Tag: Fantasia Film Festival

Playing at Fantasia 2020: The Prophet And The Space Aliens

Rael may be kooky. He’s not at all spooky. The cult is hardly ooky. What we see in The Prophet and the Space Aliens is simply about family. That’s where this documentary shines. We see the people as they are together rather than the devotion which follows this self-proclaimed prophet everywhere. 

FantasiaBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Playing at Fantasia Digital Film Festival 2020 on August 23, 2pm. Buy your virtual ticket here.

Rael may be kooky. He’s not at all spooky. The cult is hardly ooky. What we see in The Prophet and the Space Aliens is simply about family. That’s where this documentary shines. We see the people as they are together rather than the devotion which follows this self-proclaimed prophet everywhere. 

Although this person believes in UFOs and that all the major figureheads from world religions are from space, the insights offered don’t say too much why. As for explaining the other nuances of how this life path works, none of it comes through as preachy. Viewers are left to decide if this oddball religion is for real or not. For the most part, this film by Yoav Shamir is more biopic than gospel.

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On Crazy Samurai Musashi and Wishing for a Video Game Adaptation

Crazy Samurai Musashi Movie Poster

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Playing at Fantasia Digital Film Festival 2020 On Demand till Sept 2. Buy your virtual ticket here.

Yuji Shimomura’s Crazy Samurai Musashi is—as the title suggests—an insane attempt in making a movie in one continuous shot. It has the feel of a video game since the camera is mostly focussed on our warrior as the center of attention and everyone rushes to him for a chance at delivering a fatal swing of the sword. I’m reminded of Bushido Blade for the PlayStation.

Sometimes the angle changes, and that’s usually to get in a closeup shot of Musashi (Tak Sakaguchi). Thankfully, there are a few pauses in the carnage to deliver dialogue and give viewers a chance to breathe.

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Hail to the Deadites! On Fandom & The Evil Dead

Writer/Director Steve Villeneuve must have spent at least three years filming this work.

FantasiaBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Playing at Fantasia Digital Film Festival 2020 On Demand till Sept 2. Buy your virtual ticket here.

We have plenty of documentaries made about how Sam Raimi‘s Evil Dead franchise still influences the horror genre. The latest, Hail to the Deadites, is specific about this famous film trilogy and goes in a different direction–it’s about the fandom than the films itself.

I wish there was more to the segment on Evil Dead the Musical instead of the cursory look. It’s rare to get an insight to why some theatre producers adapt a franchise to a live stage show and I’m just one of the lucky ones to know of a regional troupe who let me down the basement and reveal how they manage as they tour and perform in the Pacific Northwest. Strangely, Chris Bond, one of the creators behind this musical, was not interviewed. Instead, we have horror historian Michael Gingold, film professor Andre Loiselle and filmmaker Chris Alexander break down other parts of the fandom.

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Fantasia Digital Fest 2020 – The Vintage Tempest’s Top Picks!

Fantasia Digital Fest 2020 PosterBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

The 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival is taking place online! It will run from August 20th to Sept 2nd, and the producers behind this event worked hard with Festival Scope and Shift72 to ensure that for Canadian audiences, they will have an experience to remember.

According to Fantasia’s FAQ: Unfortunately, we can’t make new films available across the world without potentially hurting their future distribution and exhibition options, which is a key concern to us. The only exception is Troma’s latest, an interpretation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which will be available to audiences in Canada and the United States.

Signing up to this event is easy. All anyone has to do is to visit Fantasia’s website and make an account. Options exist to make a wish list, and tickets can be pre-purchased early for those shows with a set time of broadcast, or viewed at leisure, beginning August 20th. The showtimes advertised on Fantasia’s PDF Guide and social media platforms and the like are listed in Eastern Standard Time.

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Top Scares from Fantasia’s Things That Go Bump in The East 2019 Shorts Program

We offer our top picks on which of Fantasia Festival’s “Things That Go Bump In The East” Shorts Program are must sees.

Fantasia Film Festival Basic Logo
Runs: July 11 – August 1st Montreal, Quebec

This year, Fantasia Festival‘s “Things That Go Bump In The East” Shorts Program offers an eclectic mix of animated works which I’m savoring like fine wine. This year featured eleven works and plenty are from the Tokyo University of the Arts. Some of these will no doubt screen at other film festivals. We can find a few online, like Shishigari (a wonderful tale of survival with elements of Mononoke Hime tossed in) and the others–they are worth seeking to get your scream on.

Various cinematic and illustration styles are used to deliver the goosebumps. In what makes these films unique is in how the animators push the envelope not only in how 2D Digital Animation can tell the story but also with how Asian filmmakers are defining an age old genre.

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The Vintage Tempest’s Picks of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2019

Image result for fantasia film festival 2019Runs: July 11 – August 1st
Montreal, Quebec

The Fantasia International Film Festival is in full swing, taking place in Montreal, Quebec with plenty of works to view and a wonderful look into all things fantastic. The genres also include horror, science-fiction and drama. In this show, the focus is on the extraordinary, hence the name. I encourage anyone who loves these genres to come to this show and see the world premieres that take place here.

Of particular note is a premiere screening of Shelagh McLeod’s Astronaut (review coming) starring Richard Dreyfuss. Arielle Dombasle’s Crystal Palace is a French production which only some can describe–a hallucinatory experience, a kitsch and camp kaleidoscope with surrealist dialogue and cardboard costumes (literally), all with a dash of meta-cinema. I’m particularly excited for the release of Takahiro Umehara’s The Moon in the Hidden Woods which blends steampunk, Korean folk styles and otherworldly fantasy into a tale of a world bereft of a lunar guardian. Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s Night God is said to be a waking nightmare, an unknowable maze of gigantic moving paintings, reminding one at times of the painter Carel Willink.

But it’s not the movies that defines a show. The huge list of shorts showcase the imagination of many a new filmmaker. Swiss animator Nils Hedinger’s Kuap looks like it may borrow from Hayao Miyazaki in narrative, Simon Beaupré’s Evil James Bond vs World War Z is a must for those who love crazy crossover ideas. Those who love Chinese folklore should look at Wan Jinyue and Du Jinzhi‘s The Girl and the Serpent.

The list does not end here. From the press release:

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