From the press release:
Following last week’s first wave of programming announcements, the Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to unveil several additional highlights, before their July 9th Press Conference, where they’ll be unveiling the full 120+ film lineup!
Official Opening Night Film – Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw
(North American Premiere)
Hot off its screening in official completion at the Cannes Film Festival, Takashi Miike’s riveting crime thriller Shield of Straw will be kicking off Fantasia’s 2013 edition with its first screening on the North American continent. Shield of Straw stars Takao Osawa, Nanako Matsushima, and Tatsuya Fujiwara. Fantasia’s 1997 screening of Fudoh marked the first time that a Miike film had ever been shown in North America, making it all the more joyous to open our 2013 festival with his latest work.
Extensive Artist Talks with Bryan Singer and Simon Boswell
Fantasia will once again offer audiences the opportunity to participate in illuminating artist talks, expositions, and panels, with a chief highlight being “Rated X – A Night with Bryan Singer”! Here, we’ll see the gifted filmmaker behind the X-Men films, The Usual Suspects, Jack The Giant Slayer, Valkyrie, Superman Returns, Public Access, and the chilling Apt Pupil, sit down for an extensive hour-long discussion with moderator Tony Timpone and the audience, in a special evening of superbeings, superstars, and one superfilmmaker.
“Simon Boswell: A Talk on Film Scoring” brings the brilliant UK composer to the stage with moderator Chris Alexander for a career-spanning talk about his adventures in film scoring for some of genre cinema’s most individualistic filmmaking talents, including Alejandro Jodorowsky, Alex de la Iglesia, Dario Argento, Danny Boyle, Michele Soavi, Richard Stanley, Clive Barker, and Lamberto Bava.
Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett bare it all in Joe Swanberg’s 24 Exposures
(World Premiere)
Fantasia will unveil the world premiere screening of mumblecore icon Joe Swanberg’s recently completed 24 Exposures as part of its Camera Lucida section. The feature stars filmmaker Adam Wingard (who, at 19, premiered his first film, Home Sick, at Fantasia) and his constant collaborator Simon Barrett, the director/screenwriter duo behind You’re Next and A Horrible Way To Die.
Wingard, a gifted cinematographer who also lensed Swanberg’s Silver Bullets, plays a fetish photographer whose models begin to turn up dead, with Barrett portraying a melancholic cop tasked with investigating him. Swanberg, director of Drinking Buddies and Alexander The Last, previously collaborated with Wingard and Barrett on Autoerotic and the anthology horror hit V/H/S. As an actor, Swanberg also collaborated with the filmmakers several times, playing lead roles in A Horrible Way To Die and You’re Next.
On a related note, Fantasia 2013 will showcase the Quebec Premiere of Wingard’s brilliant You’re Next the night before 24 Exposures, offering our audience the rare chance to observe the flipping of an actor/director/screenwriter creative relationship from one night to the next.
Joe Swanberg will host both screenings.
Quebec Cinema leads with a cutting edge
Recognized by the international film community as having a filmmaking culture that warrants close attention; Québec Cinema will be uniquely celebrated at this year’s Fantasia.
The festival is pleased to be hosting the world premiere of Robert Morin’s hotly anticipated Les 4 Soldats (The Four Soldiers). A key figure of Quebec’s independent cinema scene, Morin had made such classics as Quiconque Meurt, Meurt à Douleur, Requiem Pour un Beau Sans-Cœur and the unforgettable Yes Sir! Madame… Les 4 Soldats, sees the gifted iconoclast venturing into science-fiction with a post-apocalyptic tale following four people struggling to survive in the wake of a civil war. Morin will host the screening alongside actor Antoine Bertrand (Starbuck) and other members of the cast and crew.
Fantasia will also host the world premiere of Discopath, comedian Renaud Gauthier’s feature directorial debut, a stylish bilingual period piece pastiche of giallo films set against a backdrop of the ‘70s disco scenes of New York City and Montreal.
After an impressive tour on the international festival circuit, including screenings at the Sitges Film Festival, Éric Falardeau’s bewildering Thanatomorphose, a paralyzing, Kafkaesque tale of living death, finally comes home to Montreal with its Canadian premiere.
A Finnish co-production with Quebec’s Caramel Films (Goon, Starbuck, Le Magasin Des Suicides), Stobe Harju’s superb Imaginaerum (North American Premiere) transports viewers into the neo-gothic universe of metal band Nightwish.
Finally, Fantasia is proud to collaborate once again with Éléphant – Mémoires du cinéma québécois to present a stunning, digitally restored HD transfer of the late Jean-Claude Lauzon’s 1987 masterpiece, Un Zoo La Nuit (Night Zoo), winner of 13 Genie Awards, the jury award for Best Canadian feature at the Montreal World Film Festival and a FIPRESCI award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal July 18 – August 6, 2013. The festival’s full lineup of screenings and events will be announced on July 9. For more information, visit us on the web at www.fantasiafestival.com
