With today’s Fantasia Fest announcements, their full 2016 lineup of over 130 features has been revealed, including the closing night Canadian premieres of Sam Raimi and Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe and the Mel Gibson starrer Blood Father. Included in the fest this year are 19 World Premieres, 18 North American Premieres, and 47 Canadian Premieres! In addition, the festival will be showcasing over 300 shorts from across the globe, the complete list of which can be found on their website.
For the grand finale of Fantasia’s 20th anniversary edition, the festival is presenting the Canadian Premiere of Evil Dead remake co-writer/director Fede Alvarez’s terrifying new film Don’t Breathe, which left audiences breathless during its ecstatic South by Southwest debut earlier this year. In Don’t Breathe, a trio of friends break into the house of a wealthy blind man, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect heist. They’re wrong. The screening will be hosted by Alvarez himself. Don’t Breathe is produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert along with Alvarez. Sony Pictures will release the film in North America on August 26, 2016.
Hot off its premiere at Cannes, the powerhouse Mel Gibson thriller Blood Father, directed by Jean-François Richet (Mesrine, Assault on Precinct 13), will be having its first North American screening at Fantasia as both part of the festival’s closing night events and the official closing film of the Action! section. Blood Father’s cast also features Erin Moriarty, Elisabeth Röhm, William H. Macy, Diego Luna, Dale Dickey, Thomas Mann, and Michael Parks.
Fantasia is also celebrating 50 years of Japan’s most famous superhero with the international premiere of Ultraman X: The Movie. On July 17, 1966, the first episode of the hugely popular “Ultraman” series was broadcast on Japanese television. On July 17, 2016 Fantasia will present the international premiere of Kiyotaka Taguchi’s Ultraman X: The Movie, the latest film from Tsuburaya Productions, featuring the original Ultraman.
Check back here later this month for our extensive Fantasia Fest coverage!
