FANTASPOA 2022 Announced: "After two years of successful online editions, the 18th edition of the beloved Brazilian genre festival Fantaspoa will return to the cinemas from April 15th through May 1st. This year, attendees will discover a very different Fantaspoa from its last on-site edition (a very distant 2019): instead of its usual two venues, the fest will take place simultaneously in five cinemas, with part of its program also being available online, geo-blocked for viewers within Brazil.
The poster for this year’s festival was conceived by the festival’s art director Thalles Mourão, with the drawing from local artist Fernanda Moreira. The striking image is a mashup of two centenary anniversaries: The Modern Art Week, one of Brazil’s greatest art movements, and F. W. Murnau’s 1922 masterpiece of cinema, NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR.
NOSFERATU will also have a very special screening on the opening night of the festival, with musician Carlos Ferreira performing a brand new soundtrack to Murnau’s classic. The closing night film will be the world premiere of Andre Sigwalt and Augusto Soares’ kung-fu stoner comedy THE SMOKE MASTER.
According to João Fleck and Nicolas Tonsho, the festival directors, this was the most difficult program to put assemble in the eighteen years of their festival: “In 2020 and 2021, film entries had been decreasing and, for this edition, we saw a significant increase - both in entry numbers and the overall quality of the projects. We are very proud to say that over 80% of our program has come directly from FilmFreeway entries, pointing toward a growing interest by the industry in screening at Fantaspoa.”
Confirmed guests currently include Sylvia Caminer (FOLLOW HER), Kirill Sokolov (NO LOOKING BACK), Chadd Harbold (PRIVATE PROPERTY), Jorge Sanders (BROTHER, KEPT), Vincent Grashaw (WHAT JOSIAH SAW), Maxwell Gold (FANGA), Vinicius Coelho (THE EYES BELOW), Lucas Abrahão (UPURGA), Ethan Maquis (LEMONADE), Mariana Alom (BLUE HEART), Fabián Forte (LEGIONS), Andre Sigwalt and Augusto Soares (THE SMOKE MASTER), Sérgio Marone (JESUS KID), Priscyla Bettim and Renato Coelho (THE CITY OF ABYSSES) and Leo Falcão (SUBJECT).
The festival’s initial wave of 40 feature films contains seven World Premieres, five International Premieres, 19 Latin American Premieres, and seven Brazilian Premieres. These films represent a total of 26 countries and have played prestige festivals such as Annecy, Berlinale, Cannes, Rotterdam, TIFF, Moscow, Sitges, Sundance, and Tallin Black Nights."
Below are the first 40 feature films to be announced for the 2022 edition of Fantaspoa:
ALPHA MALE (d. Igor Priwieziencew and Katarzyna Priwieziencew, 2022, Poland, Latin American Premiere)
ARC (d. Kei Ishikawa, 2021, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
BABY ASSASSINS (d. Yugo Sakamoto, 2021, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
BASHIRA (d. Fong Nickson, 2021, United States, Brazilian Premiere)
BLUE HEART (d. Miguel Coyula, 2021, Cuba, Brazilian Premiere)
BROTHER, KEPT (d. Jorge Sanders, 2022, Mexico, World Premiere)
CAPTAIN WITTS (d. Filipe Gontijo, 2022, Brazil, World Premiere)
CHICKEN OF THE MOUND (d. Xi Chen, 2021, Germany/China, Latin American Premiere)
CINEMA OF SLEEP (d. Jeffrey St. Jules, 2021, Canada, Latin American Premiere)
CLIMBING (d. Kim Hye-mi, 2020, South Korea, Latin American Premiere)
CRABS! (d. Pierce Berolzheimer, 2021, United States, Brazilian Premiere)
DOWNTOWN (d. Flip Van der Kuil, 2021, Netherlands, International Premiere)
FANGA (d. Max Gold, 2022, Iceland, International Premiere)
FOLLOW HER (d. Sylvia Caminer, 2022, United States, Latin American Premiere)
FOLLOW THE DEAD (d. Adam William Cahill, 2020, Ireland, Latin American Premiere)
GOD'S PETTING YOU (d. Jamie Patterson, 2022, United Kingdom, International Premiere)
HOTEL POSEIDON (d. Stefan Lernous, 2021, Netherlands, Brazilian Premiere)
JACINTO (d. Javi Camino, 2021, Spain, Brazilian Premiere)
JESUS KID (d. Aly Muritiba, 2021, Brazil, Regional Premiere)
KILLING THE EUNUCH KHAN (d. Abed Abest, 2021, Iran, Latin American Premiere)
LEGIONS (d. Fabián Forte, 2022, Argentina, World Premiere)
LEMONADE (d.Ethan Maniquis, 2022, Dominican Republic, International Premiere)
MOON HEART (d. Aldo Salvini, 2021, Peru, Brazilian Premiere)
NEPTUNE FROST (d. Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman, 2021, United States/Rwanda, Latin American Premiere)
NO LOOKING BACK (d. Kirill Sokolov, 2021, Russia, Latin American Premiere)
OX-HEAD VILLAGE (d. Takashi Shimizu, 2022, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
POMPO: THE CINEPHILE (d. Takayuki Hirao, 2021, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
PRIVATE PROPERTY (d. Chadd Harbold, 2022, United States, World Premiere)
SOME LIKE IT RARE (d. Fabrice Eboué, 2021, France, Latin American Premiere)
