Fantasia genre fest announces program highlights

Unveiling its first save of genre film programming, Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival on Monday said it will give a world premiere to U.S. director Jennifer Lynch’s Chained, which stars Vincent D’onofrio, Eamon Farren and Julia Ormond.

Fantasia, which is set to run from July 19 to Aug. 7, will also give a Quebec premiere to Australian director Penny Vosniak’s documentary Despite the Gods, about Jennifer Lynch’s experience in India directing the Bollywood-U.S. copro Hisss.

And Roller Town, the Picnicface ensemble comedy feature directed by Andrew Bush, will receive its Quebec premiere as part of the festival’s genre film lineup.

The festival will showcase more than 150 international features, including the world premieres of the German-U.S. feature Errors of the Human Body by filmmaker Eron Sheean, Charles de Lauzirika’s Crave and Paul Hough’s The Human Race, both from the U.S., and Argentina’s La Memoria Del Muerto, by Javier Diment.

This year, Fantasia will also debut travelling art show If They Came From Within: An Alternative History of Canadian Horror Movies, to run July 20 to July 29.

The exhibit will see Quebecois and Canadian genre filmmakers like Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun), Vincenzo Natali (Splice), Maurice Devereau, Bruce McDonald (Hardcore Logo), Eric Tessier, Karim Hussain and George Mihalka teamed with Canadian designers and illustrators to create a gallery of imagined movie poster art.

The Montreal festival last week also announced the projects selected for its new Off-Frontieres program of film projects in the development stages, including seven projects from Canada, five of which are Quebec films.

These include N.O.I.R. from Quebec director Yves Christina Fournier and produced by Nicole Robert (Go Films); Alberic Aurteneche’s debut feature Mythose, produced by Simon Trottier (TCB Film); Sweet Blood from writer-director Elza Kephart, written and produced by Patricia Gomez Slatar and produced by Christine Falco (Films Camera Oscura); The Beat, Surrender! From Phillippe Spurell; and Wait Till Helen Comes from Victoria Sanchez and produced by Just Believe Productions.

Also part of the program are Memento Mori, from Toronto’s Jovanka Vukovic, who directs, writes and produces the documentary project with writer-producer Jason Lapeyre (Osaka Sunset Pictures); and Cut Throats Nine, a remake of the western cult classic from Rue Morgue founder Rodrigo Gudino and produced by Marco Pecota (Rue Morgue Cinema).

The 10-project Off-Frontieres program will be part of the Fantasia Industry Rendez-Vous, which will happen July 26 to 29, 2012 during the three-week festival.

The 16th Fantasia Film Festival runs July 19 to August 7, 2012.