Hey folks, Harry here... I tell ya what - as one of the team of folks planning out this year's FANTASTIC FEST, it's been a blast. However, the hardest part is to not talk about the films we've scored that we have to wait to announce, for various reasons, till the next release around August 15th. The team has been scoring some great stuff in the last few weeks - both known titles and unknown titles. Films you know you want to see and ones that perhaps you've never heard of, but once you see - you'll fall giddily in love with and exclaim... "FANTASTIC!" Scoring the Closing Night Film... THE FOUNTAIN was a huge deal for all of us behind FANTASTIC FEST - the film alone is a huge deal, simply because of how early we'll be in presenting it to the festival audience. But even better - we get Darren Aronofsky there in person to introduce and do a Q&A with the film... and... it isn't mentioned in the press release - but Darren will also be presenting a classic "fantastic" film that he wishes to present to the audience. Right now - we're trying to track the best print in existence for that title - so till we get it, we can't say. But honestly - I'm fucking jazzed. It's great to have a filmmaker present their new work to the world, but to also have them present a film that they covet and wish to present to a crowd. That's something extra special. So - if you haven't picked up your festival pass yet, hop on it, cuz you haven't long, and when the next release of titles comes... They'll run away faster than Barry Allen! Here's the press release, but to see the complete announced line up, thus far... Click Here!!!
CLOSING NIGHT FILM:
We are extremely pleased to announce the selection of our closing night film, Darren Aronofsky's highly anticipated sci-fi epic THE FOUNTAIN. We've been huge fans of Aronofsky's work since he burst onto the national scene with PI in 1998, and are thrilled to be presenting his new film to close the 2006 Festival. Darren Aronofsky will be live in person to introduce and conduct a Q&A after the movie.
Synopsis for THE FOUNTAIN:
THE FOUNTAIN is an odyssey about one man's thousand-year struggle to save the woman he loves. His epic journey begins in 16th century Spain, where conquistador Tomas Creo (Hugh Jackman) commences his search for the Tree of Life, the legendary entity believed to grant eternal life to those who drink of its sap. As modern-day scientist Tommy Creo, he desperately struggles to find a cure for the cancer that is killing his beloved wife Isabel (Rachel Weisz). Traveling through deep space as a 26th century astronaut, Tom begins to grasp the mysteries of life that have consumed him for more than a century. The Fountain will be screening courtesy of Warner Brothers/Regency Enterprises.
ADDITIONAL FANTASTIC FILMS ANNOUNCED:
In addition to THE FOUNTAIN, we are pleased to announce the following 15 features which will be screening as part of Fantastic Fest. We have a lot of big titles and events scheduled for the next press announcement, which is currently scheduled for August 15. Check back to www.fantasticfest.com for more details as well as details on the confirmed shorts and previously confirmed features. Press kits and screeners are available for most of the films below.
TERRY GILLIAM'S TIDELAND
dir. Terry Gilliam, Canada/UK, 2005, 122 min.
A motherless girl is seemingly banished to a seaside home, where her only companions are decapitated toys and a mysterious woman in a beekeeper's veil. Gilliam pulls out all of the tricks that established him in his early works, but balances them with a sophisticated and frightening atmosphere unique to this picture. A dark dreamlike fairytale from the deeper folds of one of the most legendary minds in fantasy filmmaking.
AB TAK CHHAPPAN
dir. Shimit Amin, India, 2004, 129 min
(Part of the Ram Gopal Varna Retrospective)
Quite possibly the best Michael Mann film not actually made by Michael Mann or anyone associated with him, the Ram Gopal Varma produced, Shimit Amin directed AB TAK CHHAPPAN is the sort of murky-moraled crime thriller that reputations are built upon... AB TAK CHHAPPAN comes very close to being a perfect crime drama. The direction is excellent, the script deep and engaging, the performances and characters uniformly strong. (Twitchfilm) Ruthlessly realistic, AB TAK CHHAPPAN is a movie where the gunfights take ten seconds, the good guys are murderers, and the only rich people are crooks.
