Fantastic Fest

Fantastic Fest
Status Active
Genre Film festival
Location Austin, Texas
Country United States
Organizer Alamo Drafthouse and Ain't It Cool News
Official website http://www.fantasticfest.com/

Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of The Iron Giant and Secondhand Lions. The festival focuses on genre films such as horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, Asian, and cult. The festival takes place in September at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, filling three screens for eight days and hosting many writers, directors and actors, both well established and unknown. A notable feature of this festival is the inclusion of "special screenings" by Knowles. For these screenings, the audience often does not know what the film will be until seated, moments before it begins. It also features many themed parties, outings, food/film "feasts", and other events that are signature hallmarks of the original Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. In 2007, Variety publisher Charles Koones included Fantastic Fest as one of "ten festivals we love".[1] In 2008, Moviemaker named Fantastic Fest "one of the 25 film festivals worth the entry fee".[2]

Contents

Festivals by year

2005

The 2005 festival was only three days long, October 6–9. Screened films included Feast, Wolf Creek, and Zathura. The official sponsors of the 2005 festival were: Milkshake Media, KOOP Radio, The Austin Chronicle, Jackson Walker L.L.P., and Independence Brewery.

Premieres

US premieres

Texas premieres

Special screenings

Retrospective screenings

The theme of the 2005 Retrospective series was "Post Apocalyptic Cinema" which included

Special events

The special effects team from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe installed a display of costumes, creatures and props from the Narnia film. Legendary make-up and effects supervisor Howard Berger presided over a special effects Q&A.

2006

The 2006 festival was expanded to 8 days and held September 21–28.

Premieres

World premiere

US premieres

Texas premieres

Special screenings

Retrospective screenings

There were 3 retrospective series; the first paid homage to cult midnight films and included

The second was presented by cult author Jack Stevenson and included

And the third was a retrospective of the action/crime films of director Ram Gopal Varma, featuring

There was also Meltdown Memoirs, a documentary about the making of Street Trash, which also played.

Award winners

Horror Jury Awards, for excellence in the Horror Genre[3]

Serving on the Horror jury were Jay Slater of FilmThreat.com, Edwin Neal of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Peter Martin of Twitch.com, and Chris Cargill of AintItCoolNews.com.

Short Film Jury Awards

Serving on the Short Film Jury were Brian Satterwhite, Jay Knowles and Chris Cargill, all of AintItcoolNews.com.

Fantastic Fest Jury Awards, for excellence in films outside the Horror Genre

Serving on the Fantastic Fest Jury Awards were Christian Hallman of the Lund International Fantastic Film Festival, Wiley Wiggins of Dazed and Confused and Waking Life, and Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com and Cinematical.com.

Audience Awards

Highlights

A notable highlight for the audience occurred when Mel Gibson walked into the theater.

2007

The 2007 festival was held September 20–27. In 2007, Fantastic Fest became a supporting member of the Melies European Federation of Fantastic Film Festivals (EFFFF) and helped to found the North American Fantastic Festival Alliance, along with Fantasia in Montreal, and Dead Channels in San Francisco. The official sponsors of the 2007 Fantastic Fest were: AMD, Stella Artois, AT&T, Twitch.com, B-Side, Rue Morgue, Fangoria, and Mondo Macabro.

Premieres

World premieres

US premieres

Texas premieres

Special screenings

Retrospective screenings

The Nikkatsu action series featured films mainly never before shown theatrically in the United States:

Award winners[7]

AMD Next Wave Award, for excellence by an up and coming new filmmaker

Horror Jury Award, for excellence in the Horror genre

Fantastic Fest Jury Award, for excellence outside of the Horror genre

Horror Shorts Award

Animated Shorts Award

Fantastic Shorts Award

Audience Award

Highlights

2008

Fantastic Fest 2008 was held September 18–25.

Premieres

World premieres

US premieres

Texas premieres

Special screenings

Retrospective screenings

There was an Ozploitation retrospective featuring Australian exploitation films from the 70's and 80's:

And the documentary Not Quite Hollywood about Ozploitation in the golden age.

There was also a sampling of Japanese "pinku" titles, including

Award winners[9]

AMD Next Wave Award for excellence by an up-and-coming new filmmaker

AMD Fantastic Fest Online

Horror Features, for excellence in the Horror genre

Fantastic Features, for excellence outside of the Horror genre

Horror Shorts

Fantastic Shorts

Animated Shorts

Highlights

2009

The 2009 festival was held September 24–October 1. It was the first year of the Fantastic Fest Lifetime Achievement Award, given to director Jess Franco. The official sponsors of the 2009 Fantastic Fest were: Real D, G4, Dark Sky Films, Best Buy, Stella Artois, Jeremiah Weed, Ain't It Cool News, and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

Premieres

World premieres

U.S premieres

Texas premieres

Special screenings

Retrospective screenings

A retrospective of the films of Jess Franco in support of his lifetime achievement award:

