Speaker 1: Hey, folks, welcome to a special episode of the Projection Booth.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Mike White. We are talking about Fantasia
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. This is the annual curtain raiser, as
Speaker 1: they call it. If you're not familiar with the Fantasia
Speaker 1: International Film Festival, it is one of the best genre
Speaker 1: festivals on the planet and it runs from July sixteenth
Speaker 1: through August second, twenty twenty six, over in Montreal, Quebec.
Speaker 1: If you have never been, you owe it to yourself
Speaker 1: to go. If you're a regular, you already know how
Speaker 1: special this place is. So let's talk about what's in stom. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen a lot of these movies, but I
Speaker 1: am excited and I just want to help spread the
Speaker 1: word a little bit here. So Fantasia has always had
Speaker 1: a gift for programming films that feel genuinely dangerous, movies
Speaker 1: that haven't been sanded down into something comfortable or safe,
Speaker 1: and obviously this year is no exception. The lineup spans
Speaker 1: Japanese horror, Indonesian martial arts epics, brazil Zillion toilet nightmares
Speaker 1: yes you heard that right, French animated cringe comedy, and
Speaker 1: an Australian dark comedy with Olivia Coleman voicing a talking
Speaker 1: fox who offers to redesign your fiance. That one is
Speaker 1: called The Fox. It is the closing night film. And
Speaker 1: if you're not hooked by that description, you might want
Speaker 1: to turn off this podcast. They festival is divided across
Speaker 1: several programming strands. I'm not going to name them all
Speaker 1: because some of them are in French and you don't
Speaker 1: want to hear me try to butcher French. So just
Speaker 1: know that it is quite a few different strands of programming.
Speaker 1: The opening night major titles here we've got on July sixteenth.
Speaker 1: It opens with Her Private Hell. It's the new Nicholas
Speaker 1: Winding Refin film. It's also the time that they are
Speaker 1: going to give him the Career Award, being presented by Refin.
Speaker 1: I am sure that mister Friedkin is probably rolling over
Speaker 1: in his grave at the news of that, but still
Speaker 1: one of my favorite exchanges is those two. Anyway. Her
Speaker 1: Private Hell is set in a futuristic city engulfed by
Speaker 1: a mysterious mist that releases something deadly. It is equal
Speaker 1: parts sci fi and nightmare, and it's having its big
Speaker 1: North American premiere here after playing at Con. It's one
Speaker 1: to see on the big screen. I'm hoping that it
Speaker 1: comes to Detroit because I will not be covering these
Speaker 1: in person. I will be watching these on the small screen,
Speaker 1: and some of these I will probably not be able
Speaker 1: to get my hands on. If you want to talk
Speaker 1: about directors who are in their element at Fantasia, Kyoshi
Speaker 1: Krosawa is near the top of that list. His new
Speaker 1: period film The Samurai and Dot Dot Dot clocks in
Speaker 1: at one hundred and forty seven minutes and screen in
Speaker 1: North America premiere. It's a samurai drama from Kurrosawa, but
Speaker 1: not that Kurrosawa. Definitely check it out, though. Also getting
Speaker 1: a North American premiere is Beasts Clutching at Straws. It's
Speaker 1: from Hideo Jojo. It is a multi character ensemble black comedy,
Speaker 1: and the Fantasia program calls it this standout of the festival.
Speaker 1: Pretty strong endorsement from a program that doesn't hand out
Speaker 1: compliments very lightly. Then you've got the director of The
Speaker 1: Lure and Fugue and Jessica Schozenitka. Sure I know that
Speaker 1: I knew how to say it at one point because
Speaker 1: she was actually on the show. It was a tragic
Speaker 1: case of the interview being recorded and then me opening
Speaker 1: up the recording and it being completely blank. So yeah,
Speaker 1: she was supposed to be on our episode about the Lure.
Speaker 1: It took forever for me to get a hold of her.
Speaker 1: Finally got a hold of her, finally got her on
Speaker 1: the phone, finally got the interview, and the file screwed up.
Speaker 1: So still er still angry about that one. Because the
Speaker 1: Lure is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing this
Speaker 1: new one. It's a private detective sci fi story about
Speaker 1: a murder that's run by a sentient AI and it's
Speaker 1: got NUMEI or pacing there, and yeah, I'm really excited
Speaker 1: to see that one. Hopefully I will be seeing that soon.
Speaker 1: And for those who have been following Jen Wexler's work,
Speaker 1: the Last Temptation is the sequel to Becky and Becky
Speaker 1: Hooper is back, and this time she's working for the CIA.
Speaker 1: Have you seen these Becky films. They're very, very fun
Speaker 1: and they have some great casting. Kevin James was in one,
Speaker 1: Sean Williams Scott was in another. This time Neil Patrick
Speaker 1: Harris is there and I cannot wait to see that.
Speaker 1: I'm super excited. Hopefully we'll be talking with the director
Speaker 1: about that one and seeing that very soon. So of
Speaker 1: course there's animation this year. There is Blaze. It's a
Speaker 1: French adult animated film, and I'm really excited for that
Speaker 1: one as well. Sorry, it's going to sound like a
Speaker 1: broken record because I'm excited about a lot of these films.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to hopefully get my eyeballs on there.