COMPANY
dir. Ram Gopal Varna, India, 2002, 155 min
(part of the Ram Gopal Varna retrospective)
COMPANY, from start to finish, is anything but feel-good cinema. Instead of being treated to eye candy, we see the underworld from a grey looking glass, one that makes everything in the film seem gritty and dark. Ram Gopal Varma brings us an intense film with a dark message. Beginning in the slums, COMPANY follows the rise of two close friends, Chandu and Malik, who begin a life of crime together and rise to the highest ranks only to eventually clash in an all-out international gang war.
EK HASINA THI
Dir. Sriram Raghavan, India, 2004, 120 min.
(part of the Ram Gopal Varna retrospective)
EK HASINA THI revolves around Sarika, an independent woman supporting herself via a job at a local Mumbai travel agency. She meets and falls in love with Karan, a seemingly wealthy businessman, with whom she envisions a life of happiness. Dreams of heavenly domesticity deteriorate rapidly when Sarika's involvement with Karan, of whom she knows little about, leads to her shocking arrest in an encounter case connected with the underworld. Fooled by Karan and her seemingly helpful lawyer, Sarika is forced to plead guilty for a crime she has not committed, gaining a grueling seven-year prison sentence, during which Sarika is forced to transform from an innocent and naïve girl in love to a hardened vigilante, out for revenge on those who have wronged her.
THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI
dir. Mitsuru Meike, Japan, 2003, 90 min
The poignant tale of a prostitute whose bullet-wounded brain turns her into an intellectual superwoman surfing waves of nymphomania, hallucinogenic seizures, and the psychic control of George W. Bush's cloned finger. Meanwhile, an assassin stalks her to regain the presidential digit. To top it off, all of this insanity and more is folded into the structure of a Japanese soft-core pinku movie. The result, a deliciously potent cinematic cocktail the likes of which you cannot obtain in western climes.
INFECTION
dir. Albert Pyun, USA, 2005, 72 min
A meteor carrying an unknown infection lands outside a Small Californian community and decimates the local population. Survivors must run for her life through the pitch-black forest, escaping her pursuers and trying to reach the authorities before the infection spreads to L.A. Infection, directed by genre veteran Albert Pyun (SWORD AND THE SORCERER, CYBORG), is a true cinematic tour-de-force, consisting of a single 72 minutes shot, filmed in real time during the night. This challenging and hypnotic ride will please both art house lovers and sci-fi horror fans alike.
THE LAST SUPPER
dir. Osamu Fukutani, Japan, 2005, 92 min
Based on "The Shonan Flesh-eating Doctor", the latest work by hit horror-novel writer Kei Ohishi. Brilliant plastic surgeon Dr. Yuji Kotorida is consumed by an obsession to taste human flesh. After stealing and eating fat he removed from a woman's buttocks, something in the doctor breaks, and he embarks on a murder spree to ensure that his supply of meat never runs low. Note: to compliment the film, our kitchen will be serving actual human flesh.
NAISU NO MORI (FUNKY FOREST)
dir. Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine & Shin'ichiro Miki, Japan, 2005, 150 min.
The annals of strange just got thicker with the arrival of this surreal sci-fi-musical-whatsit whose resistance to thematic or narrative logic renders viewers thoroughly -- but not unpleasantly -- bewildered. Breathtakingly, often hilariously bizarre, this inexplicable explosion contains peppy choreographed dream sequences, unidentifiable puppet creatures, Cronenberg-style queasiness, UFO visitations, and that's just for starters.
ORIGIN: SPRIT OF THE PAST
dir. Keiichi Sugiyama, Japan, 2006, 94 min.
The first theatrical long animation created by state-of-the-art visual studio GONZO, A sci-fi, fantasy epic set 300 years in the future, ORIGIN: SPIRIT OF THE PAST chronicles the story of Toola, a girl who has recently awakened from a 300-year long sleep whose mission is to revive civilized society. nominated: BEST FEATURE FILM, 30th Annual Annecy International Animation Film Festival
PARASITE 3D - Charles Band live in person!
dir. Charles Band, USA, 1982, 85 min.
