August 5-25, 2021
The Fantasia International Film Festival is very pleased to announce that its 25th edition will open in style on August 5th with the world premiere of the feature film BRAIN FREEZE, directed by Julien Knafo and co-written by Jean Barbe. The 25th edition of Fantasia will take place from the 5 to 25 of August 2021 and will take place mostly online for the second year in a row. In addition to its virtual edition, which will be accessible to moviegoers from all over Quebec and Canada, the Festival also hopes to be able to present theatrical screenings, in accordance with current health standards.
Opening Film: the world premiere of Julien Knafo’s BRAIN FREEZE
BRAIN FREEZE , the first solo feature film directed by Julien Knafo and co-written by Julien Knafo and Jean Barbe, will kick off this 25th edition of Fantasia. This Quebec apocalyptic zombie film features an impressive roster of local actors including Roy Dupuis, Iani Bédard, Marianne Fortier, Simon-Olivier Fecteau, Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Stéphane Crête, Claudia Ferri, Louis-Georges Girard, Mahée Paiement, Mylène Mackay and Marie-Lyne Joncas.
BRAIN FREEZE was one of the projects selected and supported by the Fantasia Frontiers co-production market in 2016, as Barbara Shrier (Palomar), producer of the film, points out: “The Frontiers networking platform was the first opportunity for us to present our project to a wide audience. Thanks to the tools offered, support and positive energy, we emerged from this experience with a new lease of life and lots of new ideas. More determined than ever, we created a film that led us to this much-needed World Premiere: the opening film of the 25th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival. The loop is closed! »

Fantasia unveils its 25th edition poster
In addition, the Fantasia team is also very proud to unveil the poster for its 25th edition, created once again by illustrator Donald Caron. For this anniversary edition, the artist highlights in particular the importance of Japanese cinema in the history of the festival. The line-up for the 25th edition of Fantasia will be gradually unveiled over the next few months, but the poster already points to an important Japanese presence in this year’s special selection!
A promising 25th edition and an important role in the industry
After the great success of its virtual edition of 2020 despite the constraints and difficulties related to the pandemic, the Festival team is actively working on the development of a 25th edition rich in activities and surprises. While the online festival format remains preferred to ensure public safety and allow as many moviegoers as possible to participate in the event, Fantasia also hopes to be able to present several films and activities in theaters.
In 2020, Fantasia was the first Montreal festival to offer moviegoers and industry a cross-Canada virtual event (more than 100 films were offered), in collaboration with the FestivalScope/Shift72 viewing platform. In addition, several producers have entered into distribution agreements for North America following the selection of their titles at Fantasia 2020, including THE BLOCK ISLAND SOUND (Netflix), COME TRUE (IFC Films), THE PAPER TIGERS (WellGo USA) and ANYTHING FOR JACKSON (Shudder).
The 25th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is presented by Videotron in collaboration with Desjardins, and is made possible by the financial support of the Quebec government, SODEC, Telefilm Canada, the City of Montreal, the Montreal Arts Council and Tourisme Montréal.
Distributed by Filmoption International, BRAIN FREEZE will be released in Canada on Friday, August 13, 2021.