Nordling here.
I'm not sure how many events I'll be attending this year, but I'm certain to hit up at least one of these. Most of the time at FF I'm trying to devour as many movies as I possibly can, but there's just too many events this year that I might want to pop my head in this year. I especially love the Fantastic Debates - last year had Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan smacking each other around a bit in the ring over online-multiplayer games - Elijah was con and Dominic was pro. Well, Merry handed Frodo his ass that night.
Fantastic Feud is also very fun as online movie pundits imbibe lots of alcohol and try to answer horror trivia. And then this year we get Air Sex, as fest attendees gyrate onstage with invisible mates to show all us basement-dwelling virgins just how it's done. Here's a list of the events this year:
FANTASTIC FEST 2012 ANNOUNCES
SIGNATURE EVENTS
Austin, TX-Monday, September 10, 2012- Fantastic Fest proudly announces the events lineup for 2012. The events and parties at Fantastic Fest are a big part of what makes the festival an unforgettable one. The festival is pleased to continue the tradition with events like Fantastic Debates, 100 Best Kills, and Chaos Reigns: Fantastic Fest Karaoke Party and offer new events like Airsex and Fantastic Trivia.
Fantastic Arcade Happy Hours and Tournaments
Location: The Highball
Dates: Thursday, Sept. 20th, Friday Sept. 21st, Saturday, Sept. 22nd and Sunday, Sept. 23rd
Time: 5:00pm
Description: Every day from Thursday the 20th through Sunday the 23rd, guests are encouraged to come by The Highball and compete or just watch the daily indie game tournaments. We'll have drink specials each day and you will get to meet the folks who make up both the indie gaming scene in Austin as well as the international Fantastic Arcade game designers.
Fantastic Fest Opening Night Party: Monsters' Ball
Location: The Highball
Date: Thursday, Sept. 20th
Time: 8:30pm
Description: Join us for the Monsters' Ball!* In honor of our opening night film FRANKENWEENIE, we are decking The Highball to the nines as Dr. Frankenstein's lab. Dress as your favorite classic terrors of the silver screen (black and white formal-wear is encouraged) to compete in our costume contest. We hope to see a few Wolfmen in tuxedos and plenty of Frankenstein's brides! *note: not the depressing movie where Halle Berry has awkward sex with Billy Bob Thornton
Kokoromi + Venus Patrol present: THE DANCINGULARITY
Location: The Highball
Date: Friday, Sept. 21st
Time: 9:00pm
Description: First theorized by experimental game collective Kokoromi, the Dancingularity is a hypothetical but unavoidable point in time when people come together and dance to create the visuals of an interactive DJ set. It all happens on the evening of Sept. 21st, and will be catalyzed by Venus Patrol, a new videogame website in search of beautiful things, from former Offworld.com editor and IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer.
Asian Invasion: Chaos Reigns Karaoke Party featuring DRAGON SOUND! Presented by Well Go USA Entertainment
Location: The Highball
Date: Friday, Sept. 21st
Time: 11:00pm
Description: Come experience demented revelry and potential humiliation on what is sure to be one of the greatest nights of your life. A highly anticipated evening of the year for karaoke maniacs and the bail-bondsmen of Austin. In honor of the Drafthouse Films re-release of 1987's gonzo masterpiece of taekwondo anti-sanity MIAMI CONNECTION, we'll kick things off with the 25th anniversary reunion concert of multi-national martial arts synth rock band Dragon Sound! For one night only we're turning The Highball into the hottest nightclub this side of Florida AND all of Asia. Don't be late for the opening act and stay for an unforgettable evening of outrageous karaoke.
Fantastic Fest presents: Air Sex
Location: The Highball
Date: Saturday, Sept. 22nd
Time: 10:00pm
Description: If you've been to any Air Guitar shows, you've probably got some ideas about what Air Sex will be like. Except that competitors in this show won't pretend to play an invisible guitar, they'll pretend to make love with a partner who isn't there.
Fantastic Debates
Location: South Austin Gym
Date: Saturday, Sept 22nd
Time: 11:55pm
Description: Quench your thirst for blood AND intellectual disputation with another installment of the Fantastic Debates, where the burning questions facing the fan community are resolved once and for all via formal debate followed by in-ring fisticuffs.
Fantastic Arcade Awards: Starcade
Location: The Highball
Date: Sunday, Sept. 23rd
Time: 7:00pm
Description: Join host Wiley Wiggins and two lucky contestants as we face off in a battle of wits and reflexes in the world of classic arcade games. Only one can survive in this test of trivia and gaming skill, to be crowned 2012's CLASSIC ARCADE MASTER.
