The twenty ninth version of the Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition is ready to run from from July sixteenth (someday sooner than beforehand introduced) by way of August third on the Concordia Corridor and J.A. de Sève cinemas in Montreal, with further screenings and occasions at Cinéma du Musée. The primary wave of titles that will likely be proven on the competition this yr had been revealed 4 weeks in the past, and now the second wave of titles has been unveiled! The complete line-up will likely be introduced in early July, however for right here’s some info on what attendees can count on to see there, straight from the Fantasia press launch:
OFFICIAL OPENING FILM: ARI ASTER’S EDDINGTON: Fantasia’s twenty ninth version will open with a particular screening of Ari Aster’s EDDINGTON. In Might of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted in opposition to neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico. Additionally that includes Austin Butler, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Michael Ward, and Clifton Collins Jr. EDDINGTON is Aster’s fourth characteristic in a unprecedented filmography of landmarks, following HEREDITARY, MIDSOMMAR, and BEAU IS AFRAID.
CANADIAN TRALBLAZER AWARD: GEORGE MIHALKA: Fantasia will bestow a 2025 Canadian Trailblazer award to filmmaker George Mihalka, whose 40-year profession in cinema and tv has crossed cultures and borders. Internationally, Mihalka is most celebrated for his 1981 slasher traditional MY BLOODY VALENTINE, the Genie-nominated ETERNAL EVIL (1985), HOSTILE TAKEOVER (1988), BULLET TO BEIJING (1996), and WATCHTOWER (2001). In Quebec, Mihalka has made a few of French Canada’s most beloved cult movies, together with SCANDALE (1982), LA FLORIDA (1993), L’HOMME IDÉAL (1996), and LES BOYS IV (2005), along with directing on among the province’s best tv sequence (SCOOP, OMERTA, LA LOI DU SILENCE…). Mihalka’s historical past in filmmaking is as unconventional as it’s thrilling. He additionally occurs to be an exquisite raconteur. To that finish, Fantasia is blissful to announce that the filmmaker may even be giving a grasp class on the competition, offered by the Administrators Guild of Canada (DGC).
A TAKASHI MIIKE TRIPLE THREAT! NYAIGHT OF THE LIVING CAT, BLAZING FISTS, AND SHAM: A perennial of the competition’s programming since its earliest days, and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, maverick, genre-jumping Japanese director Takashi Miike makes his mark at Fantasia once more this yr with not one however three titles—together with an lovable J-horror anime sequence, with World Premiere episodes! Adapting the manga written by Hawkman and drawn by Mecha-Roots, and debuting on Crunchyroll this summer season, NYAIGHT OF THE LIVING CAT presents a premise extra terrifying than a half-empty meals bowl—a virus sweeping the globe, inflicting anybody who touches a kitty to grow to be one themselves! Government director Miike and director Tomohiro Kamitani ship a furry, purring parody of the natural-horror subgenre, an animated cataclysm of cuteness! The pair of Miike movies celebrating their Canadian Premieres pack a one-two punch, beginning with BLAZING FISTS, wherein two teenage hoodlums intention for higher lives for themselves, and preventing within the ring is how they’ll get there. A convincing coming-of-age drama with an enormous coronary heart to stability out the bruises and black eyes, its forged options J-pop celebrity Gackt and MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura, who seems as himself. SHAM, impressed by a real story, follows the surreal authorized and media battle of a trainer falsely accused of violence in opposition to a scholar. Miike delivers a panoramic authorized thriller that generates as a lot anxiousness as his greatest horrific works, thanks partially to the crackling efficiency by Go Ayano (GANTZ).
FIND YOUR FRIENDS TURNS A DESERT PARTY INTO A GAME OF SURVIVAL: For her first characteristic, director Izabel Pakzad places a sinister spin on celebration tradition and the fixed risk of violence going through younger ladies, that includes a stellar forged together with Helena Howard (MADELINE’S MADELINE, I SAW THE TV GLOW), Bella Thorne (DIVINITY), Zión Moreno (GOSSIP GIRL), Chloe Cherry (EUPHORIA), and Sophia Ali (UNCHARTED). Set in opposition to cinematic desert surroundings, what begins as a wild ladies journey rapidly turns harmful when the locals don’t need them there. Because the hostile atmosphere escalates, Amber’s mates uncover her previous trauma and grow to be fed up with poisonous dynamics. Little do they know, their enjoyable journey will rework into one in all revenge—constructing to a jaw-dropping finale that audiences will always remember. Produced by Allison Friedman (THE MORTUARY COLLECTION, THE FIX), Gary Michael Walters (WHIPLASH, DRIVE), Andrea Iervolino (SKINCARE, FERRARI), Luca Matrundola (TO THE BONE, SKINCARE) and government produced by Chris Hanley (THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, SPRING BREAKERS) and Eric Kohn (BABY INVASION), FIND YOUR FRIENDS presents stunning eventualities exploring how fragile the divide between the sexes actually is. World Premiere.
