The Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is an annual film festival founded in 1996 and held primarily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It specializes in genre films, including fantasy, horror, science fiction, and cult cinema, and draws over 100,000 attendees each year.
Fantasia is frequently cited as the leading genre film festival in North America, and is considered one of the top three genre festivals worldwide, alongside Sitges and Fantastic Fest. Its mission is to promote genre, anti-Hollywood cinema and assist independent filmmakers, having launched the careers of many modern auteurs throughout the years.
Since 2012, the festival has also held the Frontières cinema market that allows promising projects to find potential producers and distributors. Since 2016, Frontières has partnered with the Marché du Film, led by the Cannes Film Festival, and from 2026, with the European Film Market at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the new TIFF Market at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Overview
Fantasia focuses on niche, low-budget films of various genres, from horror to science fiction, most of them non-PG. It grew from the Asian film scene in Montreal and still has a significant emphasis on Asian cinema.
Fantasia’s flagship section is Cheval Noir, in which winners are awarded with the festival's mascot statuette, a mighty black pegasus. Apart from Cheval Noir, the festival includes New Flesh, Séquences, Camera Lucida, the Satoshi Kon prize, and several other sections. Every year, the program offers master-classes and special screenings, as well as world and American premieres, press conferences and panel discussions with actors and directors. In 2016, a new section Documentaries From the Edge was established.
Mitch Davis has been the festival's creative director since 1997. According to Davis, Fantasia's mission is to present niche, genre, noncommercial movies from independent auteurs to the audience, and give the films deserved attention. Guillermo del Toro calls Fantasia “a shrine to all geeks and a feast for those who love things completely unlovable to most.” Bill Plympton treasures its anti-Hollywood atmosphere. The audience at Fantasia is considered to be open-minded people with a good sense of humor and good, albeit somewhat unconventional, taste. Festival regulars say that audiences always meow loudly before the screening of feature films, a tradition that continues today.
The fest has two indoor locations and many events are held in cafes, restaurants, and karaoke bars. The atmosphere is famous for its informal vibe as screenings are open, VIP zones are not isolated and even directors and actors freely blend in the crowd.
By 2020, Fantasia had already been recognized as one of the most important cinema fests in North America. Founded by cinephiles and initially driven by sheer enthusiasm, it was supported only with private money for more than a decade. Only when its audience surpassed that of WWF and FNC did the festival attract governmental attention and further funding. The New Flesh section is now considered "one of the world's premier launching pads for new voices in genre cinema".
In 2012, Fantasia founded the Frontières platform to promote genre films and help promising projects. For its first season, 12 projects were selected and then presented to producers and distributors. In 2013, Frontières was invited to host a European section at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. In 2016, Frontières announced a joint program with the Cannes' Marché du Film; together they select and present promising projects to potential partners. Frontières was also offered to host its section of genre cinema at the Cannes Film Festival.
In its more than two decades of history, Fantasia has made a significant contribution to Canadian film culture, built its audience and helped arthouse cinema emerge from the underground. In cinematic circles, there is discussion of the Fantasia Generation of outstanding creators, who grew up with the festival. Among the first attendees were Roadkill Superstars, who have confessed to forging documents to attend non-PG movies. Their film Turbo Kid was funded and produced thanks to the Frontières. Similarly, Fantasia and the Frontières helped launch production company Astron-6 and financed The Void, Radius, The Ranger, and many more.
History
1996–2005 Fant-Asia 1996 was launched by "three Hong Kong new wave fanboys" Martin Sauvageau, André Dubois and Pierre Corbeil, who felt a growing local interest in Asian films and the desire to watch them on the big screen. The 1996 edition of the festival lasted for a whole month and featured six months worth of entirely Asian fantasy and action movies with a significant prevalence of Chow Yun-fat and Jet Li retrospectives.
FantAsia 1997 was held from July 11 to August 10. The lineup included Perfect Blue, Drunken Master II, Stagefright, El Dia de la Bestia, Henry, Tromeo and Juliet, Cutting Moments and others. A Gun for Jennifer won the main prize and was met by a standing ovation of the audience.
In 1998, Fantasia's Toronto edition premiered at the Bloor Cinema. That year, Tony Timpone joined the management team.
2002 became the missed year for Fantasia due to problems with the main venue, Imperial Cinema. Only four months before the event, the theater announced cancellation because of the broken air conditioning system. Indeed, the theater was not repaired until 2004. Alternate bookings were not available. The lack of assurance for the 2003 festival meant a change in venue and so, Fantasia 2003 moved Concordia University.
Fantasia 2003 was held for the first time on the Concordia University campus, using the de Sève Cinema and Henry F. Hall Alumni Auditorium. This was also the first year that a DVD filled with movie trailers of movies shown at the festival was available for purchase with the festival guide book.
