The Fantasia International Film Festival (“Fantasia”) will celebrate its upcoming 29th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 16 through August 3, 2025, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montreal’s Cinéma du Musée.
Fantasia’s film line-up has been announced in three waves and—as a curtain raiser—I’m focusing on five films from each wave. Although I’m not able to attend the festival this year, I’m grateful to have been granted remote press privileges. Remote coverage of an exciting film festival like Fantasia is tempered completely by whatever is offered on screeners, which doesn’t always comport with what I hope to see from the roster of films available at the festival proper. But on the basis of sheer desire, here are five picks from each of the waves that I hope will be made available for my remote coverage.
FIRST WAVE
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Mexico’s zoomorphic alebrijes achieved voice and characterization in Revoltoso (which translates as “rebellious”) “demonstrating daring ideas and a bedeviled attention to detail” (again, Fantasia). The band Altermutz who scored the short received a Certificate of Outstanding Achievement for Best Original Score at the Brooklyn Film Festival. That score is available on Spotify. Rebellion abounds in Revoltoso, which features a “revolting” three-eyed boar named Jabalito who is on the scene of one of the first filmed wars in history: the Mexican Revolution.
Los Hermanos Ambriz followed up with Frankelda’s Book of Spooks (2021), a five-episode miniseries on Cartoon Network Latin America and HBO Max, introducing the phantom “ghostwriter” Frankelda and her companion Herneval, a grumpy enchanted book, both trapped in a sentient haunted house. Eager to tell her handful of spooky stories, Frankelda addresses stories of children not wanting to be themselves and the danger that wishes come true, not free. The series ended on a disappointing cliffhanger and so I Am Frankelda remedies that by fleshing out Frankelda’s origin story. “It turns out that the most astonishing tale the two have to tell is their own!” Fantasia asserts. “The dazzling I Am Frankelda explores the challenging childhood of Francisca Imelda, and how she came to befriend Herneval, prince of the realm that lies on the other side of our dreams.”
I am Frankelda, a North American premiere in Fantasia’s Animation Plus section, would be a “must see” if I were attending the festival proper and I can only mantengo mis dedos cruzados that it will show up on the screener list.
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Reviewing Burning for Asian Movie Pulse when it screened at the Bishkek International Film Festival, Panos Kotzathanasis comments: “This triptych structure is especially compelling due to the commentary embedded within each narrative. The overarching theme, tying all three together, concerns how small communities function, driven by superstition, gossip, and a general lack of reliable information. Notably, the three accounts are attributed to the family’s neighbors, each claiming firsthand knowledge and contradicting one another. This cleverly critiques the formation of public opinion and the instability of memory and rumor.”
Director Radik Eshimov, an emerging Kyrgyz talent known for blending sharp social commentary with humor in hits like the television series El Emne Deit (2016-2019), leans towards suspense and horror with Burning, yet retains his skill for social commentary. As reviewed by Basil Baradaran for The Asian Cinema Critic: “What Eshimov creates, other than a pretty decent horror film, is a strong feminist message about grief, abuse, and taking a stand when the men are making up stories about how the women in town are either demon-possessed or straight up monsters. It’s a film about women being silenced, about being told what to do, and being painted in unflattering, horrible lights. And, more than jinns or witches or curses, is the real horror here.”
My remaining three wishes out of Fantasia’s First Wave are all world premieres so, at best, I can only emphasize anticipation and quote the program capsules directly, with a reason why the films have caught my attention.
The Bearded Girl, screening in Fantasia’s Septentrion Shadows section, plays into my fascination with dark carnivals, the horrors of normality in contrast to what is considered freakish, and the longstanding meld between the horror genre and queer themes.
The Well (2025)—"For his narrative feature debut, the Oscar-nominated documentarian Hubert Davis (Hardwood, Black Ice) looks to the future with a bleak prediction of environmental collapse. As the world’s resources dwindle and a deadly virus keeps people apart, a family protects their fresh water source from outsiders. When a young, injured man disrupts their solitude, and their daughter’s defiance threatens to reveal their precious well to another camp led by a charismatic but steely matriarch, danger brings the two factions together in a thrilling ride. The Well sets up a chilling scenario of what could happen in our very near future and is executive-produced by Clement Virgo (Brother) and Damon D’Oliveira (Wildhood); and stars Arnold Pinnock (The Porter), Shailyn Pierre-Dixon (The Book of Negros), Idrissa Sanogo (Robin Hood), and Canadian screen and stage royalty Sheila McCarthy (Women Talking) as the matriarch Gabriel.”
“As a father,” Davis told Zac Ntim of Deadline, “my own fear and anxieties for my kids’ futures inspired The Well. I want to shelter them from chaos, but watching their journey to pursue full lives opened my eyes to what our continued existence hinges on community. The Well challenges us to expand our imagination on what and who we need to let in to rebuild after the end of the world.”
Also screening in Fantasia’s Septentrion Shadows section, The Well intrigues me because the worst dystopian nightmare I can think of is not mutants or radioactivity or any of that; it’s what ordinary people will resort to in an effort to survive in a near-future world of diminishing resources. This is a theme that has been strong in my mind ever since 1961 when I watched “The Shelter” episode from The Twilight Zone. “The Shelter” directly addressed distrust and a breakdown of civility in the immediate aftermath of a potential nuclear bomb. Having skirted the threat of nuclear war, humankind now threatens itself with environmental collapse.
As national cinemas go, Korean cinema ranks high on my list ever since Memories of Murder (2003) dazzled me with its nuanced characterizations and exceptional cinematography. I’ve watched many Korean films since then and they have maintained a visual excellence that always keeps me coming back for more.
