Welcome
to Kung Fu Cult Cinema's special Fantasia
coverage for 2003. Its been 2 years since the last
fantasia and here at KFCC we've been seriously itching
to have this festival start. We hope to bring you
some of the sights and experiences the festival has
to offer this year. Enjoy the coverage!!
Part
2 (July 28th to August 11th)
Click Here for
Part 1 (July 7th to July 27th)
Monday
July 28th
Bloody Monday
In my skin
From the description In my skin looked like it was
going to be brutally bloody, in a realistic sense.
It turned out to be as bloody as I had expected if
not more, some scenes were even a little difficult
to watch. I heard that two people got sick at the
midnight showing of this movie but overall the comments
I received about the movie were very positive.
Tuesday
July 29th
Beware of Black Magic
White Darkness/Voice of the Moon
White Darkness is a documentary on
Voodoo in Haiti while Voice of the Moon
is a sort of documentary of life in Afghanistan. Both
were very interesting to watch but were lacking a
little on the information side. The Voodoo documentary
had great scenes of rituals and such but not enough
explanations to be able to learn more about voodoo.
As for Voice of the Moon you had
many interesting images but no information presented,
just image and sound. Overall interesting but I would
have wished I learned more from the experience.
| |
|
| (Richard
Stanley dir of White Darkness/Voice of the Moon) |
Malefique
This was a seriously fun movie, a great dark setting
with a weird mix of characters. The Fantasia crowd
was really into this one as well. Everyone seemed
to enjoy it, enough so that Malefique
ended up playing in one of the TBA slots. If you missed
this one I suggest looking for this one when it comes
out on DVD.
Wednesday
July 30th
Unexpected Surprises
The Invisible
I went into movie completely not knowing what it was
about, I often like the effect of surprise when it
comes to film. With no expectations you can watch
a movie with a clear mind. This movie was very enjoyable,
sweet and touching. Sure its not some action packed
film but I am glad I had a chance to see it.
Bad Guy
I was not planning to see this one as I have heard
bad thing about it. I went to see it anyways and it
turned out to be an interesting movie dealing with
prostitution in South Korea. As interesting as it
was it was also just as sad, which is partly the reason
why many people did not like it.
Thursday
July 31th
Vampiric Horror
Sangre Eterna
This was a great piece of gothic vampire horror, especially
considering this movie was done with a 100,000 $ budget.
Overall it was entertaining but I did not enjoy as
much as some people I was with. It is probably cause
I did not like to main character too much.
Friday
August 1st
Santo rocks the house
Beyond Reanimator
Blood flying everywhere, this movie was great cheesy,
gory zombie action. The first half might take a little
while before it gets into the action but once the
action starts its both incredible and completely hilarious.
This is not a movie to be taken seriously… just
sit back and enjoy the blood splatter (not to mention
the great ideas the creators of this movie had).
Santo vs the Martians
The Santo midnight show must be one of the best events
of the entire Fantasia festival. There is nothing
like watching a cheesy black and white movie with
a Mexican super hero wrestler take on alien invaders.
Especially with the crowd at fantasia which was totally
into cheering for the movie and screaming out all
sorts of madness. I am really happy I did not miss
this movie, it was some of the best fun I had at the
fest this year.
Monday
August 4th
Cats in Space...
Anatomie 2
I wish I could say something good about this movie
but I cant. The first movie was never to my taste
and this one was not any better, not enough gore or
horror elements. I was simply not entertained.
Tamala 2010
This is one of the best animations I have ever seen,
not easy to digest but full of fresh new concepts.
Tamala is almost an experience in image and sound,
the kind of thing that you sit back and enjoy. Some
people have told me that they did not like it too
much because the story was hard to follow, I wont
deny it, the story is a little difficult at times.
If you want to see something new then this little
animation is a must see. I will be picking this one
up on DVD because it is something that is worth showing
to people.
Thursday
August 7th
In search of the Holy Grail...
Secret Glory
This was a fascinating documentary but unfortunetly
not quite as informative as I have hoped. It is basically
about a man named Otto Rahn who was in the archeological
department of the SS, kind of like raiders of the
lost arc. It turns out this man was searching for
the Holy Grail and was involved in all sorts of nazi
things. I must admit the QnA period after the documentary
was almost even better than the documentary itself.
Richard Stanley is certainly a man with a lot of stories
to tell about secret societies and things of the sort,
I would very much like to see hime do a documentary
on other obscure occult topics.
Saturday
August 9th
A great horror movie
from Quebec...
The Big Slaughter Club
This movie was not so good, sure it had good elements
like a crazy guy that kept coming back to life and
a bunch of school girls trapped in a house who pissed
this guy off. The story was not well executed, I am
not sure if it was meant to be comical or if it was
meant to be serious but failed terribly. In any case
I did not enjoy this one.
| |
|
| (Sur
le Seuil Director Éric Tessier) |
Sur Le Seuil
The crowd was seriously excited for this one because
it was a local production. It is basically a horror
thriller filled with elements of the Quebec environment.
It had a great story that built up to an increadible
finale. The crowd gave the movie a standing ovation
at the end, its a rare thing to see in a movie theater.
Hopefully an english subtiled version of this movie
is released because it is something worth seeing.
Sunday
August 10th
Lovely CG Animation...
Keana the Prophecy
This is a CG animation from France, the story is set
in an alien fantasy world. Visually this movie was
very beautiful, as for the story I found it to be
alright but I was not hooked anymore than that. It
kind of reminded me of the Final Fantasy
story.
Monday
August 11th
Sabu Films Rock...
