Hot on the heels of Toronto, Fantastic Fest is happy to announce the addition of seven more titles to its 2017 line-up.
Festival Creative Director Evrim Ersoy said, “From the engaging intelligence of Joseph Kahn’s Bodied to the gritty tragedy of Stephen McCallum’s vivid biker drama 1%, these titles represent some of the most striking and original films out there. It is a pleasure to be able to include them in our program this year.”
A number of titles will be getting their World and North American Premieres at the festival. These include Deborah Haywood’s British-realism-meets-gothic-fairytale exploration of bullying in the exceptional Pin Cushion; Albert Dupontel’s visually bewitching saga See You Up There; a dazzlingly weird holiday resort tale from director Ian Lagarde in All You Can Eat Buddha; and Wizard, the intricate exploration of South African daily life and criminality from director Kadiso Lediga.
The last-minute additions list also sees two brilliant TV shows joining the fray: from France, the mysterious Black Spot, about a village where phones do not work, and from Belgium comes Tabula Rasa, which features a young woman with amnesia becoming a key figure in a weird disappearance case.
Two brand new shorts from Stage 13 productions will also be having their World Premieres at the festival with Two Sentence Horror Stories: Snap and Two Sentence Horror Stories: Singularity, playing with previously announced titles Vampire Clay and Vidar The Vampire.
Fantastic Fest starts next week on Thursday 21st September with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Features
1%
Australia, 2017
US Premiere, 92 min
Director - Stephen McCallum
When Knuck gets out of prison and returns to his motorcycle club on the fringes of Australian society, he finds himself in deadly conflict with his surrogate son Paddo. Only one of them can survive the coming battle.
ALL YOU CAN EAT BUDDHA
Canada, 2017
World Premiere, 84 min
Director - Ian Lagarde
In this hypnotic tale, the arrival of a large, enigmatic guest at a picturesque all-inclusive resort signals a series of events that indicate he is able to perform miracles.
BLACK SPOT (ZONE BLANCHE)
France, 2017
US Premiere, 156 min
Directors - Thierry Poiraud & Julien Despaux
Creator - Mathieu Missoffe
An ambitious prosecutor arrives in a secluded town to address a number of violent crimes, only to find himself caught in the town’s dark web of mysteries.
BODIED
USA, 2017
US Premiere, 121 min
Director - Joseph Kahn
Adam is a grad student with an obsessive but academic interest in the world of battle rap. When a chance encounter brings him into that world he discovers a savage side to himself he never knew existed.
PIN CUSHION
United Kingdom, 2017
North American Premiere, 85 min
Director - Deborah Haywood
In this wholly unique blend of gothic fairytale and heart-wrenchingly real emotion from first-time feature director Deborah Haywood, Iona and her mother arrive in a new town hoping for a better life, but find themselves targeted by bullies.
SEE YOU UP THERE
France, 2017
North American Premiere, 114 min
Director - Albert Dupontel
A man sits in a Moroccan police station, accused of multiple crimes. He tells the story of a journey that starts in 1918, in the trenches days before Armistice, and takes two fascinating characters all the way through the war to Paris and beyond.
TABULA RASA
Belgium, 2017
US Premiere of Episodes. 1 and 2; World Premiere of Episode 3; 150 min
Directors - Jonas Govaerts & Kaat Beels
Series created by Malin-Sarah Gozin
The first three episodes of a gripping Belgian psychological TV thriller about a young female amnesiac who’s the key subject in a man’s disappearance.
WIZARD
South Africa, 2017
World Premiere, 79 min
Director - Kagiso Lediga
Young Lefa proves not to be such a terribly convincing criminal as he, and his best friend Papi, attempt to fund his university tuition by peddling weed in the South African townships.
Shorts
TWO SENTENCE HORROR STORIES: SINGULARITY
USA, 2017
World Premiere, 16 min
Director - Vera Miao
After a transgender biohacker implants revolutionary technology into her own body, she is terrified to discover she can tap more than just the internet.
TWO SENTENCE HORROR STORIES: SNAP
USA, 2017
World Premiere, 15 min
Director - Danny Perez
A notoriously cruel celebrity blogger dismisses a mysterious foe as harmless… until he wakes up to a video of himself sleeping on his own phone.