Hey folks, Harry here with the latest Fantastic Fest news - for all of you that track the ever expanding universe of us Fantastic Fest folks. Here ya go...

SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced today a new partnership with Fantastic Fest which will manifest through a new lineup in the official film festival program: “SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight.” Now in its 5th year, Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest has quickly become one of the largest genre film festivals in the United States and has been dubbed “Geek Telluride” and “one of the 10 festivals we love” by Variety. “SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight” is a representative sample of the young festival’s signature midnight genre programming, featuring six new premieres exclusive to SXSW.

“The Alamo Drafthouse has been an eleven-year partner of SXSW,” says Fantastic Fest director and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League. “In fact, our very first show at the original Alamo Drafthouse location was opening night of SXSW 1997. We are proud to work so closely with such a respected institution, and in 2009 with ‘SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight,’ we plan to deliver one of the best movie experiences of the year for genre film fans.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to enhance our Midnighters section with the infusion of six badass Fantastic Fest films,” says SXSW Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. “The Fantastic Fest, in its short life, has really added a lot of energy and fun here in Austin, and the Alamo Drafthouse is already such a natural and significant partner to SXSW, so it was a no-brainer to invite them to preview their program with us.”

The full “SXSW presents Fantastic Fest at midnight” lineup will be announced later this month at www.sxsw.com. For more information about Fantastic Fest (September 24 - October 1) visit www.fantasticfest.com.