Special Report: Fantasia 2026

Hey, folks, welcome to a special episode of the Projection Booth. I'm your host, Mike White. We are talking about Fantasia twenty twenty six. This is the annual curtain raiser, as they call it. If you're not familiar with the Fantasia International Film Festival, it is one of the best genre festivals on the planet and it runs from July sixteenth through August second, twenty twenty six, over in Montreal, Quebec.

If you have never been, you owe it to yourself to go. If you're a regular, you already know how special this place is. So let's talk about what's in stom. Obviously, I haven't seen a lot of these movies, but I am excited and I just want to help spread the word a little bit here. So Fantasia has always had a gift for programming films that feel genuinely dangerous, movies that haven't been sanded down into something comfortable or safe, and obviously this year is no exception.

The lineup spans Japanese horror, Indonesian martial arts epics, brazil Zillion toilet nightmares yes you heard that right, French animated cringe comedy, and an Australian dark comedy with Olivia Coleman voicing a talking fox who offers to redesign your fiance. That one is called The Fox. It is the closing night film. And if you're not hooked by that description, you might want to turn off this podcast. They festival is divided across several programming strands.

I'm not going to name them all because some of them are in French and you don't want to hear me try to butcher French. So just know that it is quite a few different strands of programming. The opening night major titles here we've got on July sixteenth. It opens with Her Private Hell. It's the new Nicholas Winding Refin film.

It's also the time that they are going to give him the Career Award, being presented by Refin. I am sure that mister Friedkin is probably rolling over in his grave at the news of that, but still one of my favorite exchanges is those two. Anyway. Her Private Hell is set in a futuristic city engulfed by a mysterious mist that releases something deadly. It is equal parts sci fi and nightmare, and it's having its big North American premiere here after playing at Con.

It's one to see on the big screen. I'm hoping that it comes to Detroit because I will not be covering these in person. I will be watching these on the small screen, and some of these I will probably not be able to get my hands on. If you want to talk about directors who are in their element at Fantasia, Kyoshi Krosawa is near the top of that list. His new period film The Samurai and Dot Dot Dot clocks in at one hundred and forty seven minutes and screen in North America premiere.

It's a samurai drama from Kurrosawa, but not that Kurrosawa. Definitely check it out, though. Also getting a North American premiere is Beasts Clutching at Straws. It's from Hideo Jojo. It is a multi character ensemble black comedy, and the Fantasia program calls it this standout of the festival.

Pretty strong endorsement from a program that doesn't hand out compliments very lightly. Then you've got the director of The Lure and Fugue and Jessica Schozenitka. Sure I know that I knew how to say it at one point because she was actually on the show. It was a tragic case of the interview being recorded and then me opening up the recording and it being completely blank. So yeah, she was supposed to be on our episode about the Lure.

It took forever for me to get a hold of her. Finally got a hold of her, finally got her on the phone, finally got the interview, and the file screwed up. So still er still angry about that one. Because the Lure is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing this new one.

It's a private detective sci fi story about a murder that's run by a sentient AI and it's got NUMEI or pacing there, and yeah, I'm really excited to see that one. Hopefully I will be seeing that soon. And for those who have been following Jen Wexler's work, the Last Temptation is the sequel to Becky and Becky Hooper is back, and this time she's working for the CIA. Have you seen these Becky films. They're very, very fun and they have some great casting.

Kevin James was in one, Sean Williams Scott was in another. This time Neil Patrick Harris is there and I cannot wait to see that. I'm super excited. Hopefully we'll be talking with the director about that one and seeing that very soon. So of course there's animation this year.

There is Blaze. It's a French adult animated film, and I'm really excited for that one as well. Sorry, it's going to sound like a broken record because I'm excited about a lot of these films. I'm really looking forward to hopefully get my eyeballs on there. Over on the documentary side, I want to give a couple shout outs.

We spoke with Maya Anik Bedward a few months ago about Black Zombie. That was at south By Southwest and it also played at Hot Docs, I believe, and it is a great film talks about the zombie as a concept, and especially about a very racist concept. I would definitely check that one out. It's very well made. I had a lot of fun watching it, very thought provoking, So yeah, check that one out.

The other one is Rubber, the Life and Monsters of Steve Johnson, and I think I'm going to be sitting down with the director of that one tomorrow. If you're a fan of practical effects, if you're a listener of this show, and you probably are, This documentary is about one of the great creature and effects artists in the business, and it is a must see. Be patient and that will be coming out relatively soon because I want to get these Fantasia episodes out as they happen. It's a long festival right July sixteenth through August second, and you've got a couple weeks there. It's an interesting festival.

A lot of them take place over weekends. This one takes place over weeks. Was it ready for that when I went to Fantasia the one time I mentioned retro stuff, the archival programming, so I was punching above its weight. Twenty twenty six is no different. We've got a pair of career awards driving some of the retrospective picks.

Robert Lapage is the See Again It's French, the pre Danis Edrol Award at the festival, and it is screening his debut feature Lacrofessionale from nineteen ninety five, showing that on thirty five millimeter, as well as Possible Worlds from two thousand, also on thirty five. Bruce McDonald, who we've spoken to on the show before, is coming back. He's getting the Canadian Trailblazer Award. They're going to be showing a screen of Pontypool, which is a freaking fantastic movie. Definitely check out our episode on that, and if you haven't seen that, you probably should try to see it on thirty five with a whole audience of people.

Actually, I don't know if it's on thirty five, but seeing it on the big screen is going to be something. Also, Vinegar Syndrome, it's bringing a four K restoration of Paul Morrissey's forty Deuce from eighty two. We've got Kevin Bacon as a streets houseler in there. It's pre aids, pre gentrification New York. Also, seven Films is presenting the world premiere of a four K restoration from Studio Qes Marcella Fernandez, Violante and Error.

Four four four is premiering a restoration of Thrilling Bloody Sword. It's a nineteen eighty one Taiwanese Wooshi film for those and was thought to be lost for nearly forty years, so that's pretty exciting. Also, there's the world premiere restoration of Middle Messiah, the nineteen seventy eight Canadian glam rock sci fi film that's been hiding in the dark fur and merely fifty years. Sounds like a projection booth episode waiting to happen. I don't have it on the schedule yet for twenty twenty seven, but kind of seems like it.

And then also, hey, you like Chelian Fat, you like t Long Well, We've got a screening in thirty five of City War from nineteen eighty eight. Do I need to say more than that? Hopefully not one more career moment worth flagging. Takashi Shimitsu, the director of juan Aka The Grudge, is receiving the pre du carrier on the refik Cheval Noir. How was that?

And the festival is screening not one, but two new Shimisu films, The Mouths and The Village of Eight Gravestones, a Shinto tinged horror mystery adapted from the author Sieshi Yoko Mitso, and both are North American premieres. It is a good time to be a Shimizu fan once again. Fantasia runs from July sixteenth through August seco in Montreal. Full schedule and tickets are at Fantasia Festival dot com, and if you can't get there, just wait stick around, we'll be covering some of those films. You can hear some interviews and just whet your appetite even more.

As always, thank you so much for listening to the Projection Booth. If you want to support the show, find us over on Patreon, and you can always rent a lot of the things that we talk about and plenty of the films that we cover over at Scarecrow Videos rent by mail service. Until next time, thanks so much, Keep the dirty side down and the shiny side up, and we'll talk to you again.