The Becomers Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition broadcasts right this moment a second wave of titles to display screen on the competition’s forthcoming twenty seventh version, which can happen in Montreal from July 20 by means of August 9. Screenings, workshops and launch occasions shall be hosted on the Concordia Corridor Cinema, with extra screenings positioned on the Cinémathèque Québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.
A first wave of programming for the competition was introduced final month, and the total Fantasia 2023 lineup shall be introduced in early July. Till then, learn the total checklist of second wave titles under or on Fantasia’s official website.
Crimson Rooms
Coming to christen Fantasia’s 27th version days after its Karlovy-Fluctuate competitors debut, Crimson Rooms (Les chambres rouges) is the haunting third characteristic from celebrated Quebec filmmaker Pascal Plante (Faux Tattoos, Nadia, Butterfly). The high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Stanleyville) has simply gone to trial, and Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy, Enhance) is obsessed. When actuality blurs together with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a darkish path to hunt the ultimate piece of the case’s puzzle. Opening Movie. North American Premiere.
Sympathy for the Satan
Award-winning director Yuval Adler (Bethlehem) reunites with Joel Kinnaman following 2020’s The Secrets and techniques We Maintain and brings Nicolas Cage on board to ship one of the vital intense performances of his profession in Sympathy for the Satan. After being pressured to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a person finds himself in a high-stakes recreation of cat and mouse the place nothing is because it appears. This riveting crime thriller will depart you breathless. Worldwide Premiere.
Speak To Me
When a gaggle of mates uncover tips on how to conjure spirits utilizing an embalmed hand, they grow to be hooked on the brand new thrill, till one in all them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. An astonishing characteristic debut from Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, Speak To Me is an exhilarating curler coaster that balances imaginative scares with emotionally nuanced characters and an ingeniously authentic idea. It grew to become an prompt basic from the second of its lauded Sundance premiere, and Fantasia couldn’t be prouder to host the movie’s nationwide debut. Stars Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen and Miranda Otto. Canadian Premiere.
Keep On-line
An pressing Ukrainian screenlife movie that can have your coronary heart in your throat, shot towards the precise Russian invasion, Keep On-line is the gripping characteristic debut from Eva Strelnikova. Katya (Liza Zaitseva), a volunteer from Kyiv combating towards the invasion of Ukraine, makes use of a laptop computer donated to the resistance and comes into contact with the younger son of the pc’s authentic proprietor, who’s desperately in quest of his lacking dad and mom. Her makes an attempt to assist the kid will see her danger all she holds expensive. Being the competition the place screenlife storytelling was first launched to audiences with Unfriended in 2014, Fantasia is particularly proud to be World Premiering this landmark movie, an intimately human thriller about battle, made in battle. World Premiere.
Kurayukaba
Equal elements loopy cartoon caper, shadowy movie noir, nostalgic escapade, and steampunk fantasy, Kurayukaba is a retro-flavoured anime reimagining of the freewheeling Taisho period, Japan’s equal of the Roaring Twenties. It’s the long-awaited private challenge of director Shigeyoshi Tsukahara, whose resume consists of stage design for adventurous pop-rock superstars Sekai no Owari. Preceded by a pair of uncommon quick movies by Tsukahara, Fantasia’s world premiere of Kurayukaba is an opportunity to find a particular rising expertise within the anime area. Axis Part. World Premiere.
The Becomers
Again to Fantasia for the primary time because the 2016 premiere of LITTLE SISTER, director Zach Clark goes extraterrestrial together with his newest, The Becomers. A romantic story of two body-swapping aliens looking for their place on this huge, dumb planet, The Becomers combines lo-fi aesthetics with Clark’s signature sharp, sardonic comedian skills. An off-kilter darkish comedy navigating the unusual and infrequently off-putting modern American panorama, at its coronary heart The Becomers stands out as one of many nice love tales of our age. World Premiere.
Romi
In Romi, AI takes management when a younger girl hides out in a state-of-the-art good dwelling whereas evading the legislation. As her actuality unravels, she discovers she’s not the one one with secrets and techniques. Director Robert Cuffley first explored the horrors of AI in his 2019 in need of the identical identify and now he’s expanded the phobia to a feature-length movie. Starring Alexa Barajas (Yellowjackets), Juan Riedinger (Extra Flesh, Riceboy Sleeps), Pavel Kríz (Mission Unattainable – Ghost Protocol) and Jocelyn Chugg because the omniscient ROMI, this protected home is something however! Septentrion Shadows part. World Premiere.
