CJLO at Fantasia Film Festival 2025
The Fantasia Film Festival, the premiere international genre film festival that takes over Montreal’s Concordia Hall and surrounding area every summer, is back this year for the 29th edition, happening from July 17th to August 7th 2025. There is sure to be a film for everyone that will allow audiences to beat the heat and grab a seat. Before we get to the selection picks from the At The Movies team, here are the important films and events that will be happening.
Remi: Opening the festival on July 16th would be a stark contrast in terms of film selection. The one that I am looking forward to seeing is Eddington, a western set against the backdrop of the pandemic, as a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) running for mayor squares off against a rival candidate (Pedro Pascal). In case you missed the sold-out premiere Eddington is in a wider release as of Friday July 18th. If you are looking more for a lighthearted family friendly fare, then maybe the new Smurfs movie from director Chris Miller might be a bet. Screening in both French and English this instalment promises new music from Rihanna who voices Smurfette. Closing out the festival would be the more adult-oriented animated film from director Genndy Tartakovsky Fixed. Director Genndy Tartakovsky will be in attendance and is to be honored with the prestigious CHEVAL NOIR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
Here are some other events to highlight. Another CHEVAL NOIR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD will be presented to composer Danny Elfman. This is following the animated short film Bullet Time from director Eddie Alcazar, with music composed by Danny Elfman. Relive the decade of the 90’s highlighting the importance of the Quebec music video channel MusiquePlus with Les années MusiquePlus : Ces artistes qui ont débuté avec le vidéoclip which will feature clips, testimonials and memories. My final event that I will highlight would be a talk moderated by Vincenzo Nappi. Art Lives! Canadian Outsider Cinema vs. the Machine with DIY Canadian filmmakers that have uncompromising visions and ideas that might be outside of the realm of government grants and mainstream tastes. If you are looking for the other events, here are some more highlights.
Remi’s Picks For Fantasia 2025
As previously stated, I am very excited for the opening night film from director Ari Aster, Eddington. Where I normally love to start off my Fantasia selections is by selecting a documentary. This year’s pick for me has to be Occupy Cannes from director Lily Hayes Kauffman. This documentary follows the independent film company Troma, known for their cult films The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet. In 2013, their team visited the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film where they made a name for themselves through their fake bloody spectacle antics, with the hopes of selling their latest production Return to Nuke ‘Em, and demonstrating favour of independent cinema in the face of media conglomeration. What comes out of this Troma Occupy Cannes movement would be the kind of crazy antics once accepted and supported by the festival as an independent spirit, is now being frowned upon by the organizers and authorities. This pairs well with the event that I previously highlighted Art Lives! Canadian Outsider Cinema vs. the Machine. The Fantasia Film Festival is a great marketplace for these genre cult films to find distribution and see the light of day in a theatrical release. I highly recommend all the films from the Documentaries From The Edge section of the festival, as this is one of my favourite sections.
My second pick is Lurker from director Alex Russell, who has previous writing credits on the television series The Bear, Dave and the mini series Beef. A retail worker, Mathew (Théodore Pellerin), who keeps to himself, befriends a rising pop star, Oliver (Archie Andrews), after he puts on one of Oliver's songs as he is visiting the shop. Oliver rewards Matthew with an invitation to his next show, where Matthew gets wrapped up with Oliver’s entourage, which is best described as aggressive hipsters and weirdly scornful hangers-on, a competitive inner circle to be in. While he blends in and is accepted into Oliver’s inner circle and world, Matthew’s internet cred continues to blow up, along with his sinister narcissism. When you get to that level, Matthew is determined by any means to keep up appearances. A parable about the darker side of social media addiction and celebrity status might be a step up from Trey Edward Shults’s Hurry Up Tomorrow when it comes to the writing for the film.
For my third film selection ,Hank et En Ville from director Feber E Coyote, which might pair well with Eddington, given it is a Western. When the small town factory is on strike, two western singers, Ghislain Vachon (Martin Jr Pelletier) and Suzanne (Geneviève Néron), with opposing dreams, form a duo act in the hopes of winning a radio competition. Things get complicated when Suzanne’s former brother-in-law, Jim Larochelle (Michael Kelly), returns in order to win her back. After Jim becomes the prime suspect of a murder at the factory, he takes Suzanne and flees to the United States. Convinced this is a kidnapping, Ghislain sets off in pursuit that will be backdropped by western music, passion and identity conflicts.
