Fantasia unveils full line-up

Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 18th edition, which takes place in Montreal from July 17-Aug 6.

Along with those previously announced in the first two waves, this year’s festival will also host the world premieres of Gun Ho Jang’s Heavenly Sword, Simon Boisvert’s Bold & Brash: Filmmaking Boisvert Style, Nick Szostakiwskyj’s Black Mountain Side, Maude Michaud’s Dys-, Chad Archibald & Matt Wiele’s Ejecta and LeRoy McCoy’s McCoy the Space Cowboy.

As previously announced, Jacky in the Kingdom of Women and Welcome to New York bookend this year’s festival.

Strands

Jonas Alexander Amby’s Cannes title When Animals Dream will receive its North American premiere as part of the festival’s Camera Lucida strand, which will also screen the likes of Josephine Decker’s Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and the North American premiere of Lee Ju-hyoung’s Red Family.

This year also sees the return of Fantasia’s animation strand Axis with North American premieres of Shinji Aramaki’s Appleseed Alpha, Ryotaro Makihara’s Hal and Chang Hyung-yun’s The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow among the titles playing in the section.

Fantasia’s six-strong documentary strand will feature the Quebec premiere of Jennifer M. Kroot & Bill Weber’s To Be Takei, about the cultural icon George Takei.

Other notable titles playing at this year’s festival include Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow: Red Vs Dead, Riley Stearns’ Faults, Benjamin Rocher & Thierry Poiraud’s Goal of the Dead, Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno, Leigh Janiak’s Honeymoon, Christopher Denham’s Preservation, Hideaki Takeuchi’s Thermae Romae II, Bradley King’s Time Lapse, Lowell Dean’s WolfCop and Jordan Rubin’s Zombeavers.

Guests

Fantasia will welcome more than 400 film industry professionals to this year’s festival, with over 75 directors, producers or actors coming to premiere their films.

Guests (and their films) at this year’s Fantasia include:

• Master Animator Bill Plympton, Cheatin’
• Eli Roth and actress Lorenza Izzo, The Green Inferno
• Cult actress Asami and director Kurando Mitsutake, Gun Woman
• Director John McNaughton, The Harvest
• Korean film-maker Jang Joon-hwan, Hwayi: A Monster Boy
• Co-director and writer David Zellner and producer Chris Ohlson, Kumiko: The Vampire Hunter
• Actress Aubrey Plaza, actor Matthew Gray Gubler and director/writer Jeff Baena, Life After Beth
• Film-maker Noboru Iguchi, Live and Gothic Lolita Battle Bear
• Actor Ray Wise and director Richard Bates Jr., Suburban Gothic
• Josephine Decker, Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Butter on the Latch
• Abel Ferrera, Welcome to New York
• Director Siti Kamaluddin and action director Chan Man Ching, Yasmine

As previously announced, Tobe Hooper and Mamoru Oshii will both receive Lifetime Achievement Awards at this year’s festival.

Industry Rendez-Vous

For the third consecutive year, Fantasia will hold their Industry Rendez-Vous from July 24-27.

The 2014 edition will attract 280 participants, hosting 128 producers, 26 distribution companies (including The Weinstein Company and eOne) and 27 international sales agents (including Celluoid Dreams and XYZ Films).

As previously announced, 24 film projects in development will take place in the Frontières International Co-Production Market, the principal activity of the Rendez-Vous.

A series of conferences have also been organised on subjects such as shooting in Quebec and crowdfunding, while Frontières also offers a consultancy service with professionals in independent production, among other things, available free of charge to market participants.

Book launches

This year’s festival will also be launching two books, starting with Spectacular Optical’s first anthology book Kid Power! on July 20. This launch will be accompanied by a rare 35mm screening of Jack Clayton’s Something Wicked This Way Comes.

On Aug 2, Fantasia will launch legendary Quebec producer John Dunning’s posthumous autobiography You’re Not Dead Until You’re Forgotten: A Memoir, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. The launch will be accompanied by a 35mm screening of Jean Beaudin’s Le Diable Est Parmi Nous.

For more information and the full line-up, visit Fantasia’s official website.