Drive
I wanted to catch this movie earlier at the fest but
I did not have the chance, I am really happy they
decided to show this movie again. Drive
was much better than I thought it was going to be,
I love the story and how it evolves with the concept
of fate. Sabu films defenetly rock, not the most action
packed but the story, the characters and how it all
comes together is totally increadible. Another Sabu
movie not to miss is Monday.
Closing
Comments
The dust has finally settled and we can finally rest
after our epic samurai journalist adventure. Lots
of movie, lots of excitement and most certainly lots
of fun, it really was a pleasure to cover this festival.
Before the festival started we had our fears, would
people still remember Fantasia as it was canceled
the previous year? Would this new venue simply turn
off the movie fans? Was the film selection up to par
with the desires of moviegoers? We are pleased to
say that this years Fantasia Festival was one of the
best taking into consideration everything that was
going against it. The crowd was really into it and
they showed up in large numbers with several movies
being sold out. The venue was great (except for the
seats in the hall theater); the location was easily
accessible and right in the center of downtown area.
Also with the two theaters almost every movie had
a second run so everyone had a chance to see what
they wanted too. As for the film selection we were
pleased on the overall, much better than 2000 and
2001.
There was one little negative aspect this year and
that was that there was no festival pass like in previous
years. The use of the admissions system made using
such a pass an impossibility but some of the hardcore
fans were a little upset as it got little expensive
on the long run.
Over 73,000 tickets were sold this year and 16,000
pre-sold during the first 48 hours (a record). It
goes to show that Fantasia is still very much popular
and has no intention of going away. In fact the festival
dates have already been announced for 2004 which is
the 8th of July to the 31st. We will look forward
to being back next year for another KFCC coverage
of the Fantasia festival.
FanTasia
2003 Movie Awards
---Jury Prize---
Best Asian Film : Drive
by (SABU) Hiroyuki Tanaka (Japan
2002)
Best International Feature Film
: Dead End by
Jean-Baptiste Andrea (France 2003)
Best Animated Feature Film
: Tamala 2010 by
(TOL) Trees of Life (Japan 2002)
Best Short Film : Forklift
Driver Klaus by Joerg
Wagner & Stefan Prehn (Germany 2001)
Most Groundbreaking Film
: Suicide Club by
Shion Sono (Japan 2002)
---Peoples'
Choice---
Best Asian Film
Gold : Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
by Park Chan-wook (Korea 2002)
Silver : Bang Rajan : Legend of the Village
Warriors by Tanit Jitnukul
(Thailand 2000)
Bronze : Musa the Warrior by
Kim Sung-su (Korea 2001)
Best International Film
Gold : In My Skin / Dans ma peau
by Marina De Van (France 2002)
Silver : Bubba Ho-Tep by
Don Coscarelli (United States 2002)
Bronze : Maléfique by
Éric Valette (France 2003)
Bronze : Cabin Fever by
Eli Roth (United States 2002)
Best Animated Feature Film
Gold : Tamala 2010 by
(TOL) Trees of Life (Japan 2002)
Silver : Kaena the Prophecy by
Chris Delaporte & Pascal Pinon (France / Canada
2003)
Bronze : FLCL / Fooly Cooly by
Kazuya Tsurumaki (Japan 2000-2003)
Best Short Film
Gold : Ward 13 by
Peter Cornwell (Australia 2003)
Silver : Amor so de mage / Love from Mother
Only by Dennison Ramalho
(Brazil 2002)
Bronze : Forklift Driver Klaus by
Joerg Wagner & Stefan Prehn (Germany 2001)
Bronze : A Ninja Pays Half my Rent
by Steven Tsuchida (United States
2002)
Most Groundbreaking Film
Gold : Reflections of Evil by
Damon Packard (United States 2002)
Silver : Suicide Club by
Shion Sono (Japan 2002)
Bronze : Ichi the Killer by
Takashi Mike (Japan 2001)
Best québécois
DIY Short Film
Gold : En Vérité, je vous mens
by Ludovic Penard (2003)
Silver : Le Diagnostique by
Philippe Lord (2003)
Bronze : Little Love Tragedy by
Pierre Chauves (2003)
---Kung Fu
Cult Cinema Awards---
Best Asian Film
1st : Musa the Warrior by
Kim Sung-su (Korea 2001)
2nd : Drive by
(SABU) Hiroyuki Tanaka (Japan 2002)
3rd : 2LDK by
Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Japan 2002)
Best International Film
1st : Sur Le Seuil by
Éric Tessier (Canada 2003)
2nd : Bubba Ho-Tep by
Don Coscarelli (United States 2002)
3rd : Maléfique by
Éric Valette (France 2003)
Best Animated Feature Film
1st : Tamala 2010 by
(TOL) Trees of Life (Japan 2002)
2nd : FLCL / Fooly Cooly by
Kazuya Tsurumaki (Japan 2000-2003)
3rd : Voices of a Distant Star by
Makoto Shinkai (Japan 2002)
Best Short Film
1st : Forklift Driver Klaus by
Joerg Wagner & Stefan Prehn (Germany 2001)
2nd : MOM in Store Now by
Tetsuya Nakashima (Japan 2001)
3rd : Ward 13 by
Peter Cornwell (Australia 2003)
Most Groundbreaking Film
1st : Tamala 2010 by
(TOL) Trees of Life (Japan 2002)
2nd : Ichi the Killer by
Takashi Mike (Japan 2001)
3rd : Godzilla:Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
by Shusuke Kaneko (Japan 2001)
Click
Here for Part 1 (July 7th to July 27th)
Peter Zsurka
Janick Neveu
08/13/2003
