While the world and entertainment business tries to figure out how to get back to something resembling normal amidst the COVID-19 crisis you can count on one thing for sure – genre fans aren’t going to let a little ‘ol pandemic get in the way of celebrating weird, wild and wonderful movies. Which is exactly why theFantasia International Film Festivalhas gone fully virtual this year, allowing one of the world’s biggest and best genre fests to keep up that celebration without putting folks in danger. And the first wave of films has arrived!
Fantasia 2020 will kick off with opening filmThe Reckoning, the period-set witch hunt horror starringCharlotte Kirkand directed byNeill Marshall. Other lineup standouts includeBrea Grant’s12 Hour Shift,Chino Moya’sUndergods, andMakoto Tezuka’sBarbara. Fantasia is set to run Aug 20 - Sept 2, and while the event is digital this year, the traditionally Montreal-set festival will only be available to viewers in Canada. Stay tuned for more details on ticketing, and for now, see the full first wave lineup below.
#SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM
Dir. Lloyd Kaufman
World Premiere
12 HOUR SHIFT
Dir. Brea Grant
International Premiere
A COSTUME FOR NICHOLAS
Dir. Eduardo Rivero
Canadian Premiere
Dir. Anthony Scott Burns
THE CURSE OF AUDREY EARNSHAW
Dir. Thomas Robert Lee
FRIED BARRY
Dir. Ryan Kruger
South Africa
Dir. Sidharth Srinivasan
LABYRINTH OF CINEMA
Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi
Dir. Noah Hutton
Dir. Natasha Kermani
THE OLD MAN MOVIE
Dir. Oskar Lehemaa
North American Premiere
THE RECKONING
Dir. Neil Marshall
Special Screening
SLEEP (Schlaf)
Dir. Michael Venus
SPECIAL ACTORS
Dir. Shinichiro Ueda
TEZUKA’S BARBARA
Dir. Macoto Tezuka
TIME OF MOULTING
Dir. Sabrina Mertens
TINY TIM: KING FOR A DAY
Dir. Henrik Von Sydow
Dir. Chino Moya
UK/Belgium/Estonia/Serbia/Sweden
THE UNDERTAKER’S HOME (La Funeraria)
Dir. Mauro Iván Ojeda
Dirs. John C. Lyons and Dorota Swies
Dir. Lars Damoiseaux
Quebec Premiere
