Since its inception in 1996, Fantasia has been an event hell-bent on showcasing the most exciting, innovative and individualistic examples of contemporary international genre cinema from every corner of the globe.
It has become a hugely popular Montreal summer tradition for over 105 000 festival-goers to spend three weeks being amazed by sensational celluloid from Japan, Spain, South Korea, Italy, Hong Kong, Germany, Thailand, Denmark, France, Russia, India, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Australia, Holland, Scotland,Iran, Belgium, Sweden, Great Britain, Uruguay, the US and of course, Quebec and Canada.
Over the years, Fantasia has proven itself to be one of the largest and the most cutting edge festivals of its kind. Among our accomplishments, Fantasia is regularly cited as the place where the J-horror craze began in this part of the world - our North American Premiere of RINGU led directly to Dreamworks acquiring the film and producing its blockbuster remake, and Fantasia was also the first festival in North America to screen a film by Takashi Miike. Some other programming coups? We were the first festival in the world to show work from a then-19-year-old Adam Wingard when we world premiered his feature debut HOME SICK, our World Premiere of PERFECT BLUE launched the career of Satoshi Kon, our World Premiere of THE MIDNIGHT SWIM launched Sarah Adina Smith and our Canadian premiere of PI marked the first time a film by Darren Aronofsky was shown in Canada. In 2017, our International premiere of Nico van den Brink’s short SWEET TOOTH led directly to the gifted Dutch filmmaker being signed to Paradigm, with James Wan teaming up with him to make a feature adaptation of the film at New Line. In 2018, our International Premiere of David-Jan Bronsgees' short MEET JIMMY led to the filmmaker signing up with Paramount and Platinum Dunes for a feature-length adaptation.
While we're predominantly known as a Fantastic Film Festival, we have always devoted a significant part of our programming to celebrating atypical films that defy conventional genre classifications. From docs, dramas and comedies, straight to unclassifiable experimental works.
Taking things a step further, in 2012, Fantasia launched the Frontières International Co-Production Market as well as a film market component. Our market lineup has since featured dazzling new projects from Joe Dante, Buddy Giovinazzo, Jacob Tierney, Bobcat Goldthwait, Richard Stanley, Dario Argento and Andrzej Zulawski, to name a few. Subsequent market projects that went into production include RKSS' TURBO KID (2015), Julia Ducournau's RAW (2016), Alexandre O. Philippe's 78/52 (2017), Robin Aubert's LES AFFAMÉS (2017), Brian O'Malley's THE LODGERS (2017), Jenn Wexler's THE RANGER (2018), Aaron Schimberg's CHAINED FOR LIFE (2018) and Dominique Rocher's THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD (2018).
We encourage filmmakers of all backgrounds, interests and obsessions to submit their work.
For more info, visit us online at www.fantasiafestival.com
Bon cinema!
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"One of the most exciting genre film festivals in the world. It is in Montreal that we might discover the next Eraserhead" — PREMIERE MAGAZINE
"One of Canada's hotter film events" — Brendan Kelly, VARIETY
“Fantasia is the most important and prestigious genre film festival on this continent.” — Quentin Tarantino
“Fantasia is a shrine” — Guillermo del Toro
“Fantasia remains to this day one of my very favorite film festivals in the world.” — James Gunn
“I promise to make more genre films just so I can get invited back.” — Edgar Wright
"Fantasia has some of the best audiences and programming out there. As a distributor, it's an essential stop for the latest in genre cinema." — John Von Thaden, Manager of Acquisitions, MAGNOLIA PICTURES
"Many films have been discovered at Fantasia or sparked interest in US remakes, many by my company" — Roy Lee, Producer of IT, THE DISASTER ARTIST, THE DEPARTED, THE RING.
"Mammoth...The world's largest genre film festival" — Bryce J. Renninger, INDIEWIRE
"Le Festival Fantasia de Montréal est la plus importante manifestation d’Amérique du Nord consacrée au cinéma de genre" — LES CAHIERS DU CINEMA
“In a lot of ways, my career started at Fantasia. This is a true film festival and I hope to be a part of it for years and years to come.”
— Mike Flanagan
“Fantasia took a chance on my film and changed my life in the process. The festival surrounds itself on all sides with people who truly love and appreciate unique films... that's what makes the fest so incredibly special."
— Sarah Adina Smith
"A must-see event... Like nothing else in the world" — LES INROCKUPTIBLES
"The largest festival of its kind on this continent. The sheer number of discoveries is astonishing." — FANGORIA MAGAZINE
"Top notch... people line up around the block for hours in wait to see a film" — FILM THREAT
"Fantasia is the hippest film festival in town" — THE MONTREAL GAZETTE
"one of the coolest festivals in the world" — MAD MOVIES
"If I missed Fantasia I'd drive an icepick into my brain" — RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE
“An absolute behemoth. One of the most important genre film festivals in the world. Fantasia maintains its singular spirit in programming films that take risks.”
– Justine Smith, SENSES OF CINEMA
"One of the country's greatest cinematic events" — Olivier Skinner, CBC NEWS
“This cinematic orgy, with runs through three weeks in the month of July, is really something else — without a doubt, the most important concentration of cinematic pop culture there is. Fantasia reveals an intense connection to film, a love of movies that is at once lighthearted and deeply serious.” — Jean-François Rauger, LE MONDE
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MISSION & OBJECTIVE:
A legendary 3-week blow-out of worldwide fantastic cinema taking place each July in the heart of Montreal, now deep in planning its 23rd edition.
We’re currently on the lookout for features and shorts to showcase at this summer’s event. What exactly are we looking for? While predominantly a fantasy/action/horror festival, Fantasia has always embraced films whose sheer individuality puts them in a genre of their own. If you’re not sure whether your film is right for us, consider that we’ve showcased everything from captivating dramas, eccentric comedies, provocative documentaries, mind-blowing experimental works, musicals, even atypical children’s films. In other words, set our minds’ eyes on fire and we’ll do everything possible to get your film seen. Feel free to browse our website for a better understanding of our programming tastes.
Any work produced in the past 12 months (after August 2020) is eligible for consideration in our official jury competitions and for our Public’s Prize.
Any work made available for public viewing before our during our dates will be ineligible.
Fantasia offers a multitude of curated award opportunities for the films it showcases.
- The Cheval Noir Jury Competition (Best Film, Director, Screenwriter, Actor, Actress)
- The International Short Film Competition
- The Camera Lucida Competition
- The New Flesh Award (Best First Feature)
- The Satoshi Kon Award (Achievement in Animation)
- The Audience Award