Summer in Montreal just wouldn’t be the same without The Fantasia Film Festival – the oldest and largest genre festival in the world. From July 18 – August 6, Montreal cinefiles will have a chance to see over 120 feature films from around the world, many accompanied with special guests and big events. This year marks the festival’s fifteen year, and the programmers and organizers have done another incredible job rounding up some of the most acclaimed genre works from this year’s Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Berlin and Tribeca film festivals. The full lineup will be announced shortly, but the festival has released a small sampling of highlights to whet proverbial whistles.
Official Closing Film – Edgar Wright’s The World’s End (Canadian Premiere)
Fantasia 2013 will come wildly to a close on the night of August 6 with the Canadian premiere of UK filmmaker Edgar Wright’s hotly anticipated apocalyptic comedy The World’s End, starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Rosamund Pike and Martin Freeman. As Fantasia was the site of the Canadian Premieres of Wright’s landmark 2004 debut Shawn of the Dead as well as his most recent Scott Pilgrim vs the World, we couldn’t think of a better way to close this year’s festival. Joining us in Montreal will be Edgar Wright and select members of the cast.
Special Live Theatre Event – Clive Barker’s A History of the Devil
Fantasia will again be delving into the realm of live theatre with a special three-night engagement of Title 66 Productions’ acclaimed adaptation of Clive Barker’s play, A History of the Devil. An epic show to stage, History weaves a tale told across thousands of years over the span of a near-three-hour running time. Director Jeremy Michael Segal and his team have created a macabre mounting that writhes with visual invention and primal acrobatics of performance. Black divinity will strike on August 1, 2 and 3, at Place des Arts’ Cinquième Salle.
A Lifetime Achievement Award for Andrzej Żuławski
For his singular vision, passion and bravery, Fantasia is bestowing our 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award to the great Polish master Andrzej Żuławski, director of such individualistic and award-winning acts of filmmaking as Possession, La Femme Publique and L’amour Braque. A gifted and enormously unconventional talent, Zulawski has created some of the most breathtakingly unique films you will ever see. Feverishly cinematic and often controversial, Żuławski’s filmography explodes with dizzyingly evocative imagery, primal, animalistic performances and raw sexuality and emotion. His work pulverizes societal norms with surrealism, grotesquerie and above all else, honesty, ferociously buzzing with poetry and a black sense of humour.
Fantasia will present our sculpted Cheval Noir award to Mr Żuławski at a special screening of Szamanka on the night of July 25 at the Imperial Cinema. We will also be screening L’Amour Braque as a special co-presentation with the Cinémathèque québécoise. In addition, Mr Żuławski will be participating in Fantasia’s Frontières International Co-Production Market with a new project, Dark Matter, to be produced by Marcin Wierzchosławski.
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 www.fantasiafestival.com.