Live from 11th Fantasia Film Festival

Hi guys, my name's Ziv and I'm gonna be your IONCINEMA guide through the piranha infested waters known as Fantasia. So who am I and why should you care? Absolutely no reason… except that I'm you. I’ve never understood the relation between pineapple and ham and I grew up watching all the same straight to video crap as you. See? We’re not so different…

It's now been eleven years and Fantasia has morphed into something approaching it's own zip code. Who'd a thought that cool little festival from back in '96, devoted almost entireley to Asian cinema, would become the international staging ground for groundbreaking genre film it is today? With almost 60 visiting directors/actors/producers, over 130 features and innumerable shorts spread over three screens, Fantasia packs a lot of punch into it’s 19 day schedule. Fact is, I love this festival. With that said, I offer you ten films I’m excited about seeing at this years edition (in alhabetical order with associated propaganda):

893239 (Japan, 2007)
“…an omnibus of short films with the particular theme of yakuza… the filmmakers run the gamut of approaches, from broad comedy to tearjerking pathos, from music video to mockumentary.”
—Mark Carpenter

Adam's Apples (Denmark / Germany, 2005)
“… de-constructing interpretations of innocence and corruption in ways that frequently surprise… leave(s) you feeling uplifted, mocked and sucker-punched.”
—Mitch Davis

The Backwoods (El bosque de las sombras) (Spain / England / France, 2006)
“A gripping white-knuckle thriller… takes a caustic look at the carnage that can come out of cultural misunderstandings, supercharged with intensity and grit… a searing discourse on the ideals of masculinity and the desperations of violence.”
—Mitch Davis

Borderland (Mexico / USA, 2007)
“…Borderland succeeds… without becoming a xenophobic pandering machine… a bleak and brutal film that packs one hell of a punch.”
—Mitch Davis

The City Of Violence (Korea, 2006)
“… (a) whirlwind of whupass.”
—Rupert Bottenberg

Cosmic Voyage (Russia, 1936)
“… a heroic tale of a Communist society travelling to the moon… as accurate a picture of space travel as one could conjecture at the time, with fanciful sequences of stop-motion animation and extravagant effects.”
—Robert Skotak

Frisson des Vampires, Le (France, 1971)
“Macabre poetry, dark erotica, pulp visuals, insane art direction, a heightened sense of theatricality and a psychedelic rock soundtrack add up to an unrestrainedly euphoric flashpoint in the annals of eccentric cinema.”
—Mitch Davis

Nightmare Detective (Japan, 2007)
“A morbidly poetic and super violent headtrip of a horror/crime film, Nightmare Detective is Shinya Tsukamoto’s cultural Molotov cocktail…”
—Mitch Davis

Right at Your Door (USA, 2006)
“An intimately human depiction of society’s absolute breakdown and a powerful anti-establishment statement… one of the most disturbing American films we’ve seen in years.”
—Mitch Davis

Stalker (Russia, 1979)
“… a metaphysical “road movie” that explores philosophical questions about the relationship between art and science… a mesmerizing, meditative, trance-inducing experience.”
—Donato Totaro

Bonne cinéma!