A JOLTING FOLK HORROR VISION: ADILKHAN YERZHANOV’S KAZAKH SCARY TALES: Persevering with a panoramic marathon of creation, multi-time award-winner Adilkhan Yerzhanov (STEPPENWOLF, THE OWNERS, THE GENTLE INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD) has turned his visionary lens in direction of skin-crawling occult horror storytelling. A cop (Kuantai Abdimadi, MOUNTAIN ONION) ventures right into a distant village to research a ugly sequence of inexplicable occasions and shortly finds himself within the heart of an otherworldly storm of native witchcraft and loss of life. It turns into clear that the curse of Albasty, a spirit mentioned to devour infants, is horrifyingly actual. Bringing nightmarish regional people horror to the display by way of a tense, neo-Noir Computer virus, KAZAKH SCARY TALES was produced as an anthology sequence for a home streamer however deemed too scary by focus teams. Fantasia will likely be presenting the primary three episodes as a whole characteristic narrative, the primary time that something from the sequence will likely be proven wherever on this planet. A surprising, disturbing work that includes a forged from throughout Yerzhanov’s filmography, together with Anna Starchenko, jury award winner finally summer season’s Fantasia for her astonishing efficiency in STEPPENWOLF, Dinara Baktybayeva (A DARK, DARK MAN), Daniyar Alshinov (GOLIATH), Yerken Gubashev (THE ASSAULT), and Sanjar Madi (YELLOW CAT). World Premiere.
DEATH DOES NOT EXIST OPENS THE FANTASTIQUES WEEK-ENDS DU CINÉMA QUÉBÉCOIS: Recent off its world premiere in Cannes, Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s magnificent animated characteristic DEATH DOES NOT EXIST (LA MORT N’EXISTE PAS) will open Fantasia’s Fantastiques Weekends du Cinéma Québécois. A bunch of younger activists take up arms in opposition to an prosperous household, hoping to plant the seed that sows a insurrection. However when issues don’t go in accordance with plan, a lady finds herself haunted by the reminiscence of her pal, intertwined with the shadows of her doubt and guilt. In a world threatened by rising inequalities, Félix’s masterpiece embraces the naiveté of youth to inform its story, weighing the burden of 1’s tasks and the implications of repercussions of the trail they’ve taken. Over ten years within the making, DEATH DOES NOT EXIST is as well timed a movie as may very well be, and one of the vital magnificent photos made lately, the place each hand drawn body is a panoramic murals. The movie performs off coloration and sound to form its story, permitting the artwork to take a lifetime of its personal. The revolution could also be bloody and violent, stuffed with loss and sorrow, nevertheless it’s by no means been this stunning. Les Fantastiques Week-Ends du Cinéma Québécois Part. North American Premiere.
YUTA SHIMOTSU’S NEW GROUP BRILLIANTLY BLURS THE LINE BETWEEN HORROR AND REALITY: Highschool scholar Ai (Anna Yamada) sees her world collapse when an odd cult-like mentality progressively turns individuals round her into senseless followers who can rework easy gymnastics routines right into a nightmarish dance of loss of life. With solely his second characteristic, co-writer and director Yuta Shimotsu (BEST WISHES TO ALL, produced by Takashi Shimizu) delivers one of the vital well-scripted, masterfully directed, and extremely creepy J-horror movies of the final twenty years. Think about a fusion between a harsh critique of Japanese society and the bizarre ideological actions which can be rising within the Western World, portrayed within the twisted universe of legendary mangaka Junji Ito, writer of the traditional UZUMAKI, and also you may be capable of visualize all of the enjoyable this movie packs. With its mind-blowing, surreal imagery in a really lifelike context, a wonderfully balanced and executed soundtrack, and one thing to say concerning the world we stay in, NEW GROUP will solely increase its variety of devoted followers across the planet. North American Premiere.
