alexandre Landry, Bruno Marcil), this is a bachelor weekend unlike any you’ve ever seen.
WITCHBOARD
From A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS and the beloved 1988 remake of THE BLOB to THE MASK, ERASER, and THE SCORPION KING, director Chuck Russell has no shortage of imaginative fantasy/horror classics under his belt. Now he returns to the genre he’s marked so brilliantly with a radical reinvention of Kevin S. Tenney’s 1986 Canadian cult favourite WITCHBOARD. Emily (Madison Iseman, ANNABELLE COMES HOME) and her fiancé Christian (Aaron Dominguez, Hulu’s Only Murderers in the Building) discover an ancient Wiccan artefact, a pendulum board, as they prepare to open a bistro in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
Emily becomes obsessed with the board’s powers, exposing her to the ancient spirit of the Queen of Witches. Desperate to help his fiancé, Christian seeks the advice of occult expert Alexander Babtiste (Jamie Campbell Bower, Netflix’s Stranger Things, the TWILIGHT saga), but Babtiste has dark secrets of his own. Shot in Montreal by cinematographer Yaron Levy (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING). Also starring David La Haye (TRUE NORTH), Charlie Tahan (Netflix’s Ozark), Antonia Desplat (Apple TV+ Shantaram), and Mel Jarnson (MORTAL KOMBAT).
THE BEAST WITHIN
Phantasmagoric, gothic, and straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Kit Harington (Jon Snow from HBO’s Game of Thrones) stars in this nightmarish fantasy that reflects on the uncanniness of childhood and the creatures that come out at night. The narrative feature debut of esteemed documentary filmmaker Alexander J. Farrel (REFUGEE), THE BEAST WITHIN – previously known as WHAT REMAINS OF US – follows a ten-year-old girl as she starts to question her atypical life in her family’s fortified compound in rural England, ultimately discovering that once a month, her father (Harington) turns into a monster. Co-starring Caoilinn Springall (STOPMOTION), Ashleigh Cummings (AMC’s NOS4A2), and James Cosmo (BRAVEHEART).
THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO
Fresh off a spectacular Cannes World Premiere that ended in a near-12-minute standing ovation, Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s 1815-set blockbuster epic THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO will be coming to Fantasia for its International bow. Created by Alexandre Dumas in the mid-19th century, Edmond Dantès is one of the most celebrated characters in French literature, and the story of his retribution has left its mark on popular culture around the world—the similarities between Bruce Wayne and the wrongly imprisoned, revenge-minded Dantès are obvious. This new film adaptation subtly reappropriates that influence, hinting at the tropes and trappings of the modern superhero film while retaining the work’s classicism through grandiose art direction. Pierre Niney (YVES SAINT LAURENT) shines in the title role as he expresses the stages of Dantès’s evolution into Monte-Cristo with exemplary sobriety and spellbinding charisma. Also starring Bastien Bouillon (THE NIGHT OF THE 12TH), Anaïs Demoustier (INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE), Anamaria Vartolomei (HAPPENING), and Laurent Lafitte (ELLE).
HAZE
A young journalist (Cole Doman, MUTT) returns home to investigate unsolved deaths at a psychiatric centre. As he dances with the shadows of his past, his family history and the town’s secrets begin to converge. A sombre, queer horror drama steeped in deeply rooted trauma that haunts with eerie, richly intentional visuals, HAZE is the unforgettable sophomore feature from filmmaker Matthew Fifer (CICADA). Co-starring David Pittu (FX’s Damages) and Brian J. Smith (Syfy’s Stargate Universe).
PÁRVULOS
Award-winning Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban (THE INCIDENT, PARALLEL) returns with his fifth – and most personal – feature, a disturbing tale that he’s spent the last seven years bringing into light. PÁRVULOS is a dystopian coming-of-age horror story that begins with three young brothers living alone in a remote cabin, hiding a terrifying secret in their basement. Where it goes from there will pull the breath from your lungs as the children’s sealed world is forcefully expanded by monstrous elements beyond their control. A poignant nightmare inspired by GOODNIGHT MOMMY, LORD OF THE FLIES, A QUIET PLACE, and the universes of Guillermo del Toro (an outspoken admirer of Ezban’s work), PÁRVULOS features some of the most gruesome practical make-up effects the screen has seen in years and is electrified by astonishing performances from actors Felix Farid, Leonardo Cervantes, Mateo Ortega, Norma Flores, Horacio Lazo, Carla Adell, Juan Carlos Remolina, and the great Noé Hernández (WE ARE THE FLESH). From the producers of HUESERA: THE BONE WOMAN.
FRANKIE FREAKO
After the success of PSYCHO GOREMAN, FX artist and director Steven Kostanski hits back with the zany, over-the-top FRANKIE FREAKO! Starring Conor Sweeney and Adam Brooks of Astron-6 fame, the film follows a nerdy man who just isn’t cool. In an attempt to impress his wife and boss, he’s lured by a 1-900 TV ad to party with a strange little creature called Frankie Freako. All hell breaks loose when Conor calls, and Frankie and his two friends wreak interdimensional havoc in Conor’s life. Kostanski fans will flock to his latest imaginative adventure, saturated with throwback cartoonish fun à la GHOULIES, wildly creative puppets, big laughs, and a helluva good time!
CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS
Alice Maio Mackay (T-BLOCKERS) returns to Fantasia with an early Christmas present (with some help from The People’s Joker’s Vera Drew, on editing duty). Bloody, ironic, and uproarious, CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS tells the story of true-crime podcaster Lola, who returns to her hometown at Christmas for the very first time since running away and transitioning – meanwhile, the vengeful ghost of a historical murderer and urban legend seemingly arises to kill again! Official Selection: Salem Horror Fest, Inside Out Toronto.
TIMESTALKER
Alice Lowe (PREVENGE) returns with an ingenious, Python-esque time-jumping/reincarnation anti-rom-com unlike anything audiences have ever seen, in which a woman continually seeks out the presumed love of her life across time. Co-starring Jacob Anderson (HBO’s Game of Thrones), Nick Frost (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, THE WORLD’S END), and Aneurin Barnard (DUNKIRK), this bloody brilliant – and brilliantly bloody – film impales the heart of the romantic comedy on the sharpest sword imaginable, proving some lessons are just too hard to learn in one lifetime. Official Selection: SXSW 2024.
For the full programme and booking information, click here.
Cinerama coverage starts July 19.
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