Fantasia Announces The Second Epic Wave Of Their 2024 Lineup
Coming this July is the 28th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival! Running from July 18 to August 4, 2024, Fantasia is bringing Montreal the best in genre filmmaking. They previously announced their first wave of films, including the world premiere of Shelby Oaks, and now they’ve unleashed the second wave, as well as the recipient of their 2024 Candian Trailblazer award. This year, the festival is honoring Vincenzo Natali, who directed the cult classic Cube and ushered in a new era of national genre filmmaking.
Check out the second wave of Fantasia programming below!
Bookworm, dir. Ant Timpson
World Premiere
Mildred (Nell 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 (Elijah 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 the outdoorsy type, this ultimate test in family bonding leads the duo on a string of increasingly absurd and treacherous adventures.
Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom In The Rain, dir. Kenji Nakamura
World Premiere
Director Kenji Nakamura has revived the intricate palace intrigue and hallucinatory supernatural thrills of his signature work with a brand-new feature film, his most elaborate and opulent adventure yet, and it makes its grand debut at Fantasia.
The Beast Within, dir. Alexander J. Farrel
World Premiere
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 (Kitt Harington) turns into a monster.
The Count of Monte-Cristo, dir. Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte
International Premiere
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. This new film adaptation subtly reappropriates that influence, hinting at the tropes and trappings of the modern superhero film while retaining the classicism of the work through grandiose art direction.
Párvulos, dir. Isaac Ezban
World Premiere
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.
Scared Shitless!, dir. Vivieno Caldinelli
World Premiere
Steven Ogg (AMC’s The Walking Dead) and Daniel Doheny (Netflix’s Brand New Cherry Flavor) star as a father and son plumbing duo faced with a disgusting dilemma: rid a building of a toilet-dwelling creature before it unleashes itself on the rest of the world!
Mantra Warrior: The Legend Of The Eight Moons, dir. Veerapatra Jinanavin
North American Premiere
Following last summer’s Fantasia screening of the restored anime version of the Ramayana, it’s now Thailand’s turn to impress and amaze with an animated reimagining of this mighty, ancient mythological epic. Director Veerapatra Jinanavin and the team at Bangkok-based Riff Studio not only bring a Thai aesthetic to the titanic tale of Ram, Sita, Hanuman, and their foes, they’ve rebooted it as a cyberpunk space opera punctuated with powerhouse mecha battles.
Haze, dir. Matthew Fifer
International Premiere
A young journalist (Cole Doman, Mutt) returns home to investigate unsolved deaths at a psychiatric center. As he dances with the shadows of his past, his family history and the town’s secrets begin to converge.
The Soul Eater, dir. Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo
North American Premiere
As violent and gruesome deaths plague a small mountain village, an old legend about a malevolent creature resurfaces. Two cops with different methods are compelled to join forces and uncover a sinister plot involving the disappearance of local children.
The Old Man And The Demon Sword, dir. Fábio Powers
World Premiere
In the remote Portuguese mountain village of Pé da Serra, a monk arrives wielding a demonic sword. Before long, the mystical weapon ends up in the hands of the town drunk António da Luz (playing himself). Now, the drunkard and the sword will have to learn to fight an encroaching evil together.
Me And My Victim, dir. Maurane and Billy Pedlow
World Premiere
Blurring the line between fiction and nonfiction, Me And My Victim is about co-directors and subjects, Maurane and Billy Pedlow, who are not quite friends and not quite lovers and the true, messy, and kind-of-fucked-up story about how they met. A messy, whirlwind, imperfect, orgasmic, meme-inflected, jump into the rabbit hole of their on-again, off-again situationship, their ultra-micro-budget (the film was made for less than $1000 US) confession playfully captures the humanity of love and lust in the 21st Century.
Animalia Paradoxa, dir. Niles Atalah
North American Premiere
An amphibious humanoid searches for water in a labyrinthine, post-apocalyptic landscape. A hybrid of styles and techniques, this surreal journey combines live action, dance, sculpture, and stop-motion animation in a dreamlike structure, reimagining the end of the world like you’ve never seen.