EVERY HEAVY THING FINDS MICKEY REECE AT HIS MOST VISIONARY, BLENDING LO-FI AESTHETICS WITH HIGH-CONCEPT SATIRE IN THE HEART OF OKLAHOMA: Mickey Reece, the impressed maverick behind such singular cult favorites as COUNTRY GOLD, CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER, and AGNES, returns to Fantasia with EVERY HEAVY THING, a pitch-black comedy about an atypical man thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Set in opposition to the unsettling backdrop of a string of disappearances, the movie follows Joe (Josh Fadem, BETTER CALL SAUL), an unassuming workplace employee at an internet periodical who turns into entangled in a conspiracy after witnessing a homicide. As a colleague begins to research, Joe struggles to hide the reality as his rigorously constructed life falls aside. Along with his signature mix of lo-fi aesthetics and sharp, high-concept wit, Reece delivers one other visionary exploration of Oklahoma and a darkly comedian meditation on the fractured American soul. That includes an eclectic forged together with Vera Drew (THE PEOPLE’S JOKER), Tipper Newton (THE MINDY PROJECT), John Ennis (RATS!), and style icon Barbara Crampton (RE-ANIMATOR). World Premiere.
SUBVERSIVE SCI-FI GOES KAWAII IN TAMALA 2030: A PUNK CAT IN DARK: An astonishing, avant-garde anime anomaly, 2002’s eerie, erotic, and elaborately esoteric TAMALA 2010: A PUNK CAT IN SPACE, a Fantasia award-winner, stays an all-time spotlight of the competition’s animation programming, and greater than twenty years needed to move earlier than rumours of a follow-up TAMALA characteristic may finally be confirmed true. With TAMALA 2030: A PUNK CAT IN DARK, the mysterious Japanese author/composer/director duo Okay. and kuno, recognized collectively as t.o.L (“trees of Life”), have resumed, recalibrated, and resolved their story of the cutest girl-cat in dystopian Cat Tokyo, surpassing themselves of their management of the cryptic, complicated, and cuddly chaos they’ve unleashed. The kawaii paradigm of Good day Kitty and Hatsune Miku collides with cabalistic capitalism, cataclysmic prophecy, and the ruptured realities of Lynch, Pynchon, and Philip Okay. Dick in a deviously dreamlike, metaphysical mind-melt of high-fructose, retro-futuristic, paranoid pop-art brilliance. Animation Plus Part. World Premiere.
THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE BECOMES A HIGH SCHOOL NIGHTMARE IN FOREIGNER: For her debut characteristic movie, FOREIGNER, Ava Maria Safai expertly harnesses the facility of id, social acceptance, horror, and comedy. It’s 2004, and Iranian immigrant Yasamin, or Yasi, is the brand new lady. Her highschool expertise is daunting, as she tries to enhance her English by watching her favourite sitcom and befriends a trio of pastel-clad ladies who feed Yasi’s want to slot in. Determined for acceptance, she dyes her hair blonde and, in doing so, additionally attracts a demonic power. With a enjoyable retro setting, nice performances by Rose Dehgan as Yasi, Chloë MacLeod because the creepy highschool “Queen Bee” Rachel, and a mix of our favourite teen horrors, FOREIGNER takes up area as a brand new entry to “bubblegum horror,” bringing a contemporary narrative to the Canadian immigrant expertise. Septentrion Shadows Part. World Premiere.
BLANK CANVAS: MY SO-CALLED ARTIST LIFE CELEBRATES ART AND PASSION: A younger lady who goals of turning into a manga artist enters an artwork faculty the place her mentor makes use of harsh strategies to push his college students into classical portray. Fearful about her tenacious trainer’s response towards her secret ardour, she is going to study to maintain her floor and discover her place. Primarily based on an autobiographical manga by famend writer Akiko Higashimura, BLANK CANVAS is an attractive hymn to believing in our passions regardless of bumpy roads. Mei Nagano (MY BROKEN MARIKO) delivers a stellar efficiency as Akiko, whereas Yo Oizumi (I AM A HERO) manages to stability the abusive and endearing sides of his complicated and sometimes weirdly humorous character from one other period. Director Kazuaki Seki delivers a poignant movie that embraces the worth of popular culture whereas respecting the heritage of fantastic arts and custom. North American Premiere.