Finally has to be the remaster of John Woo’s Bullet to the Head. The story is set in Hong Kong in 1967 as three friends, Ben (Tony Leung), Frank (Jacky Cheung), and Paul (Waise Lee), are trying to figure out their future. On the night of Ben’s wedding to Jane (Fennie Yuen) the three friends kill a loan shark, leading a violent mob after them. They escape to Vietnam in the middle of a war and pull off odd jobs. When a risky CIA job is handed to them, it leads them deep into the jungle a war conflict between countries and ideologies, but also loyalties are tested. Hopefully, I get to this screening and get some homework in as John Woo will be getting The Director’s Influence episode later on this fall. From the back story, this was one of the first films to open the festival in 1996 and is cited as one of Woo’s favourites. Through the thematics of brotherhood, loyalty and honour, the film dives deep into an anti-war thematic reminiscent of The Deer Hunter without hesitating to show the dark side of war.
Fantasia has something for all audiences across the board, including K-Dramas, Action, Horror, Animation films for all ages; there is something for everyone. As always, Bon Cinema. Follow along my Fantasia journey on Letterboxed and for a personally selected list of this year’s films I don’t want to miss.
Danny: Greetings, movie fans. 2025 marks another year for the Fantasia Film Festival, and as I watched the trailers of the films which are available, there were four that stood out. As I mention each film, I will also provide a brief synopsis, mention why they stood out, and then conclude with what they all have in common.
1.Garo:Taiga. Country:Japan. Genre:Fantasy, Action. Directed by Keita Amemiya
This story focuses on Garo, who was trained in martial arts as a child, and is provided with magical armour in adulthood. Garo’s family believes that the spirit of their ancestor Taiga dwells within the armour. Garo is later led to put his martial arts skills and supernatural abilities to the test when a sinister being named Jado steals a sacred artifact containing spirits in order to unleash evil into the world. This movie appeals to me because there is an interesting battle between good and evil and a fascinating combination of martial arts and the supernatural.
2. Noise. Country:South Korea. Genre:Horror. Directed by Kim Soo-Jin
This story focuses on Joo-young, who moves into a new apartment with her sister Ju-hee. Despite the fact that Joo-young wears hearing aids, she starts hearing eerie noises in her home. After the disappearance of her sister, she later realizes that the eerie noises had a role to play in her sister’s absence. While Joo-young is overwhelmed by the noises and her sister’s disappearance, she also finds herself being stalked by a suspicious character. After watching the trailer, I feel that it looks like a very promising horror film. And Joo-young being able to hear those eerie noises despite her hearing disability is a good example of how there are things that occur in life that defy logic.
This story focuses on Dok-ja, who is an introverted individual who works a desk job. As he is travelling to work through the subway, a floating creature appears, explaining that they are shifting into a reality where everyone has to kill in order to survive. Afterwards, chaotic events of epic proportions occur. Howeve,r Dok-ja notices that everything that is taking place in this reality is in accordance to the book that he is currently reading. Therefore, he takes it upon himself to be the hero. This story interests me because I feel Dok-ja is a relatable character. A good example of how we like to envision ourselves as the herois through the books we read and the movies we watch.
This story focuses on Irene Kelly. A grief-stricken mother who travels through parallel dimensions and repeatedly kills her daughter’s murderer in order to eventually reunite with her daughter. Even though I would never exact revenge in real life, this movie appeals to me because I do enjoy a good revenge film. Every now and again, I also like to wrestle with the idea of whether or not parallel dimensions exist.
Movies that involve supernatural armour, a woman with a hearing disability who can hear evil, a man who becomes the hero of the book he’s reading, and a woman who travels to different dimensions all have one thing in common, which is simply the idea that anything is possible. In the world of Fantasia , anything is indeed possible, and I look forward to seeing you all there. Bon Cinema.
Remi is the host of At The Movies along with regular Co-Host Danny Aubery, every Tuesday morning from 9-10 AM only on CJLO 1690 AM. They cover local film festivals, have interviews with directors and actors, and talk about a new film or the classics. As well the iconic sounds of present and past film scores and soundtracks. Follow Remi on Letterboxd.
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