Fantasia unveils first titles

Riad Sattouf’s Jacky in the Kingdom of Women will receive its Canadian premiere as the opening film of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Montreal-based genre festival runs July 17-Aug 5 and has also announced it will hold a special screening of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Other first wave announcements include six world premieres: Leo Gabriadze’s Cybernatural; Jean Luc Herbulot’s Dealer; Aik Karapetian’s The Man in the Orange Jacket; Sarah Adina Smith’s The Midnight Swim; Dan Bush’s The Reconstruction of William Zero; and Richard Bates Jr’s Suburban Gothic.

Fantasia has also announced six international premieres, including John McNaughton’s The Harvest and Park Jae-hyun’s The Huntresses, and ten Canadian premieres such as The Mo Brothers’ Killers and Mike Cahill’s I Origins.

Richard Linklater’s critically acclaimed Boyhood will launch the fifth edition of the festival’s Camera Lucida section.

Japanese director Mamoru Oshii will be presented with the festival’s lifetime achievement award on the opening night, followed by a screening of the new HD master of Ghost in the Shell.

This year’s poster has been designed by award-winning Quebec illustrator Donald Caron, and pays tribute to Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury and Forrest J. Ackerman.

The full line-up of screenings and events for this year’s Fantasia will be announced on July 10.

First wave in full

Among the Living (France) CP
Dirs: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury

Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (US) IP
Dirs: Kevin Finn, James D. Rolfe

Boyhood (US) QP
Dir: Richard Linklater

Bros Before Hos (Netherlands) IP
Dirs: Steffen Haars, Flip Van der Kuil

Cybernatural (US) WP
Dir: Leo Gabriadze

Crows Explode (Japan) NAP
Dir: Toshiaki Toyoda

Dealer (France) WP
Dir: Jean Luc Herbulot

Ghost in the Shell (Japan)
Dir: Mamoru Oshii

Giovanni’s Island (Japan) CP
Dir: Mizuho Nishikubo

Guardians of the Galaxy (US)
Dir: James Gunn

The Harvest (US) IP
Dir: John McNaughton

Han Gong-ju (South Korea) CP
Dir: Lee Su-jin

The Huntresses (South Korea) IP
Dir: Park Jae-hyun

I Origins (US) CP
Dir: Mike Cahill

Into the Storm (US) QP
Dir: Steven Quayle

Jacky in the Kingdom of Women (France) CP
Dir: Riad Sattouf

Killers (Indonesia/Japan) CP
Dir: The Mo Brothers

Kite (US/Mexico) IP
Dir: Ralph Ziman

Live (Japan) NAP
Dir: Noboru Iguchi

The Man in the Orange Jacket (Latvia) WP
Dir: Aik Karapetian

The Midnight Swim (US) WP
Dir: Sarah Adina Smith

Miss Granny (South Korea) CP
Dir: Hwang Dong-hyeuk

Monsterz (Japan) CP
Dir: Hideo Nakata

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (Hong Kong) CP
Dir: Wong Ching-Po

Predestination (Australia) CP
Dirs:  Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig

Puzzle (Japan) NAP
Dir: Eisuke Naito

The Reconstruction of William Zero (US) WP
Dir: Dan Bush

The Run (Malaysia) IP
Dir: Ahmad Idham

Suburban Gothic (US) WP
Dir: Richard Bates Jr

The Search for Weng Weng (Australia/Philippines) NAP
Dir: Andrew Leavold

Sweet Poolside (Japan) NAP
Dir: Daigo Matsui

The White Storm (Hong Kong) CP
Dir: Benny Chan

Yasmine (Brunei) NAP
Dir: Siti Kamaluddin

WP – World Premiere

IP – International Premiere

NAP – North American Premiere

CP – Canadian Premiere

QP – Quebec Premiere