BUFFET INFINITY BECOMES A COSMIC ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT DESCENT INTO HILARIOUS WORLD DOMINATION!: First-time characteristic director and award-winning comic Simon Glassman involves Fantasia with the cosmic horror, BUFFET INFINITY! Selecting from a whole lot of hours of unique, low-budget TV advertisements, Glassman tells the sinister story of two eating places battling it out within the city of Westridge County. Insurance coverage advertisements, used automobile rivals, and plugs for an area non secular scholar and recording artist, Langdon P. Hershey, all converge to inform the story of an increasing sinkhole, a cult, and an ever-growing restaurant that turns into unsettlingly sentient. However don’t be fooled as a result of that sinister vibe is drowned in a particular sauce that brings laughs at lightning pace, and those that love absurdist comedy like the Canadian traditional SCTV or TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB! will certainly ask for seconds of this sure-to-be fan favourite! Septentrion Shadows Part. World Premiere.
A DEFIANT ODE TO THE WORKING CLASS IN CARDBOARD CITY: In Longueuil, a poet (Jean-Marc Desgent) stubbornly refuses to promote his home to a predatory, if not barely unhinged, actual property developer (Pierre Curzi, THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE). However the struggle isn’t new: In 1969, Longueuil absorbed the a lot bigger, and poorer, metropolis of Jacques-Cartier, the place many individuals had constructed their houses with the supplies out there to them. Standing robust in opposition to the risk to his neighborhood, Desgent tells the tales of those ladies and men who constructed his metropolis. In CARDBOARD CITY (VILLE JACQUES CARTON), Jean-Marc E. Roy (BLEU TONNERRE, CRÈME DE MENTHE) and André Forcier (ABABOUINÉ, AU CLAIR DE LA LUNE) be a part of forces to create an oddball movie the place actuality and fiction mix on a backdrop of poetry. Right here, household pictures and archival footage share the highlight with stellar performances from a few of Quebec’s most beloved actors, together with Gaston Lepage, France Castel, Sandrine Bisson, Charlotte Aubin, and Michèle Deslauriers. It’s humorous, stunning, and touching, however above all, it’s an ode to our individuals, our historical past, and our resilience. Les Fantastiques Week-Ends du Cinéma Québécois Part. World Premiere.
CHINESE ANIMATION FEATURE THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME WILL STEAL YOUR HEART: “This very moment of being together is the gentlest magic we have against time.” Impressed by their very own expertise with sudden loss, writer-directors Yu Ao and Zhou Tienan created THE GIRL WHO STOLE TIME as a heartfelt response to impermanence. Qian Xiao, a cheerful lady from a fishing village, obtains a mysterious pendant, the Time Dial, which supplies her the facility to manage time. However her new skill attracts hazard, together with Seventeen, a cold-faced murderer. When their paths collide, a stunning journey begins. With an excellent voice forged together with Liu Xiaoyu (ARCANE), Wang Junkai (THE GREAT WALL), and particular appearances by Zhou Shen (SUZUME’s Chinese language theme track singer) and Huang Bo (CRAZY STONE), this characteristic debut {couples} top-tier animation and a strong emotional core with the co-creators’ signature comedic type, delivering a very transferring, laughing-through-tears expertise. Animation Plus Part. North American Premiere.
LUCID GETS THE FEATURE TREATMENT – AND IT’S A WILD TRIP!: After coming to Fantasia as a brief movie chosen for the Frontierés Market Shorts to Options Lab in 2022, directing duo Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall increase the world of Mia Sunshine Jones of their darkly trippy characteristic, LUCID. Mia is a rebellious artwork scholar who struggles to create the final word venture for a demanding professor. Determined to search out her inventive voice, she takes Lucid, a sweet elixir, to entry her creativity, however faucets into one thing a lot darker. Starring Caitlin Acken Taylor, who reprises her position from the brief, and Georgia Acken (star of the 2023 Fantasia hit THE SACRIFICE GAME), Milligan and Fendall create a surreal nightmare with a classic look that totally embraces the 90s grunge period with a punk artwork aesthetic. Utilizing stay on-set music, an eclectic forged, and a great deal of experimental and haunting visuals, the World Premiere of LUCID will likely be a nightmare-come-true. Septentrion Shadows Part. World Premiere.