Irlande Cahier Bleu
An anachronistic firefighter, a quotidian poet, and an knowledgeable soup-maker, Ducarmel (Emery Habwineza) additionally performs in a aggressive basketball league. There’s just one downside together with his hobbies: discovering a babysitter to take care of his daughter. Furthermore, when he dozes off within the night, he desires… a bit of too forcefully. In his weird dream world, a beguiling blue guide reigns, love looms, and he’s one of the best basketball participant of all time. Shot on magnificent, hazy 16mm movie, Irlande Cahier Bleu is the newest from Québec cinema’s iconoclastic Olivier Godin – providing a novel style imaginative and prescient that alternates between desires and actuality, poetry and canny comedy. Digicam Lucida part. World Premiere.
The Primevals
Fantasia’s world premiere of The Primevals represents the end result of a longtime dream harboured by visible results wizard David Allen, whose profession stretched from 1970’s Equinox by means of Oscar-nominated work on Younger Sherlock Holmes, Willow and past. Allen first conceived The Primevals as a automobile for his stop-motion skills within the Nineteen Seventies and at last started directing the movie within the Nineteen Nineties underneath producer and Full Moon Options Founder Charles Band, for whom he’d introduced all method of beasties to life. Sadly, the movie’s completion was scuttled by Allen’s demise from most cancers in 1999 at simply 54 years outdated. For the final a few years, Band and longtime Allen affiliate Chris Endicott (The Avengers: Infinity Warfare) have labored to see the movie to completion, and it emerges at Fantasia as an excellent tribute to the basic movies of Ray Harryhausen, with a real sense of journey and eye-popping stop-motion animation. Particular-effects followers won’t wish to miss this. World Premiere.
Insomniacs After College
Nakami (Daiken Okudaira), an introverted younger loner, takes refuge within the largely deserted observatory at Kuyo Excessive College, the place he meets Magari (Nana Mori), an enigmatic and spontaneous pupil. Each affected by continual insomnia, they resolve to revive the varsity’s astronomy membership. Insomniacs After College, an impressive adaptation of Makoto Ojiro’s common manga masterfully directed by filmmaker Chihiro Ikeda, is a delicate immersion into the Japanese college lifetime of a pair of endearing misfits. The luminous, transferring story, portrayed with aplomb by two extraordinarily gifted actors, will stick with you lengthy after viewing this exquisitely delicate work. Worldwide Premiere.
Vincent Should Die
Random strangers have abruptly began attacking the in any other case unremarkable Vincent (Karim Leklou) with murderous intent. As issues spiral violently uncontrolled, he’s pressured to flee and alter his life utterly. Coming to Fantasia scorching off its acclaimed Cannes Critics Week debut, Stéphan Castang’s phenomenal Vincent Should Die (Vincent doit mourir) is a high-energy kaleidoscope of genres – without delay a horror, comedy, romance, fantasy and thriller – all working collectively. This can be a considerate, pure-cinema expertise to be savoured and reckoned with. North American Premiere.
River
Mikoto (Riko Fujitani) works as a waitress on the Fujiya Inn, in a wintry valley city close to Kyoto. As she stares momentarily into the river close by – a blink, a lifetime – one thing feels off: the inn is looping… two minutes at a time! Micro-budget time journey maestro Junta Yamaguchi (Past the Infinite Two Minutes) is again, providing a savvy replace to his progressive “tiny loop” idea. RIVER culminates right into a multifaceted portrait of place as the varied friends, staff and hosts band collectively to resolve the thriller of the valley caught in time. North American Premiere.
Pett Kata Shaw
Bangladeshi folklore is rife with ghosts and unforgiving spirits, all deeply linked to its individuals’s collective historical past of injustice and societal dread. Pett Kata Shaw, an anthology impressed by oral legends from Bangladesh, is written and directed by Nuhash Humayun, the breakout star of Bangladeshi horror cinema. Winner of the Midnight Shorts Competitors at SXSW in addition to a Gold Viewers Award at Fantasia 2022, his quick movie Moshari is the primary Bangladeshi manufacturing ever to qualify for an Academy Award, catching the eye of Jordan Peele and Riz Ahmed. Reinvented in a up to date setting, the spine-chilling tales of Pett Kata Shaw don’t shrink back from points similar to psychological well being, faith, local weather change, and gender roles. North American Premiere.
Restore Level
2041. Individuals have a constitutional proper to expertise one full life. If somebody dies an unnatural demise, they’re revived. All that’s wanted is to repeatedly create a restore level – a backup the place one’s reminiscence is saved like a pc. Homicide is almost unattainable. Practically. A detective (Andrea Mohylová) makes an attempt to resolve the violent killing of a pair after solely one of many victims (Václav Neužil, Zatopek) is introduced again to life. The primary Czech science-fiction characteristic in over 40 years, Robert Hloz’s Restore Level is a provocative and visually luxurious neo-Noir creation that’s already being likened to Minority Report. Official Choice: Karlovy-Fluctuate 2023. North American Premiere.
