montreal – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

WOMEN AT FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2022 – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas reports

July 7, 2022July 8, 2022 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas amanda kramer, Avalon Fast, Canadian Trailblazer Award, Fantasia International Film Festival 2022, FIFF 2022, horror, House of Psychotic Women, KC Carthew, Kier-La Janisse, lena dunham, montreal, Rebekah McKendry

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival – one of the world’s biggest and most highly genre films festivals – returns in 2022 from 14 July to 3 August with its usual impressive line-up of world, national and regional premieres, as well as hosting a diverse array of international and local guests and signature special events. Of these latter, the unquestionable highlight of this year’s Fantasia is the awarding of the Canadian Trailblazer Award to pioneering filmmaker, author, critic, historian and curator, Kier-La Janisse.

Festivals

WOMEN AT MONTREAL’S 2021 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – Report by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

July 22, 2021August 1, 2021 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas fantasia international festival, horror genre, montreal, women film makers, women's programming

Mixing on demand and in-person screenings, the 25th edition of Fantasia International Film Festival (August 5 to 25) offers a smorgasbord of genre film treats, particularly for those of us with an interest in women-made and women-centred cinema. North America’s largest genre fest has been called “the most important and prestigious genre film festival on this continent” by Quentin Tarantino, while Guillermo del Toro has called it “a shrine”. The women’s names associated with this year’s festival may not be as big as these cult film rock stars, don’t let that fool you – women are out here in full force, both in front and behind the camera.

Reviews

ALIEN CRYSTAL PALACE – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

July 15, 2019July 21, 2019 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas 0 Comments alien crystal palace, Arielle Dombasle, asia argento, fantasia international film festival, Jean-Pierre Leaud, montreal

The film is, to put it mildly, more of a sensory experience than an exercise in character development and complex plot mechanics; to explain the story feels like trying to describe the narrative logic of a lava lamp. A haptic celebration of camp, Alien Crystal Palace loosely follows a deranged scientist obsessed with bringing into the world a new kind of perfect being, marked by its defining androgyny.