JULIET & THE KING: FROM PARIS TO PERSIA, WITH LAUGHS AND LOVE: Issues abound for a lovestruck monarch, a Parisian actress, and her playwright pal bringing Shakespeare to the Persian stage within the charming, animated musical comedy JULIET & THE KING. Following the bloody, mythic fantasy THE LAST FICTION (2018), the second characteristic movie from Iranian animator Ashkan Ragozar and his workforce at Hoorakhsh Studio is one thing lighter and brighter. It’s a energetic historic flight of fancy about Nasser-al-Din Shah, Iran’s first ruler to go to Europe, in 1873, saluting his open thoughts and urge for food for the humanities, although Ragozar doesn’t spare him bouts of cartoon buffoonery. The frisky spirit of Shakespeare’s difficult ensemble comedies is ever-present, as are the beautiful delights of classical Persian aesthetics, as JULIET & THE KING counters the Orientalism in Western animated visions of West Asia and celebrates cross-cultural curiosity with love, laughter, and catchy tunes! My First Fantasia/Animation Plus Sections. Worldwide Premiere.
OLD GUYS IN BED CASTS AN UNCONVENTIONAL LENS ON ELDER MALE INTIMACY: OLD GUYS IN BED tells the story of Paul (Duff MacDonald), a 60-year-old movie historian, who meets a person (Paul James Saunders) on a relationship web site. Unfamiliar with these new methods of constructing connections, he discovers a world that’s each promising and complicated, one that can function his gateway by way of a contemporary and unpredictable journey of affection. Directing his first characteristic on the age of 73, celebrated Quebec actor Jean-Pierre “JP” Bergeron (STICKY FINGERS), energetic for nearly 60 years on each the large and small screens, has delivered an atypical romantic comedy that’s tender, daring, and profoundly human. Bergeron had been directed by a few of Quebec’s most necessary administrators, from André Forcier to Robert Morin, Ken Scott to Robin Spry, and with OLD GUYS IN BED, he explores rarely-tread territory with nice humor and coronary heart. Les Fantastiques Week-Ends du Cinéma Québécois Part. World Premiere.
ADDITIONAL SECOND WAVE TITLES:
DOG OF GOD (Latvia) – dirs. Raitis Ābele and Lauris Ābele
Dire omens and sexual perversions, clerical fanaticism and collective insanity – the diabolical darkish fantasy DOG OF GOD is an eerie, animated people chiller from the Baltic area wherein malevolent moments and sinister sights abound. The black humor that Baltic artists wield so boldly is as a lot a continuing presence because the creeping sense of dread. Official choice: Tribeca Movie Competition 2025. Animation Plus part. Canadian Premiere.
DUI SHAW (Bangladesh) – dir. Nuhash Humayun
Following 2023’s folk-horror anthology PETT KATA SHAW, 4 new fearful fables from the main mild of style movie in Bangladesh, this time redirecting focus in direction of social ills plaguing South Asia. Every of DUI SHAW’s segments is strikingly distinct in theme and tone, starting from gritty and ugly to haunting, hilarious, mythic, and magically musical. Official choice: SXSW 2025 Canadian Premiere.
JAPANESE AVANT-GARDE PIONEERS (France) – dir. Amélie Ravalec
The harrowing ghastliness of butoh dance, the freak-show surrealism of angura theatre, shockingly uncooked pictures, and confounding-yet-dazzling psychedelic poster design—a dive into the twisted shadows writhing beneath the rising solar within the Sixties, charting an underground artwork motion that also echoes hauntingly at the moment. Documentaries From the Edge Part. Canadian Premiere.
LIFEHACK (UK) – dir. Ronan Corrigan
Ronan Corrigan’s thrilling debut characteristic is a daring new entry into the Screenlife style. After scamming the daughter (Jessica Reynolds) of a ruthless crypto millionaire, a bunch of digital troublemakers (Georgie Farmer, Yasmin Finney, Roman Hayeck-Inexperienced, and James Scholz) discover themselves entangled in a heist for his or her lives. Produced by Timur Bekmambetov (SEARCHING). Official choice: SXSW 2025, Overlook Movie Competition 2025. Canadian Premiere.
LURKER (USA) – dir. Alex Russell
When a twenty-something retail clerk (Théodore Pellerin, NINO) encounters a rising pop star (Archie Madekwe, SALTBURN), he takes the chance to edge his manner into the in-crowd. However as the road between pal and fan blurs past recognition, entry and proximity grow to be a matter of life and loss of life. A surprising characteristic debut, directly unsettling and entertaining, tense and charming, LURKER is a superb deconstruction of fame and wish in Instagram-driven instances. Official choice: Sundance 2025, Berlin Worldwide Movie Competition 2025, New Administrators / New Movies 2025. Canadian Premiere.
