We’re just 14 days away from Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival and its first-ever virtual edition. With the Third Wave announced, the festival also presents a lifetime achievement award to filmmaker John Carpenter. By a lucky coincidence, we did an entire run of our favorite film classics of the legendary director in our Late Movie Night feature. You can read Fantasia’s official Third Wave press release here. The full list of movies has now been release. So, what do we get?
The Legend of Baron To’a will close the 24th edition of Fantasia. Coming from New Zealand’s filmmaker Kiel McNaughton, the movie stars Uli Latukefu. It’s an English-Tongan feature of comedy and a lot more. With a lot of martial arts fights and some pro wrestling inspiration, this might just be the perfect ticket to close the show.
Hunted is the tale as old as time of a man who chases a woman as a predator and prey. Unwanted advances get a bold remake in which fairy tales roles are reinvented, courtesy of filmmaker Vincent Paronnaud. Described as “a thrilling, humanistic tale that’s as animalistic as it is mystifying”, this feature makes its world premiere at Fantasia.
Chasing Dream is director Johnny To’s return to the festival since Three back in 2016. We loved that one then, we can’t wait to see what he does with this one. Mixed martial arts, life or death stakes and a musical comedy blended in one film filled with crazy energy. This one should fit right in with all the Fantasia Classics!
Perdida is a remake, but in recent years I’ve seen some that were worth its second incarnation. I’m willing to give Mexican filmmaker Jorge Michel Grau the benefit of the doubt with this stylish thriller full of surprises and contemporary architecture highlights. Stars José María de Tavira, Paulina Dávila, and Cristina Rodlo.
Marygoround is the dark, brave, sexual comedy of Polish director Daria Woszek. Mary (Grazyna Misiorowska) is on hormone therapy as she is nearing fifty, but with the arrival of her niece she’s actually awakening herself to a voyage of self discovery. Where it leads, you only know if you follow.
The Paper Tigers is a film about martial arts, but it’s also a film about what life can bring about in old age as well as friendship. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of ass-kicking to go around. Writer/director Bao Tran tries to encompass the philosophies of martial arts as well as deliver an avenging tale of Kung Fu.
Anything for Jackson is Ontario filmmaker Just G. Dyck’s latest offering. Two elderly Satanists, played by Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings, star in this “clever, funny and delightfully mean-spirited horror tale”. The things we do in the name of love. With a story that escalates from “funny, nasty and progressively more intense”, this world premiere sounds right up Fantasia’s alley.
There’s of course a lot more films now scheduled for the Fantasia International Film Festival as starts its 24th edition. Don’t expect to grab a ticket just because it’s virtual, these will still run out. You can read more on the Third Wave announcements here.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 