THE GREAT YOKAI WAR – GUARDIANS by Takashi Miike
revealed as the closing film of the Festival
August 5 to 25, 2021
The programming team of the Fantasia International Film Festival has announced the latest wave of titles that will make up its 25th edition, which will be presented online from August 5 to 25, as well as in theaters in Montreal. The festival also announced that the closing film of the festival on August 25 at the Imperial Cinema will be the highly anticipated film THE GREAT YOKAI WAR – GUARDIANS by renowned Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike.
Takashi Miike back in Fantasia
It is THE GREAT YOKAI WAR – GUARDIANS by Takashi Miike that will close this 25th edition of the festival. A regular at Fantasia, the filmmaker returns here with the sequel to The Great Yokai War, which opened the festival in 2006. For this new feature film, presented in its international premiere at the Imperial Cinema on August 25, Takashi Miike takes viewers into a universe brimming with creativity and references to popular culture… in the company of friendly Japanese demons!
Fantasia’s full lineup unveiled
With this new wave of titles, the programming of Fantasia 2021 is now complete, and among this impressive selection, we must mention the presentation of several world premieres, including the thriller BULL by British director Paul Andrew Williams and of course the nightmarish WHAT JOSIAH SAW by Vincent Grashaw, where a family must face the demons of its past. The festival’s audience will also be able to premiere Rueben Martell’s Aboriginal horror film DON’T SAY ITS NAME. Other titles unveiled today include OPERATION LUCHADOR by Quebecer Alain Vézina, a fake documentary that retraces the journey of the Golden Angel, a Mexican wrestler who allegedly participated in the fall of the Third Reich, as well as the world premiere of the thriller THE DEVIL’S DEAL by Korean Director Lee-won Tae and the French horror film THE DEEP HOUSE by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. Finally, the festival also presents CATCH THE FAIR ONE by Josef Kubota Wladyka, a film co-produced by Darren Aronofsky and Mollye Asher (NOMADLAND) that won the Audience Award for Best Feature Fiction at this year’s Tribeca Festival.
The full line-up will be available from July 21st on the festival’s website in https://fantasiafestival.com/
Panels and special events
In addition to its selection of films in theaters and online, Fantasia will present “online” a series of free panels and special events accessible to all. These include:
TURBO KID: FROM FILM TO VIDEO GAME on Tuesday, August 24 at 2 pm.
The conference will be moderated by Marc Lamothe and Justin Langlois, and will take place in the presence of the trio of RKSS directors (François Simard, Anouk Whissel, Yoann-Karl Whissel), producers Anne-Marie Gélinas and Benoit Beaulieu (EMA Films), musicians Le Matos, members of Outerminds (Rémi Lavoie, Odile Prouveur, Guiz De Pessemier) and Vibe Avenue.
The full list of online events is available on the festival’s website in https://fantasiafestival.com/
The films of the Cheval Noir competition
Finally, Fantasia programmers are very happy to unveil the films that will be part of the Cheval Noir competition of this 25th anniversary edition:
ALL THE MOONS – Espagne / France, Réal : Igor Legarreta
THE DEVIL’S DEAL – South Korea, Real: Lee Won-tae
HELLBENDER – USA, Reals: Toby Poser, John Adams, Zelda Adams
GHOSTING GLORIA – Uruguay, Réals : Marcela Matta, Mauro Sarser
THE GREAT YOKAI WAR – GUARDIANS – Japon, Réal: Takashi Miike
HOTEL POSEIDON – Belgium, Real. Stef Lernous
INDEMNITY – South Africa, Real. Travis Taute
LOVE, LIFE AND GOLDFISH – Japon, Réal. Yukinori Makabe
MARTYRS LANE – UK, Réal. Ruth Platt
REMAIN IN TWILIGHT – Japan, Real. Daigo Matsui
THE RIGHTEOUS – Canada, Réal. Mark O’Brien
TOKYO REVENGERS – Japan, Real. Tsutomu Hanabusa
VOICE OF SILENCE – South Korea, Real. Hong Eui-jeong
WONDERFUL PARADISE – Japan, Real. Masashi Yamamoto
Here is the composition of the juries of this 25th edition of Fantasia:
BLACK HORSE COMPETITION
Agnieszka Smoczyńska (President of the jury) – Poland – Director, Screenwriter
Kambole Campbell – United Kingdom – Author, Film Critic
Paula Devonshire – Canada – Producer
Mónica García Massagué– Spain – Author, Professor, Director General of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival
Simon Rumley– UNITED KINGDOM – Director, Author
“NEW FLESH” AWARD FOR THE FIRST FILM
Kim Newman (Jury Chair) – UK – Author, Critic, Broadcaster
Jill Gevargizian– UNITED STATES – Director, writer, producer
Gigi Saul Guerrero – Mexico – Director, Screenwriter
Brian O’Malley– Ireland – Director, Writer
Myriam Sassine– Lebanon – Producer, Co-Founder of the Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival
INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Co-Presidents of the jury) – Belgium– Directors, Screenwriters
Prano Bailey-Bond – United Kingdom – Director, Screenwriter
Yfke van Berckelaer– Netherlands – Director, Screenwriter
Faye Jackson – Scotland– Director, Screenwriter
AQCC CAMERA LUCIDA COMPETITION
Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma du Québec
Jean-Marie Lanlo
Martin Gignac
Claire Valade
AXIS COMPETITION FOR BEST ANIMATED FILM
Hefang Wei (President of the jury)– France – Director, Artistic Director and Co-founder of Weilaï Productions
Ashkan Rahgozar – Iran – Director, Author, Founder and President of Hoorakhsh Studios
Kalp Sanghvi – India – Director, Author, Co-founder of the Ghost Animation Collective
Fantasia announced a few weeks ago that the festival will open its 25th edition on August 5 with the world premiere of the Quebec film BRAIN FREEZE by Julien Knafo, an apocalyptic zombie film starring 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.
The full list of titles from the 2021 selection will be available from July 23 at https://fantasiafestival.com/. The 25th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival will take place from August 5 to 25, 2021 and will be accessible via the Internet across Canada, with some screenings taking place in theatres in Montreal. Moviegoers are invited to purchase their tickets online on the festival’s website, starting July 23.
