Fantasia, one of the largest genre film festivals focusing on Asian films and featuring some of the most mind-blowing, eye-catching premieres from across the world, is all set for its 26th edition. The three-week-long festival from July 14 to August 3 covers a lineup of over 130 features and 200 plus shorts. Regularly held in July each year, the festival attracts many hardcore genre film cinephiles and distributors.
In this edition, Fantasia is felicitating John Woo, a Hong Kong-based film director and producer, with a special career achievement award. It is believed that his extraordinary work in cinema was foundational to the festival's formation. Recognised for his stylized films of highly choreographed action sequences and slow-motion shots, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, including 'A Better Tomorrow', 'The Killer', 'Hard-Boiled', and 'Red Cliff'. He also worked for Hollywood films liked 'Hard Target', 'Broken Arrow', 'Face/Off', and 'Mission: Impossible 2'.
Genre film festivals are crucial as they bring a diversified taste in exploring cinema. I was introduced to this festival a decade ago through some online film festival forums. I used to keep a tab on the films that premiered every year and watch them whenever they were accessible at a later point.
The curated films are fascinating because most of them would be of a theme that you probably would not have watched before. Fantastic Fest, held in Austin, Texas, in September of every year, is the largest genre film festival in the US. In India, we lack such a genre film festival. Apart from this one held in Montreal, the largest, there is a presence of such genre festivals across countries.
Last year, Fantasia followed a hybrid approach, and some of the films were made available online for accredited members. It was the first time I had my eyes on a great bunch of premiers. There is a virtual edition this year, and I am excited to catch up on some of the exciting titles listed below.
The opening film, 'Polaris', is a 2022 Canadian action revenge thriller about a young girl fighting off brutal warriors trying to kill the polar bear that raised her. Director KC Carthew describes the film as "Mad Max in the Arctic, an origin story of a world gone to shame that builds from themes of environmental stewardship/horror."
The film's teaser dropped a week back and has garnered wide attention for its stunning visual appeal and action sequences. One of the uniqueness of the film is that it is inspired by eco-feminism and the need for significant cultural and sustainable change. Carthew mentions that the film portrays these themes with an entirely female cast which includes the polar bear.
Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izt9wGmjRZ0
'Next Sohee', the festival's closing film, is directed by July Jung. Premiered at the recent Cannes festival, the narrative follows the story of Sohee, a high school student pursuing a job training education. Hoping for a bright future, Sohee starts job training at a subcontracted call center, but she faces immense pressure from a greedy corporate. The stressful situation turns out to be unbearable, eventually leading to her death. Detective Oh Yu-jin, in charge of the case, starts to follow traces to reveal the causes of her death. The film received a seven-minute-long standing ovation at Cannes and was praised for its nuanced direction and terrific performances by the cast.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwUVZlIy-xg
'Glorious', A supernatural horror film with an intriguing premise featuring Ryan Kwanten and Oscar winner JK Simmons. Kwanten plays a young guy depressed after a bad breakup. The situation turns bad when he finds himself locked inside a bathroom with a mysterious figure (JK Simmons) speaking to him from an adjacent stall. As he tries to escape, he realises he is an unwilling player in a situation more significant than he could have imagined.
'Special Delivery', directed by Park Dae-min, is an action/crime film about the chaos and accidental events that unfold when Eun-ha (played by Park So-dam), a driver with a stellar success rate at delivering anything worth money, has a child in her car. This fast-paced film has some intense action and chase sequences with an incredible background score.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKXnJBs61q0
'Lynch/OZ' as an ardent fan of David Lynch and his works, it becomes an exciting study material to watch this documentary to understand how the classic tale of 'The Wizard of Oz' influenced Lynch to create some symbols and characters that are part of his films. The documentary uses talking heads John Waters, Karyn Kusama, and David Lowery to discuss David Lynch, his films, and the connection to The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland, and several other films.
'Popran' is a film that many will be curious about as it comes from Shinichiro Ueda, who gave us the prolific cult 'One Cut of the Dead." The film is a wacky comedy on the male ego wherein Tatsuya Tagami (played by Yoji Minagawa), the CEO of an online manga service, finds his genitals disappear when he wakes up one fine day. Frightened, frustrated, and desperate to know what's happening to him, he finds other men who have had similar encounters and lost their "popran," which have now transformed into flying objects. Tatsuya has to hunt for his "popran". The film is said to be inspired by the addictive game Pokemon-Go.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hULOaS_KrX4
'Dobara', directed by Anurag Kashyap and featuring Tapsee Pannu, is the only Indian film to be premiered at Fantasia. The film, which has a theatrical release later in August, is an official adaptation of the Spanish time travel film 'Mirage' available on Netflix. The film had its world premiere at the recent London Indian Film Festival. Specific changes have been made to the script to adapt to the nativity and sensibilities of the Indian audience.
Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50fZA_XeTiE
The entire lineup is available at https://fantasiafestival.com/en/festival-2022/program/movies
(The writer is a consulting curator for "Cinema of the World Section" of the Bengaluru International Film Festival).