Fantasia Film Festival

Browse through the magazine section of a local book or newsprint media retailer and one quickly notices, as if they had never before, that a gargantuan number of magazines specialize in beauty, health and style and, for the most part, feature brilliantly glamorous photographs of celebrities on their covers. It virtually goes without saying that culture in the industrialized nations is heavily driven by interest in those people deemed worthy of celebrity status, even if some people would rather not admit to it. Occasionally a story will leak about how the obsessiveness spreads into the minds of those being objectified as well, with rumours of photoshop, too much makeup and even plastic surgery.

Ingenuity can go a long way in filmmaking. It is one thing to have a large budget and get creative, it is an altogether different matter to be forced into creative thinking and film techniques because a team of creative minds have no serious budget to speak of. Perhaps it is in those instances that the fruit born out of the efforts of filmmakers shines brightest. When one has no money to spend freely, one must think a bit outside the box after all. Enter Bushido Man, which had its North Ameican premier at the 2013 Fantasia Film Festival, a movie displaying a feverish amount of exuberance.

In conjunction with Bushido Man’s North American premier at the 2013 Fantasia Film Festival on July 27th, director Takanori Tsujimoto, action choreographer Kensuke Sonomura and star Mitsuki Koga sat down the morning after for an interview about the film itself, action movies and food. Edgar Chaput: First I’d like to thank you very much for …

Vessel Directed by Adam Ciancio Written by Adam Ciancio Australia, 2013 Writer and director Adam Ciancio’s Vessel aims to create a dialogue and original discourse between humans and extraterrestrials, a concept explored in many forms and in many films throughout the years, but quite possibly never as hopelessly uninventive as portrayed here. While its conceptual conceits and …

New filmmakers can count their blessings when, for their first few projects, they succeed in attracting top notch talent to help add some gravitas and legitimacy to their endeavor. Relative newcomer Frenchman Antoine Barraud, one of few filmmakers of his native country with an affinity with genre fair, made a name for himself with two inparticular, both of which were shown in a single screening at this year’s Fantasia. For one of those two projects, Les gouffres, he managed to hire one of the greatest actors working today, Mathieu Amalric.

Looking back at the past five years or so, the sub-genre of vampire films has inspired a countless amount of filmmakers and studios to take a crack at telling stories about those haunting creatures of the night. Not that prior to 2008 such cinematic experiences were a rarity per say, but the Twilight franchise (the first installment released in ’08) unquestionably gave the genre a shot in the arm. Interestingly enough, Antoine Barraud, one of France’s few writer-directors working within genre cinema, made his own vampire flick in the same year as the first Twilight picture, not to mention that his also was about the terrible repercussions of vampirism on a romantic relationship. Needless to say, Monstre numéro deux is no Twilight.

The Broken Circle Breakdown is an unexpectedly beautiful musical parable about the contradictions of the universe. Rooted almost completely in a reality that seems like our own, it strips down the tropes of the Hollywood musical to paint an effective portrait of love, despair and pain. Elise and Didier fall in love, they sing together in a band, they have a beautiful daughter and then she falls ill; changing all what they knew about the universe. Using a non-linear format and beautifully utilized musical sequences, the film paints an exaggerated portrait of faith and love in the face of chaos.

Conviction is both an extraordinarily beneficial and destructive quality a person can espouse. One can find an unshakeable energy in conviction to drive them through a sea of challenges and persecution in order to fight for what they believe is right. On the other end of the spectrum a person’s staunch conviction can encourage them to employ extreme methods to prove a point in the face of defiance. The writing and directing duo of Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado return for their second effort after 2010’s Rabies with Big Bad Wolves, a film in which various characters’ convictions regarding a murder suspect’s culpability is severely tested.