Killing Romance
A disgraced star (Lee Ha-nee, Phantom) and her bumbling pupil neighbour who can speak to animals (Gong Myoung, Excessive Job) resolve to get rid of her terrible husband (Lee Solar-kyun, Parasite), however one of the best laid plans of the unlikely duo are doubtful at finest. Director Lee Received-suk, who received an Viewers Award at Fantasia 2013 for Tips on how to Use Guys with Secret Suggestions, delivers his finest characteristic to this point with this madcap musical comedy. Imaginative, hilarious, and visually luxurious, this movie conjures up very good tableaus that borrow as a lot from comedian strips as from Hollywood classics. Canadian Premiere.
T Blockers
Although simply eighteen years outdated, Alice Maio Mackay (So Vam) is a fearless inheritor to the Queer Horror Canon. T Blockers, her third characteristic, is an unapologetically trans homage to Invasion of the Physique Snatchers brimming with youthful power and a punk perspective. Equal elements gross-out comedian horror and heartwarming coming of age, T Blockers is a couple of younger trans filmmaker obsessive about a thought-to-be long-lost movie and the unfold of a violent infectious parasite. Mackay channels Gregg Araki and John Waters on this playful and defiant sci-fi horror. Canadian Premiere.
Appropriate Flesh
A psychiatrist falls right into a downward spiral of intercourse, possession, and demise when a younger affected person reveals up at her door with signs which might be of one other world. Heather Graham and Judah Lewis star in Joe Lynch’s loving tribute to the late Stuart Gordon that reunites actress Barbara Crampton, Screenwriter Denis Paoli, and Government Producer Brian Yuzna to forge a macabre supernatural erotic horror movie straight from the depths of the abyss. Tailored from H.P. Lovecraft’s The Factor on the Doorstep. Official Choice: Tribeca Movie Competition 2023. Canadian Premiere.
The First Slam Dunk
Basketball has at all times given Ryota and his teammates a way of goal, they usually’ll do no matter it takes to win the championship, in The First Slam Dunk, the primary new feature-length movie from the globally cherished franchise in 33 years. An extremely dynamic, electrifying underdog story loaded with inspiring moments, it’s the newest entry to Takehiko Inoue’s iconic franchise that’s had a huge effect in Japan. Written and directed by Inoue himself, making his directorial debut, his love for basketball is clear from begin to end by means of the beautiful mixture of CG and hand-drawn animation. The First Slam Dunk not solely made historical past on the Japanese field workplace as one of many High 10 highest-grossing anime movies of all time but in addition received the Japan Academy Movie Prize for Finest Animation of the Yr. Axis Part. Canadian Premiere
ADDITIONAL SECOND WAVE TITLES:
#Manhole (Japan) – Dir. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
Profitable salesman Shunsuke falls right into a concrete manhole with no approach out on this intelligent, gory nailbiter. A story with extra twists than a corkscrew manufacturing unit, and a chic stability of black humour, social satire, and nerve-wracking rigidity. Official Choice: Berlinale 2023. Canadian Premiere.
As Lengthy As We Each Shall Dwell (Japan) – Dir. Ayuko Tsukahara
Set in a fantastical model of nineteenth century Japan, this romantic epic follows a tortured younger girl who, after being married off to a ruthless navy commander, nonetheless hopes for a greater future. Tailored from a well-liked gentle novel collection by Akumi Agitogi. Quebec Premiere.
Deep Sea (China) – Dir. Tian Xiaopeng
The ocean’s depths are alive with desires and nightmares within the emotionally brave fantasy from director Tian Xiaopeng (MONKEY KING: HERO IS BACK). Utilizing a cutting-edge digital particle-animation approach to emulate conventional ink-wash portray, Tian has created a visible spectacle of unprecedented richness, which shall be screened, because it deserves, in 3D. Axis part. Canadian Premiere
Divinity (USA) – Dir. Eddie Alcazar
In a barren future wasteland, two cosmic brothers abduct a mad pharmaceutical mogul on a quest for immortality. A face-meltingly stylized sci-fi thoughts journey produced by Steven Soderbergh, starring Scott Bakula, Stephen Dorff and Bella Thorne. Official Choice: Sundance 2023. Canadian Premiere.
In My Mom’s Pores and skin (Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan) – Dir. Kenneth Dagatan
Within the remaining, dire days of the Second World Warfare, the younger Tala discovers one thing otherworldly within the woods. A Filipino folk-horror fairy story set in a time of perfidy, dread, and desolation. Official Choice: Sundance 2023. Canadian Premiere.