Award winners[13]

Next Wave Award, for excellence by an up and coming new filmmaker

Horror Jury Award, for excellence in the Horror genre

Fantastic Fest Jury Award, for excellence outside of the Horror genre

Horror Shorts Award

Fantastic Shorts Award

Animated Shorts Award

Audience Award

Highlights

2010

The 2010 festival was held September 23–Sept 30. It was the first year of the Fantastic Arcade, a showcase of independent video games.[14] The presenting sponsors of the 2010 Fantastic Fest were: Dell, AMD, RealD, Ambhar Tequila, FearNet.com, PlayStation and Qriocity.[15]

PREMIERES[16][17][18]

World premieres

International premieres

US premieres

Texas premieres

Special screenings

Retrospective screenings

Live Performances

AWARD WINNERS[19]

The Dell/AMD Next Wave Award, for excellence by an up and coming new filmmaker

Horror Jury Award, for excellence in the Horror genre

Fantastic Fest Jury Award, for excellence outside of the Horror genre

Horror Shorts Award

Fantastic Shorts Award

Animated Shorts Award

Audience Award

Highlights

References

  1. ^ Brown, Todd (2007-12-05). "Variety Publisher Names Fantastic Fest One of Top Ten". Twitch. http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/variety-publisher-names-fantastic-fest-one-of-top-ten/. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  2. ^ MovieMaker, Spring 2008.
  3. ^ Weinberg, Scott (2006-10-01). "Fantastic Fest Award Winners!". Cinematical. http://www.cinematical.com/2006/10/01/fantastic-fest-award-winners/. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  4. ^ Mike Jones (2007-09-27). ""There Will Be Blood" screens at Fantastic Fest". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/blog/1390000339/post/960015096.html. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  5. ^ Kernion, Jette (2007-10-12). "Fantastic Fest Review: Timecrimes". Cinematical. http://www.cinematical.com/2007/10/12/fantastic-fest-review-timecrimes/. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  6. ^ The Hollywood Reporter, 19 January 2008.
  7. ^ Kernion, Jette (2007-09-30). "'Timecrimes' Tops Fantastic Fest Awards". Cinematical. http://www.cinematical.com/2007/09/30/timecrimes-tops-fantastic-fest-awards/. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Odam, Matthew (2008-09-23). "Fantastic Fest award winners". Austin360.com. http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/austinmovies/entries/2008/09/23/fantastic_fest_award_winners.html?cxntfid=blogs_austin_movie_blog. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  10. ^ http://www.fangoria.com/fangoria-entertainment/radio/internal-injuries/4065--fantastic-fest-09-zombieland-a-the-red-carpet.html
  11. ^ By (2009-09-25). "Gentlemen Broncos Movie Review - Read Variety's Analysis Of The Film Gentlemen Broncos". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941243.html. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  12. ^ Kelly, Kevin (03/10/09). "Fantastic Fest Day Eight: Silat, Brains, and Dolph Lundgren". Screen Rant. http://screenrant.com/fantastic-fest-day-silat-brains-dolph-lundgren-kkelly-29118/. Retrieved 2009-10-13. 
  13. ^ Kelly, Kevin (2009-09-30). "Fantastic Fest Announces 2009 Award Winners". Cinematical. http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/30/fantastic-fest-announces-2009-award-winners/. Retrieved 2010-06-27. 
  14. ^ Narcisse, Evan (2010-08-16). "Fantastic Fest Unveils Main Lineup of Fantastic Arcade programming". IFC.com. http://www.ifc.com/news/2010/08/fantastic-fest-unveils-first-w.php. Retrieved 2010-10-07. 
  15. ^ "Sponsor Page". Fantastic Fest official website. http://www.fantasticfest.com/sponsors/. 
  16. ^ Raffel, Lawrence (2010-09-08). "Check out The 2010 Fantastic Fest Line-up". FearNet.com. http://www.fearnet.com/news/b20114_check_out_2010_fantastic_fest_lineup.html. Retrieved 2010-10-07. 
  17. ^ Banger, Deth (2010-08-27). "More Films Added to Fantastic Fest 2010 Line-up". Horror-Movies.CA. http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_18900.html. Retrieved 2010-10-07. 
  18. ^ Brooks, Brian (2010-09-08). "Fantastic Fest adds Premieres and Sneaks to Sept Lineup". IFC.com. http://www.indiewire.com/article/fantastic_fest_adds_premieres_sneaks_to_sept._lineup/. Retrieved 2010-10-07. 
  19. ^ Sojitra, Vinay (2010-09-28). "Fantastic Fest 2010 Award Winners Announced". Today24news.com. http://today24news.com/entertainment/fantastic-fest-2010-award-winners-list-announced-285054. Retrieved 2010-10-07. 

External links

Other Genre Film Festivals