NOISE (South Korea) – dir. Kim Soo-jin
After the disappearance of her youthful sister, a lady with a listening to obstacle experiences weird happenings and scary encounters when mysterious noises echo all through the constructing. With good sound design and perfectly-dosed soar scares, first time director Kim Soo-jin blends real-life anxieties with stark, supernatural components to create real stress that by no means lets go. Official choice: Sitges Movie Competition 2024, Kosmorama Trondheim Worldwide Movie Competition 2025. Canadian Premiere.
REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND (Belgium-France) – dirs. Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani
Award-winning mad geniuses of radical style storytelling, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (AMER, LET THE CORPSES TAN) have created an electrifying ode to ‘60s Euro-spy films, telling the tale of a retired agent (Italian screen legend Fabio Testi) plagued with suspicions that past enemies are finally coming for him. An astonishing act of volcanically imaginative filmmaking that stands at the very top of an unwaveringly brilliant filmography, the thriller features Yannick Renier (CARNIVORE), Koen De Bouw (DOSSIER K.), Maria de Medeiros (PULP FICTION), and the incredible dancer and choreographer Thi Mai Nguyen. Official selection: Berlin International Film Festival 2025, Tribeca Film Festival 2025. Canadian Premiere.
THE SCHOOL DUEL (USA) – dir. Todd Wiseman Jr.
In a near-future “Free State of Florida,” gun control is outlawed, and school shootings are at an all-time high. When an opportunity for notoriety arises, a tormented 13-year-old (Kue Lawrence, MARSHMALLOW) enlists in a controversial and deadly state-sponsored competition. A heartbreaking vision of the future, it co-stars Christina Brucato (THE MENU) and Oscar Nuñez (THE OFFICE). Winner of the 50th Anniversary Canal+ jury award at the 2024 Deauville Film Festival. Canadian Premiere.
THE SERPENT’S SKIN (Australia) – dir. Alice Maio Mackay
Fantasia alumni Alice Maio Mackay (T-BLOCKERS, CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS) returns to the competition along with her sixth characteristic THE SERPENT’S SKIN, a supernatural romance that follows Anna, a younger lady who leaves her transphobic small-town, and develops a romance with a tattoo artist who she shares a supernatural connection. After unintentionally unleashing a demon, they need to work collectively to defeat the evil that’s killing their mates. A colourful however tender exploration of affection, gender id, and private progress. Official choice: Frameline Movie Competition 2025. Underground Part. Canadian Premiere.
TOGETHER (USA) – dir. Michael Shanks
Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie) discover themselves at a crossroads as they transfer to the nation, abandoning all that’s acquainted of their lives besides one another. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural power threatens to deprave their lives, their love, and their flesh. A sensible, stunning marriage of physique horror and troubled-relationship examine. Official choice: Sundance 2025, SXSW 2025. Canadian Premiere.
TRANSCENDING DIMENSIONS (Japan) – dir. Toshiaki Toyoda
A nihilistic hitman in quest of a lacking monk confronts a sadistic sorcerer on this potent mix of movie noir, sci-fi, supernatural fight, deadpan comedy, and existential weirdness. A gleefully offbeat brain-twister peppered with mysticism and mayhem from the director of BLUE SPRING and 9 SOULS. Official choice: Rotterdam Worldwide Movie Competition 2025, Golden Horse Implausible Movie Competition 2025 Canadian Premiere.
THE WAILING (Spain) – dir. Pedro Martín-Calero
A number of generations of ladies, separated by time and area, are stalked by the identical terrifying curse. One of many scariest movies of the final yr, vibrantly advised in a multi-chapter construction, happening in Spain and Argentina throughout intervals a long time aside, showcasing a trio of putting lead performances from Ester Expósito (VENUS), Mathilde Ollivier (OVERLORD), and Malena Villa (EL ANGEL). Official Choice: San Sebastián Worldwide Movie Competition 2024, BFI London 2024, Hong Kong Worldwide Movie Competition 2025. Canadian Premiere.
The twenty ninth version of the Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition is being offered by MELS, in collaboration with Concordia College. The competition was made potential by the monetary assist of Telefilm Canada, the Société́ de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), the Ministère du Tourisme, the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation, town of Montreal, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Tourisme Montréal, and the Administrators Guild of Canada (DGC). The competition sends out a due to all of its personal companions, mates of the occasion, in addition to official suppliers, venues, and all taking part filmmakers, gross sales brokers, and distributors for his or her invaluable assist.
Will you be attending the twenty ninth version of the Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition? What do you consider the second wave of titles? Tell us by leaving a remark beneath.
