Welcome to the 26th Montreal International Film Festival, where the Japanese entertainment industry’s vibrant animations and engaging stories come to life on the big screen. This annual celebration of all things anime and imagination brings together film and anime enthusiasts from around the globe.
From July 20 to August 9, the Montreal Film Festival will proudly feature an impressive lineup of Japanese works. The festival will conduct the North American premiere of The Concierge, and the Canadian premieres of Sand Land and The First Slam Dunk anime movies.
The boundless creativity and flawless animations of Japanese cinema grace the festival; from supernatural films to animated fantasies, they’ve got it all. The Fantasia International Film Festival has grown significantly in the past few years, beating the Montreal World Film Festival with an audience of more than 100,000 viewers.
The Fantasia International Film Festival continues to change and grow each year, hosting a dedicated following of movie enthusiasts, industry professionals, and fans of animated cinema from around the world. Last year’s festival screened films like The Girl from the Other Side and INU-OH; let’s see what this year’s festival will bring us.
What is Fantasia Fest?
The Fantasia International Film Festival is an annual genre film festival held in Montreal, Canada. The first festival took place in 1996 and has since become one of the largest and most influential film festivals. The festival screens a wide range of films, including horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, and animation. Sounds so fun!
The great thing about Festival Fantasia is that it provides a platform for independent filmmakers to show off their work alongside major studio releases, and an opportunity for low-budget films to gain recognition.
Described as the “most outstanding and largest genre film festival in North America,” the Fantasia International Film Festival has built its reputation over the past two decades. The festival aims to promote genres that challenge common Hollywood tropes.
The Films that Will be Screened this Year at the Fantasia Fest
The Fantasia International Film Festival will feature a diverse lineup of Japanese films and other pieces of media, including:
- Rintaro’s short film “Yamanaka Sadao ni Sasageru Manga Eiga ‘Nezumikozō Jirokichi'”, marks his first directorial work in 14 years.
- Hideaki Anno’s live-action Shin Kamen Rider film
- The 4K remake of the Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama anime film
- The two live-action Tokyo Revengers 2 films
- Saku Sakamoto’s independent anime horror film “The Feast of Amrita”
- Shigeyoshi Tsukahara and Twiflo’s original anime project “Kurayukaba”
- The live-action Insomniacs After School film
- The live-action My Happy Marriage film (titled in the festival As Long As We Both Shall Live)
- Yugo Sakamoto’s “Baby Assassins 2”
- Reiki tsuno’s “Mad Cats”
- Yurina Kaneko’s “People Who Talk to Plushies Are Kind”
- Junta Yamaguchi’s “River”
- Anime shorts by Shigeyoshi Tsukahara, “The Traveler with the Pasted Rag Picture” and “School Girl”
- Yuki Kubo’s “Baby Force”
By 2020, Fantasia had established itself as a highly impactful film festival in North America. Initially founded by passionate cinephiles and sustained mainly by private funding for over ten years, the festival gained great attention and thus received Government attention and funds.
The festival’s ‘New Flesh’ section, created for newly made films or new entries in the industry, gained a lot of recognition and is now one of the world’s leading platforms for upcoming voices in genre cinema.
Fantasia Fest’s commitment to breaking movie stereotypes, encouraging innovation, and celebrating B-Rated films makes it a must-attend event for anyone passionate about cinema; we surely added it to our bucket list!