Journey to the West (China) – Dir. Kong Dashan
Tang Zhijun, the middle-aged, down-and-out editor-in-chief of a science fiction journal, embarks on a remaining journey to search out aliens. A office mockumentary tour-de-force! Digicam Lucida part. Canadian Premiere.
Late Night time with the Satan (Australia) – Dirs: Colin and Cameron Cairnes
A career-best efficiency by David Dastmalchian headlines this progressive and nightmarish horror deal with through which a reside tv broadcast in 1977 goes horribly flawed, unleashing evil into the nation’s dwelling rooms. Precisely hailed by Stephen King as “completely good”. Official Choice: SXSW 2023. Overlook 2023. Canadian Premiere.
Mad Destiny (Hong Kong) – Dir. Soi Cheang
A demented fortune teller and a “born psychopath” attempt to beat destiny and clear up a homicide on this madcap supernatural neo-noir, produced by Johnnie To’s Milkyway Picture. Opening Movie: Hong Kong Worldwide Movie Competition. Official choice: Berlinale 2023. Canadian Premiere.
Mami Wata (Nigeria, France, UK) – Dir. C.J. Obasi.
An historic water deity reigns over progress and energy on this beautiful and expressionistic African saga. Particular Jury Prize, World Cinema Dramatic Competitors, Sundance 2023. Digicam Lucida part. Canadian Premiere.
MARRY MY DEAD BODY (Taiwan) – Dir. Cheng Wei-Hao
Ghost tales, gangsters, and homosexual satisfaction collide on this three-way of supernatural goosebumps, high-octane thrills and odd-couple comedy. Official choice Taipei Golden Horse 2022. Canadian Premiere.
Molli and Max within the Future (USA) – Dir: Michael Lukk Litwak
Zosia Mamet and Aristotle Athari attraction on this wildly endearing sci-fi romantic comedy a couple of man and girl whose orbits repeatedly collide over the course of 12 years, 4 planets, 3 dimensions, and one space-cult. Winner: Finest Characteristic, Fantaspoa Worldwide Movie Competition 2023 Canadian Premiere.
My Animal (Canada) – Dir: Jacqueline Castel
First pitched on the Frontieres Market in 2019, this transformative queer horror drama flips the script of Ginger Snaps, giving the slow-burn lycanthropic love story at its core some severe chunk. Stars Bobbie Salvör Menuez and Amandla Stenberg, with Stephen. McHattie, Scott MacDonald and Heidi von Palleske topping off Castel’s beautiful characteristic debut about younger lovers and an accursed household legacy. Official Choice: Sundance 2023. Septentrion Shadows part. Canadian Premiere.
Perpetrator (USA) – Dir: Jennifer Reeder
Kiah McKirnan, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Lowell and Ireon Roach star in a poetic and hyper-original style creation of the sort that solely Jennifer Reeder might make. At its core, it’s a horror movie impressed by the shared expertise of generations of girls. Official Choice: Berlinale 2023, Tribeca Movie Competition 2023. Canadian Premiere.
Shin Kamen Rider (Japan) – Dir. Hideaki Anno
The masked, motorcycle-riding darkish superhero Kamen Rider embarks on a rampage of destruction to cease an evil organisation, in Hideaki Anno’s newest tokusatsu reimagining, this time of the enormously common superhero franchise. Particular Screening.
With Love and Main Organ (Canada) – Dir: Kim Albright
In a world the place our hearts are detachable objects and we’re dominated by an app, it’s tough to search out genuine love. Anabel refuses to reside by way of tech and falls for the impassive George, impulsively ripping her coronary heart out for him and turning her world the wrong way up. This darkly humorous fantasy with quirky attraction stars Anna Maguire (Violation), Hamza Haq (Transplant) and Veena Sood (Youngsters Damage All the things). Official Choice: SXSW 2023. Septentrion Shadows part. Canadian Premiere
Particular Dwell-Learn Ebook Launch Occasion Haunted Reels
We’re very excited to announce a star-studded guide launch occasion for Darkish Matter Presents: Haunted Reels, a brand new style fiction anthology curated by producer and co-founder of Rustic Movies, David Lawson Jr., and revealed by Darkish Matter INK. This unbelievable anthology consists of twenty-eight tales that span style, together with science fiction, horror, alternate historical past, and new bizarre; and each story is written by a style filmmaker, lots of whom you’ll acknowledge.
Fantasia shall be presenting a live-read by the authors in attendance, together with Jay Baruchel, C. Robert Cargill, Gary Sherman, Sarah Bolger, The Pierce Brothers, Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, and extra!
Books shall be accessible for buy and signing on the occasion, courtesy of Darkish Matter