Nerd Rap Throw Down
Location: The Highball
Date: Sunday, Sept. 23rd
Time: 11:30pm
Description: Come watch the battle unfold as a handful of nerd worthy contenders vie for lyrical supremacy in this movie-themed rap competition all set to the pumping jams of Fatboy Roberts. Click here to watch our 2011 champion Damon Jones performing "Peanuts". We're looking for 4-6 worthy contenders to challenge Damon at this year's event. Send a sample of your own rap to info@fantasticfest.com and we'll see if you have the chops. The winner will receive a 2013 VIP Fantastic Fest badge and a $50 Highball gift certificate.
THE AMERICAN SCREAM Homemade Haunted House Hellbash! presented by Chiller network
Location: Alamo South Lamar
Date: Sunday, Sept. 23rd
Time: 11:30 PM
Description: Following the world premiere of THE AMERICAN SCREAM, you'll be invited to enter a homemade haunt created on-site for Fantastic Fest by the film's subject Manny "The Halloween Guy" Souza. If you can survive the maze of werewolves, specters and unspeakable terrors, you'll experience a post-screening celebration in an indoor cemetery, with all the Halloween candy and witches' brew you can handle. Present for the post-mortem partytimes will be the filmmakers as well as the documentary's stars, with live music provided by sinister synthesizer sadist Xander Harris. All this plus more surprises, so sharpen your stakes and/or fangs, and steel yourself for the ultimate Homemade Haunt Hellride!!
Fantastic Fest Awards
Location: Alamo South Lamar
Date: Monday, Sept. 24th
Time: 9:30pm
Description: Not for the faint of heart... when you win an award at Fantastic Fest you better be ready for a shotgun-blast of appreciation to the face. Strap on your drinking horns and join us for a night of ceremonial tomfoolery.
Data Pop
Location: The Highball
Date: Monday, Sept. 24th
Time: 10:30pm
Description: Austin's premiere celebration of 8-Bit music and culture, this pulse-pounding concert features six of the world's leading musicians and two top visualists all employing a plethora of low-res technology. Come dance the night away to music made by everything from classic Amigas to original Nintendo Gameboys.
Fantastic Feud
Location: Alamo South Lamar
Date: Monday, Sept. 24th
Time: 11:55pm
Description: The Fantastic Feud, brainchild of FearNet's own Scott Weinberg, pits the greatest American horror scholars against the feeble competition from foreign lands. Much drinking and feats of mental agility ensue.
Fantastic Fest presents: Tittie Bingo
Location: The Highball
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 25th
Time: 10:00pm
Description: In the greatest partnership since tequila and karaoke, we've combined bingo with edited versions of porn parodies and classic adult films and the result is Tittie Bingo!
100 Best Kills
Location: Alamo South Lamar
Date: Tuesday Sept. 25th
Time: 11:55pm
Description: Fantastic Fest celebrates the great legacy of stomach-churning, blood-spurting movie magic with this interactive showdown party. You are invited to join the FF and Alamo programmers in reliving 100 of the all-time greatest on-screen headbursts, rib-rips and gutblasts! To find out how to submit a kill and win either $500 or a 2013 VIP Fantastic Fest badge click here.
Fantastic Fest presents: Doug Loves Movies
Location: The Highball
Time: 4:20pm
Description: Come enjoy a cocktail and play the Leonard Maltin game with comedian Doug Benson, star and subject of Fantastic Fest pot-umentary THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER ROLLED.
Fantastic Trivia presented by Geeks Who Drink
Location: The Highball
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 26th
Time: 7:00pm
Description: A special Fantastic Fest edition of our weekly trivia challenge at the Highball.
Welcome to HELLFJORD Norwegian Party
Location: The Highball
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 26th
Time: 10:00pm
Description: From the twisted, frost-bitten minds behind COLD PREY, DEAD SNOW along with Fantastic Fest favorite and YOU SAID WHAT? comes the distinctive - and distinctly odd - world of HELLFJORD, a seven-part Norwegian miniseries that will celebrate its world premiere at this year's Fantastic Fest. In honor of this magnificent gift from our friends of the North, we are holding the Norwegian rager to end all Norwegian ragers at The Highball, with plenty of Jarlsberg, Akvavit and all the rakfisk you can eat (and we can put away the rakfisk). We'll also be featuring surprise musical guests doling out face-shredding Norwegian-style black metal for your listening pleasure. Stop by for a cold one and enjoy a complimentary corpsepainting makeover!
Fantastic Fest Closing Night Party: Wolverines!
Location: The American Legion Hall
Date: Thursday, Sept 27th
Time: 10:00pm
Description: Fantastic Fest will transform the Austin American Legion into a maximum-security prison for the ultimate Red Dawn shindig. Prisoners will experience mandatory enjoyment from delousing stations as well as free prison tattoos and head-shaves. Executive Chef John Bullington will be doling out wild-game bulgogi, kimchi and piping-hot shots of deer blood while the uniformed detainees enjoy the musical stylings of festival favorite Future Folk.
Look for more film & event programming announcements for Fantastic Fest in the days ahead.
Hope to see you there!