2006 Fantasia's 10th anniversary and 10th edition, the 2006 edition, is the first to feature free outdoor shows. The outdoors shows are at Parc de la Paix and are free. Outdoor projections included films from the previous editions: Kamikaze Girls, the last four episodes of Goldorak, Night of the Living Dorks and Attack the Gas Station. The indoor shows use the same Concordia University facilities as since the move to Concordia. The outdoor shows are several kilometres away from the indoor shows. The main prize was won by Blood Curse. With its 10th anniversary, Fantasia helped to launch an associated but separate Toronto festival Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
2007 This edition was held from July 5 to July 23 at the Concordia University. In addition to the Hall hall and DeSeve hall, a third screening room has been added at the D.B. Clarke Theatre. There were, however, no outdoor shows this year. Montreal film Flutter received the award for best Quebec short feature. Memories of Matsuko was selected as the best Asian feature film, in European program won the Hatchet. In animation the main prize went to We Are the Strange. A total of more than 81,000 tickets were sold for Fantasia 2007. Mitch Davis signed a first-look production deal with Paramount's Blumhouse Prods. to scout for new projects and foreign movies for potential remakes.
2008 In 2008, Fantasia was held from July 3 to July 21. It featured the world premieres of Pig Hunt, Home Movie, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Midnight Meat Train, Eric Shapiro's Rule of Three, Truffles (Truffe), Treevenge, The Facts in the Case of Mister Hollow, Electric Fence, Paradox Mary, Laura Panic, and Don't Worry. Gordon Liu attended the screening of Disciples of the 36th Chamber as a guest star.
2009 In 2009, Fantasia was held from July 9 to July 29, opened with Takashi Miike's film Yatterman and ended on July 29, 2009 with the North American premiere of Quentin Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds. Among the films screened at Fantasia 2009 were Thirst, Love Exposure, Dream, Embodiment of Evil, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, Smash Cut, Trick 'r Treat, Neighbor, Must Love Death, Cencoroll, Dread.
2010s
2010 The films for Fantasia 2010 were announced on Tuesday, June 29, 2010. Tickets went on sale on July 6, 2010 at 1 pm. The Festival started on July 8, 2010 running until July 28, 2010 with 6 indoor screening venues and one outdoor location. For 2010, a permanent blog was introduced to communicate with fans year-round. Opening film: The Sorcerer's Apprentice, presented by Jay Baruchel. Among Canadian premieres were Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Last Exorcism, The Violent Kind, Van Von Hunter, Black Lightning. World premieres included I Spit on Your Grave, The Shrine, etc. The lineup included A Serbian Film, Air Doll, Best Worst Movie, The House of the Devil, Smash Cut, and many more. The special screening of Combat Shock was attended by Buddy Giovinazzo. Pater Sparrow's 1 received the Cheval Noir as best feature film of the year.
2011 Fantasia 2011 held 19 world premieres and a lineup of 134 movies from 25 countries. The festival opened with the Canadian Premiere of Red State, other premieres included Final Destination 5. Also notable was the world premiere of the Swedish horror film Marianne.Fangoria, Fantasia Hosts Special Midnight World Premiere of "Final Destination 5"! , Samuel Zimmerman, 27 July 2011
Yoshimasa Ishibashi was awarded with the Best Director prize (for Milocrorze: A love story). Best Screenplay award was given to Park Hoon-jung (for The Unjust). I Love You short from The Theatre Bizarre was specially noted by the jury. Best Animation prize went to Surviving Life. Amiel Courtin-Wilson's Hail won in The Séquences.
The festival also featured the presentation to John Landis of a lifetime Achievement award, while Landis presented his new film Burke and Hare.
2012
In 2012, Fantasia was held from 19 July to 7 August. Its 90,000 audience exceeded WFF's, the festival was extensively covered in the world media.
Fantasia 2012 featured the screenings of the films Toad Road, Doomsday Book (won the main prize), the horror anthology film V/H/S, Hidden in the Woods (original version), Seediq Bale, and Quentin Dupieux's Wrong.Todd Brown, Twitch, Fantasia 2012 Announced First Wave of 2012 Programming, http://twitchfilm.com/2012/06/fantasia-announces-first-wave-of-2012-programming.html
2013 In 2013, Fantasia was held from 18 July to 7 August, its program included 120 films. Among premieres were Antosocial and Curse of Chucky. The lineup featured Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1, Raze, Bad Milo!, Willow Creek (film), After School Midnighters, I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow, The Complex, Gatchaman, The World's End, and many more.
Big Bad Wolves took the main prize as the best feature film, Hou Chi-jan became the best director for his movie When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep. Andrzej Żuławski received the achievement award, while at the New Flesh section Evan Louis Katz won with his debut Cheap Thrills.
2014 Fantasia 2014 lasted from July 17 to August 5, it featured 160 movies and had 216 screenings, while the audience grew to 129,000. That year's poster was created by Donald Caron, it paid tribute to Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Forrest J Ackerman who flew across the sky in the Bewitched Canoe (a piece of Québec folklore, La Chasse Galerie piloted by the Devil). Jacky in Women's Kingdom became the opening film. Premieres included Unfriended by Levan Gabriadze, The Midnight Swim by Sarah Adina Smith, The Creeping Garden.
At the New Flesh section won Hugh Sullivan's The Infinite Man. Mamoru Oshii and Tobe Hooper were honoured with the Achievements award. Giovanni's Island by Mizuho Nishikubo won the main prize for best animation.
2015 Fantasia-2015 had 22 world premieres, including Momentum. For the first time the festival introduced the VR-section. This year program featured Anguish, Wild City, Goodnight Mommy, and many more.