The 29th Fantasia International Film Festival is set to dazzle audiences from July 16th to August 3rd, with screenings across Montreal’s Concordia Hall, J.A. de Sève cinemas, and Cinéma du Musée. The festival has shifted its start date forward by a day and will reveal its full roster in July, but the latest wave of announcements promises an exhilarating mix of premieres, retrospectives, and special events.
Opening Night: Ari Aster’s “Eddington”
The festival launches with Ari Aster’s gripping new film, “Eddington,” a tense drama set in a fractured New Mexico town where a sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) ignite a volatile feud. With a powerhouse cast including Emma Stone, Austin Butler, and Clifton Collins Jr., this marks Aster’s fourth feature after “Hereditary,” “Midsommar,” and “Beau Is Afraid.”
Takashi Miike’s Triple Feature
Japanese auteur Takashi Miike returns with “three wildly different projects”:
- “Nyaight of the Living Cat” – A zombie-cat apocalypse anime (with world premiere episodes).
- “Blazing Fists” – A “hard-hitting boxing drama” starring J-pop icon Gackt.
- “Sham” – A “nerve-shredding legal thriller” based on a true story.
Thrilling Premieres & Standout Titles
- Izabel Pakzad’s “Find Your Friends” – A desert-set survival thriller starring Helena Howard and Bella Thorne, where a girls’ trip spirals into vengeance.
- Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s “Kazakh Scary Tales” – A folk horror anthology deemed too terrifying for its original streaming platform.
- Félix Dufour Laperrière’s “Death Does Not Exist” – A stunning hand-drawn animated film exploring rebellion and guilt, fresh from Cannes.
- Canadian Premieres – Including Michael Shanks’ “Together,” Alex Russell’s “Lurker,” and Toshiaki Toyoda’s “Transcending Dimensions.”
More Must-See Films
- Ava Maria Safai’s “Foreigner”
- Mickey Reece’s “Every Heavy Thing”
- Simon Glassman’s “Buffet Infinity”
- Yuta Shimotsu’s “New Group”
- t.o.L’s “Tamala 2030: A Punk Cat in Dark”
With a diverse mix of horror, animation, thrillers, and arthouse cinema, Fantasia 2025 is shaping up to be an unmissable celebration of genre-defying filmmaking.
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