Fantasia Fest adds the North American premiere of SADAKO, Bruce Macdonald’s DREAMLAND, rare 35mm screenings, and much more

The complete lineup for the 23rd Fantasia International Film Festival is here.

The long-running genre festival opens on July 11 with the North American premiere of Sadako, the latest film set in the Japanese Ring world, with original Ringu director Hideo Nakata back at the helm.

Other newly announced highlights include Canadian filmmaking legend Bruce Macdonald’s Dreamland, a Montreal-shot black comedy starring Juliette Lewis, Stephen McHattie, and Henry Rollins, recent festival favourite Bliss, a haunting vampire film shot on 16mm, Ireland’s Vivarium, and SXSW hit The Art of Self Defense, a biting black comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg. Other highlights include Ready or Not, the Promare anime release, A Good Woman is Hard to Find, Sator, the Canadian premiere of the Chinese historical epic Kingdom, and much more.

Fantasia has a strong emphasis on female creators this year, including 21st Century Girl, a Japanese film made-up of 14 shorts pieces from young female directors, Korea’s recent festival favourite Maggie from Yi Ok-seop, and Ode To Nothing, from Filipino director Dwein Ruedas Baltazar.

This year’s festival will also screen a number of classic genre films in newly-restored 2k and 4k scans, including 1984’s Decoder, 1971’s, Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, 1974’s The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, 1982’s Satan’s Slave, 1981’s Son of the White Mare, and 1981’s The Legend of the Stardust Brothers. Alongside the new digital restorations, the festival will break out the old-school projectors for 35mm and 16mm screenings of classics like 1983’s The Boxer’s Omen, 1976’s Look What’s Happened To Rosemary’s Baby, a made-for-TV sequel to Roman Polanski’s hit film, 1992 Hong Kong action favourite Full Contact, as well as Ted Kotcheff’s First Blood, the 1982 film that kickstarted the Rambo franchise.

Live event highlights include horror expert Joe Bob Briggs, who will present Joe Bob Briggs Live: How Rednecks Saved Hollywood, Edward R. Pressman: Live in Conversation, Horror Express: The Fantasia Edition, featuring House of Psychotic Women author Kier-La Janisse and Fangoria’s Michael Gingold leading an afternoon bus tour of Montreal’s most famous and infamous horror film locations, and more.

All of the above join the lineup of previously announced titles including Killerman starring Liam Hemsworth, a special screening of Phantom of the Paradise, Critters Attack, a Studio Ghibli live concert, and much more.

Fantasia runs from July 11 – August 1 at Concordia University, Cinémathèque québécoise,the McCord Museum, and Cinéma du Musée. For tickets and the complete schedule visit the festival’s official site.