The Gangster Written by Kongkiat Khomsiri Directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri Thailand, 2012 Templates exist for a reason. Their existence can serve as inspiration for future inventors, politicians, activists and artists to build upon and carve their own meaningful place within the domain of their choosing. In the case of art, use of a preceding piece …

Closing off the 2013 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is a new film by long time Fantasia favourite Sion Sono. Sion Sono is one of the few filmmakers to completely embody the ethos of Fantasia and he has been an almost constant presence at the festival since he won the award for most …

Secretly Greatly Written by Kim Bang-hyun, Yoo Hong-gee Directed by Jang Cheol-soo South Korea, 2013 As with many historically resonant political-military confrontations, the now 63 year old rivalry between South and North Korea has served as inspiration for a bevy of cinematic projects. Among some of the more recent endeavors were Joint Security Area from …

It would not be a proper Fantasia Film Featival experience without some Japanese animated features. Of all the countries that regularly produce theatrical animated movies, Japan has reigned supreme in terms of content and style for decades already. The United States has several studios consistently releasing animated adventures, but for a variety of reasons, many people would not be caught dead saying they prefer the American output over that of the Japanese artists. One such anime that arrives at Fantasia with a fair amount of buzz is Makoto Shinkai’s Garden of Words, representing a change of pace from the science-fiction laden efforts he typically works on.

As part of the Fantasia Film Festival and in anticipation of Raven Banner Entertainment’s special screening of Hatchet 3 at the Cineplex Forum in Montreal on Wednesday July 24th, Sound on Sight had the opportunity to sit for a chat with stunt man and horror icon Kane Hodder, who plays Victor Crowley in the Hatchet …

Magic Magic Written by Sebastian Silva Directed by Sebastian Silva U.S.A./Chile, 2013 It is always an exciting prospect when new, young actors begin to make serious headway in film or television, proving their worth as performers and whose names cause movie goers’ head to perk at the mention that they are starring in an upcoming …

Are people experiencing any fatigue with the decades old ‘cabin in the woods’ horror routine wherein a small party of reasonably innocent individuals opt to spend some much desired vacation in a solitary cabin in the wilderness, only to be chased, mauled, haunted or possessed by the nebulous forces of evil?

Ip Man: The Final Fight Witten by Erica Lee Directed by Herman Yau Hong Kong, 2013 In the span of only a few years, the series of Ip Man films have wooed martial arts movie fans around the globe. What impresses even more so is the number that have been produced and the frequency of …

Movie genre mixing is a far elusive proposition than it may initially appear. In principle, the idea can sound promising and, based on the willingness of movie goers to watch romantic comedies, sci-fi horror or even action comedies, has proven to be incredibly successful. That said, genre mashing remains a delicate art and sometimes the results is less cohesive than desired.

Few things in life are as shocking or unsettling as the betrayal of someone in whom one’s profound trust was invested. Close friends and relatives are two prime examples, but so are figures, such as priests (who have been caught in the spotlight for very un-Christian acts in recent years) and teachers.

The name of Hong Kong director Johnnie To resonates strongly with fans of hard edged gangster films and cop stories. For years already he has delivered time and time again with some of the most vivid, gritty and viscerally charged films which populate the genre. His more recent output has occasionally diverged from the action dramas he built his name on, mainly with 2008’s cape flick Sparrow and 2011’s Don’t Go Breaking my Heart with which he branched out into romantic comedy.

Lucio Fulci’s Massacre Time is playing at Fantasia in conjunction with the Festival du Nouveau Cinema as part of the The Django Project. The series takes a look at the western genre, as appropriated by other cultures, as it blends with irony, excess and pop-art. Though best known for his giallo thrillers, Fulci’s Massacre Time is an exuberant and exciting spaghetti western. Starring Franco Nero in a role obviously evocative of his work in Django, he plays a prospector who must return to his home and reclaim his family’s ranch from a man named Scott and his sadistic son Junior.

Fantasia 2013 has announced the second wave of titles screening this year. If the first wave, along with the announcements of special guests wasn’t enough to get you excited, this surely will. 009 RE: Cyborg Japan Dir: Kenji Kamiyama Mechanized mayhem, mysticism and moral ambiguity meet when the influential ’60s manga/anime property 009 Cyborg gets …

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 …

From the Fantasia Film Festival press release: After announcing the 12 projects of its Frontières selection of film projects in May, the Frontières International Co-Production Market’s team has now announced the event’s Off-Frontières line-up of projects. The projects, in this second group, feature additional up-and-coming talents and experienced filmmakers from the independent genre film world. …