SOULPARK (d. Illés Horváth and Róbert Odegnál, 2022, Hungary, Latin American Premiere)
SUBJECT (d. Leo Falcão, 2022, Brazil, World Premiere)
THE BEACH AT THE END OF THE WORLD (d. Petrus Cariry, 2021, Brazil, Regional Premiere)
THE BETA TEST (d. Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe, 2021, United States, Latin American Premiere)
THE CITY OF ABYSSES (d. Priscyla Bettim and Renato Coelho, 2021, Brazil, Regional Premiere)
THE EYES BELOW (d. Alexis Bruchon, 2022, France, World Premiere)
THE SMOKE MASTER (d. Andre Sigwalt and Augusto Soares, 2022, Brazil, World Premiere)
THE TIMEKEEPERS OF ETERNITY (d. Aristotelis Maragkos, 2021, Greece, Latin American Premiere)
UPURGA (d. Uģis Olte, 2021, Latvia, International Premiere)
WHAT JOSIAH SAW (d. Vincent Grashaw, 2021, United States/United Kingdom, Latin American Premiere)
YELLOW DRAGON’S VILLAGE (d. Yugo Sakamoto, 2021, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
ZERIA (d. Harry Cleven, 2021, Belgium, Brazilian Premiere)
To learn more, visit: https://fantaspoa.com/
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STANLEYVILLE Trailer: "Oscilloscope Laboratories is proud to reveal the exclusive first-look trailer to STANLEYVILLE, the quirky, dark feature debut from writer/director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos that has won festival accolades across the globe.
Beginning Friday, April 22, STANLEYVILLE opens for a one-week exclusive New York theatrical engagement at Metrograph, with additional rollout planned after. The pitch black comedy stars Susanne Wuest (GOODNIGHT MOMMY), Cara Ricketts (FOX's The Resident), Christian Serritiello, George Tchortov (Amazon's The Expanse), Adam Brown (Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT trilogy), and genre legend Julian Richings (CUBE).
One fine day, prim and proper Maria (Wuest) decides to unceremoniously walk away from her boring job, her inept husband, and her obnoxious daughter. Moments after doing so, she’s invited to participate in a bizarre and—as it turns out—potentially very dangerous sweepstakes contest, the rules of which are seemingly unknown to even its organizers, competing with a collection of idiosyncratic characters for the chance to win true enlightenment... and one slightly used habanero-orange compact sport utility vehicle. Dark as night and deadpan hilarious, with every fresh escalation progressing according to a warped logic that makes perfect (non)sense."
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GRINDHOUSE RELEASING BRINGS DOUBLE TROUBLE WITH 'DEATH GAME' AND ELI ROTH'S 'KNOCK KNOCK': "Grindhouse Releasing is proud to present a special double-feature screening of Peter S. Traynor's classic 1970s psycho-thriller DEATH GAME and the modern remake it inspired, Eli Roth's KNOCK KNOCK (2015).
The special event will take place Saturday, March 26 at the Esquire Theatre (320 Ludlow Ave., Cincinnati, OH). Grindhouse plans to take this terrifying double-feature to more theaters across America in support of its upcoming Blu-ray release of DEATH GAME.
DEATH GAME stars John Cassavetes veteran Seymour Cassel as George Manning, a family man whose perfect life is turned into a nightmare of sex and torture when he allows himself to be seduced by two young strangers (Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp) who show up at his door on a rainy night.
KNOCK KNOCK updates the story with Keanu Reeves starring as the married man who falls prey to temptation opposite Lorenza Izzo (ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD) and Ana de Armas (NO TIME TO DIE) as the deranged duo who arrive on his doorstep with a special delivery of seduction and destruction.
Eli Roth says, "I found an old copy of Death Game starring my friend Colleen Camp, and was completely blown away by what an incredible film it was. I made Knock Knock (produced with Colleen Camp and Sondra Locke) in the hopes people would rediscover what I believe is a lost gem of completely insane and masterful 70s cinema. The level of talent in front of and behind the camera is staggering, and the film really holds up on every level, especially for the low budget they made the film on. Death Game is truly one of those movies you have to see to believe - it’s that wild. Both Knock Knock and Death Game never got decent theatrical releases, so I’m thrilled fans can enjoy both on the big screen the way they were meant to be seen."
Tickets are on sale now:
https://ticketing.useast.veezi.com/purchase/247424?siteToken=7wnv3f1p020vdz41kgecxsnrd4
The special collector's edition 2-disc Blu-ray of DEATH GAME, limited to 2000 copies, is shipping this month to customers who order directly from GrindhouseReleasing.com. A mass-market edition will follow later this year. No street date has been set."
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