Speaker 1: Over on the documentary side, I want to give a
Speaker 1: couple shout outs. We spoke with Maya Anik Bedward a
Speaker 1: few months ago about Black Zombie. That was at south
Speaker 1: By Southwest and it also played at Hot Docs, I believe,
Speaker 1: and it is a great film talks about the zombie
Speaker 1: as a concept, and especially about a very racist concept.
Speaker 1: I would definitely check that one out. It's very well made.
Speaker 1: I had a lot of fun watching it, very thought provoking,
Speaker 1: So yeah, check that one out. The other one is Rubber,
Speaker 1: the Life and Monsters of Steve Johnson, and I think
Speaker 1: I'm going to be sitting down with the director of
Speaker 1: that one tomorrow. If you're a fan of practical effects,
Speaker 1: if you're a listener of this show, and you probably are,
Speaker 1: This documentary is about one of the great creature and
Speaker 1: effects artists in the business, and it is a must see.
Speaker 1: Be patient and that will be coming out relatively soon
Speaker 1: because I want to get these Fantasia episodes out as
Speaker 1: they happen. It's a long festival right July sixteenth through
Speaker 1: August second, and you've got a couple weeks there. It's
Speaker 1: an interesting festival. A lot of them take place over weekends.
Speaker 1: This one takes place over weeks. Was it ready for
Speaker 1: that when I went to Fantasia the one time I
Speaker 1: mentioned retro stuff, the archival programming, so I was punching
Speaker 1: above its weight. Twenty twenty six is no different. We've
Speaker 1: got a pair of career awards driving some of the
Speaker 1: retrospective picks. Robert Lapage is the See Again It's French,
Speaker 1: the pre Danis Edrol Award at the festival, and it
Speaker 1: is screening his debut feature Lacrofessionale from nineteen ninety five,
Speaker 1: showing that on thirty five millimeter, as well as Possible
Speaker 1: Worlds from two thousand, also on thirty five. Bruce McDonald,
Speaker 1: who we've spoken to on the show before, is coming back.
Speaker 1: He's getting the Canadian Trailblazer Award. They're going to be
Speaker 1: showing a screen of Pontypool, which is a freaking fantastic movie.
Speaker 1: Definitely check out our episode on that, and if you
Speaker 1: haven't seen that, you probably should try to see it
Speaker 1: on thirty five with a whole audience of people. Actually,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's on thirty five, but seeing
Speaker 1: it on the big screen is going to be something. Also,
Speaker 1: Vinegar Syndrome, it's bringing a four K restoration of Paul
Speaker 1: Morrissey's forty Deuce from eighty two. We've got Kevin Bacon
Speaker 1: as a streets houseler in there. It's pre aids, pre
Speaker 1: gentrification New York. Also, seven Films is presenting the world
Speaker 1: premiere of a four K restoration from Studio Qes Marcella Fernandez,
Speaker 1: Violante and Error. Four four four is premiering a restoration
Speaker 1: of Thrilling Bloody Sword. It's a nineteen eighty one Taiwanese
Speaker 1: Wooshi film for those and was thought to be lost
Speaker 1: for nearly forty years, so that's pretty exciting. Also, there's
Speaker 1: the world premiere restoration of Middle Messiah, the nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: eight Canadian glam rock sci fi film that's been hiding
Speaker 1: in the dark fur and merely fifty years. Sounds like
Speaker 1: a projection booth episode waiting to happen. I don't have
Speaker 1: it on the schedule yet for twenty twenty seven, but
Speaker 1: kind of seems like it. And then also, hey, you
Speaker 1: like Chelian Fat, you like t Long Well, We've got
Speaker 1: a screening in thirty five of City War from nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight. Do I need to say more than that?
Speaker 1: Hopefully not one more career moment worth flagging. Takashi Shimitsu,
Speaker 1: the director of juan Aka The Grudge, is receiving the
Speaker 1: pre du carrier on the refik Cheval Noir. How was that?
Speaker 1: And the festival is screening not one, but two new
Speaker 1: Shimisu films, The Mouths and The Village of Eight Gravestones,
Speaker 1: a Shinto tinged horror mystery adapted from the author Sieshi
Speaker 1: Yoko Mitso, and both are North American premieres. It is
Speaker 1: a good time to be a Shimizu fan once again.
Speaker 1: Fantasia runs from July sixteenth through August seco in Montreal.
Speaker 1: Full schedule and tickets are at Fantasia Festival dot com,
Speaker 1: and if you can't get there, just wait stick around,
Speaker 1: we'll be covering some of those films. You can hear
Speaker 1: some interviews and just whet your appetite even more. As always,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening to the Projection Booth.
Speaker 1: If you want to support the show, find us over
Speaker 1: on Patreon, and you can always rent a lot of
Speaker 1: the things that we talk about and plenty of the
Speaker 1: films that we cover over at Scarecrow Videos rent by
Speaker 1: mail service. Until next time, thanks so much, Keep the
Speaker 1: dirty side down and the shiny side up, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk to you again.