Additional Second Wave Titles For Fantasia 2024
100 Yards (China), dirs. Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng
Family secrets, demimonde politics, and romantic entanglements complicate the rivalry between two skilled martial artists in the 1920s. The latest from masterful genre auteur Xu Haofeng (THE SWORD IDENTITY, THE FINAL MASTER), co-directed by his own brother, once again reconciles authenticity and inventiveness, and rewards its attentive audience a hundred times over.
Azrael (USA), dir. E.L Katz
In a post-apocalyptic world, Azrael (Samara Weaving, READY OR NOT) must fight tooth and nail to rescue her partner from a cult of mute religious fanatics in the year’s most vicious tale of revenge.
Brave Citizen (South Korea), dir. Park Jin-pyo
A former boxer, now a part-time teacher, dons a mask and deals with high school bullying the hard way. Based on the popular webtoon, Brave Citizen is a stylishly entertaining Korean action flick from the director of Voice Of A Murderer and You Are My Sunshine, with great characters and intense fight scenes.
Brush Of The God (Japan), dir. Keizo Murase
Two teens must save the world from a many-headed, mythological dragon in this generously self-referential giant-monster movie from 88-year-old master tokusatsu artisan Keizo Murase, who makes his directorial debut following a lifetime crafting monster suits for all of Japan’s best-known kaiju films.
Carnage For Christmas (Australia), dir. Alice Maio Mackay
Alice Maio Mackay 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!
Darkest Miriam (Canada), dir. Naomi Jaye
Following her debut feature The Pin, Naomi Jaye now adapts the Giller Prize short-listed novel The Incident Report by author Martha Baillie as Darkest Miriam. In it, Miriam (Britt Lower of AppleTV’s Severance) is a library worker dealing with her father’s death, threatening letters at work, and an unexpected lover, all of which threaten to change her solitary life forever.
Don’t Call It Mystery (Japan), dir. Hiroaki Matsuyama
In this compelling whodunit adapted from a popular, award-winning manga and subsequent hit TV series, college student Totonou, known for his sharp observation skills, becomes entangled in a complicated family feud involving mysterious deaths.
FAQ (South Korea), dir. Kim Da-min
A stressed-out elementary school student secretly befriends a bottle of rice wine that can communicate through Morse Code. Director Kim Da-min’s debut feature is a heartwarming sci-fi/coming-of-age story guaranteed to make you smile.
Kryptic (Canada, U.K.), dir. Kourtney Roy
Kourtney Roy’s debut feature Kryptic follows Kay (Chloe Pirrie), a woman on a mysterious quest. A strange forest encounter leads her to search for a missing cryptozoologist—who bears a striking resemblance to Kay—and the monster she is hunting. Kryptic is a doppelganger story of self-discovery and empowerment, and a must-see for audiences wanting a colorful spectacle that defies genre with strange, gooey interludes and atmospheric landscapes.
The Missing (Philippines), dir. Carl Joseph Papa
The death of Eric’s uncle triggers a suppressed childhood memory—and the return of his alien abductor—in director Carl Joseph Papa’s third animated feature: a queer, surreal hybrid of romance, drama, and sci-fi embracing digital rotoscope animation and featuring internationally renowned Filipino actress Dolly De Leon.
Not Friends (Thailand), dir. Atta Hemwadee
Hoping to win a short film competition, Pae decides to direct a tear-jerking tribute to former classmate Joe, who tragically passed away, even though they weren’t actually friends.
Oddity (Ireland), dir. Damian McCarthy
A blind medium (Carolyn Bracken, You Are Not My Mother) uncovers the truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin.
Wake Up (Canada / France), dirs. François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell
This tense, gore-soaked new shocker from homegrown Fantasia favorites RKSS (Turbo Kid, Summer of ’84) pits a gang of Gen Z activists against a hulking security guard murderously protecting the big-box store they’ve invaded after hours.
Yin Yang Master Zero (Japan), dir. Shimako Sato
A wily apprentice sorcerer and his dim but good-hearted best friend confront dark forces in Heian-era Japan. Handled with panache by writer-director Shimako Sato, the popular historical fantasy franchise returns to the big screen.
Fantasia’s full 2024 lineup will be announced on July 3, 2024. Ticket sales will commence shortly afterward.
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