A three-dimensional post-apocalyptic 80s classic! In the future year 1992, scientist Paul Dean is infected with a parasitic creature and accidentally unleashes it on the denizens of a small desert community. Things get worse when invading hoods create an even greater threat, and soon Paul and Patricia (Demi Moore!) must face ultimate peril to save the town and themselves. Presented in stereovision 3D!
A QUIET LOVE
dir. Till Franzen, Germany, 2005, 107 min.
Mystical and quixotically romantic, the festival award-winning A QUIET LOVE stands out with its refreshingly dream-like style and understated but assured tone -- a film which will please romantics as well as adventurous filmgoers. Set near the Germany/Denmark border, near the "blue area," a place where the living and the dead intermingle, two very different love stories unfold. Profound without pretense, aided by beautiful cinematography and a haunting soundtrack, this drama envelops the viewer in transcendental exploration of loneliness, death, reconciliation and love. --Raymond Murray (editor's note: it's funny too!)
Audience Award Ludwigsburg 2005, Special Jury Mention Oldenburg 2005, Best Cinematography & Film Critics' Award Fantasporto 2006
SHIVA
dir. Ram Gopal Varna, India, 2006,
(part of the Ram Gopal Varna retrospective)
A larger-budget, loose remake of Ram Gopal Varna's first feature film SHIVA and is one of the most anticipated Bollywood movies of the year. Instead of being set in the world of rival college gangs, however, the 2006 SHIVA is set amidst a corrupt police department and apparently has a theme of driving spikes through people's foreheads. "Often called the Indian Scorcese, Varma deftly juggles the traditional large gangster epic with an honesty and brutality rarely seen in Bollywood, subtracting singing and dancing from the equation and replacing it with pure visceral impact." -indieWIRE
STARFISH HOTEL
dir. John Williams, Japan, 2006, 98 min
Yuichi Arisu is a typical office slave in the huge, impersonal city of Tokyo. Every night he commutes home to his distant wife and buries himself in the mystery novels of Jo Kuroda, a writer who has conjured up a strange alternative universe called the Darkland. Then, one night, his wife disappears. Arisu traces his wife to a private detective and then to an underground brothel called Wonderland. But the brothel burns down and the detective is murdered. Arisu becomes the main suspect. Gradually the walls between fantasy and reality break down and Arisu comes under the spell of the Darkland.
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (the original) with Ed Neal Live!
dir. Tobe Hooper, USA, 1974, 83 min.
A film that needs no introduction, this loosely-based-on-a-true-story slash opera may never be equalled. The story opens with a vanload of teens heading into rural terrain expecting a vacation getaway. Plans change, and soon enough they find themselves gruesomely picked off one by one by a cannibalistic family. Often called the scariest film of all time, and rightly so. Star Ed Neal will introduce, answer questions and lacerate members of the audience upon request. Ed Neal will also be a member of the Fantastic Fest horror competition jury.
VENUS DROWNING
dir. Andrew Parkinson, UK, 2006, 80 min.
After a failed suicide attempt Dawn is sent away by her psychiatrist to recuperate. On a deserted Norfolk beach she finds a dying mutant mermaid. Dawn manages to resuscitate the creature, only to find it feeds on sexual energy and starts to produce hallucinogenic slime. Official selection at Cannes 2005, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival 2006, Neuchatel Internation Fantastic Film Festival 2006
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:
Fantastic Fest is an eight day festival of the best new sci-fi, horror, fantasy and genre films, as well as choice classic and obscure cult titles from all over the world. The festival director is Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse Cinema). Programmers include Harry Knowles (Ain't It Cool News), Kier-la Janisse (Big Smash, Cinemuerte), Matt Dentler (SXSW) and Paul Alvarado-Dykstra. Festival co-chairs are Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Tim McCanlies (director, Iron Giant). This year's festival will feature over 60 premiere features and 30 shorts. Festival Badges are currently on sale at www.fantasticfest.com. The festival is co-sponsored by Ain't It Cool News and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema South Lamar.
