Fantasia Madness - Week One

As the Fantasia International Film Festival enters its second week, CJLO's film correspondent Andrea Boulet has been busy viewing and reviewing the best films the festival has to offer! Check out Andrea's latest blog below for her take on week one, and be sure to read her reviews of two creepy and bizarre tales of kidnapping: The Tall Man written and directed by Pascal Laugier, and Wrong written and directed by Quentin Dupieux.

Stay tuned for more Fantasia Festival madness on CJLO! 

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It has already been over a week at the Fantasia film festival, and things are not about to slow down. The festival is fired up like a well-oiled machine ready for another two whole weeks!!! Fantasia has a way of sucking you in and not letting go, but this is not a bad thing! It is a mysterious and enchanting experience. Can you believe that they are screening over 160 films in the span of three weeks? They are spoiling us Montreal! Along with the incredible selection of films you can have the chance to meet the minds behind the projects. They roam the festival just like you and me and are super willing to answer any questions you have over some beers at Irish Embassy on Bishop street.

The past week has been a whirlwind experience and I need more. When I get to a screening you can see the anticipation on the faces of those who are there waiting in line with you. Their eyes are wide and ready to experience something new and exciting in cinema. The real film geek comes out and is ready to party, genre film style! This festival is a chance to meet new people who love films just as much as you do. You cannot get the same experience at any old Hollywood super blockbuster at the Scotiabank Theatre, especially after paying an arm and a leg for your ticket. At Fantasia, one film is only nine bucks and you can see ten films for eighty bucks, WHAT A DEAL! 

If you pass up on what Fantasia has to offer than you are simply a freaking fool. This festival lets you explore cinema from all over the globe! It is mesmerizing and super inspirational. I have seen seven films so far and they have all been new and unique experiences. Watching these films and being at this festival for the past week has given me goose bumps, the shivers, it has turned me on to an incredible degree, it has inspired my own filmmaking, and it has inspired my writing and my curiosity for film. Fantasia can offer you everything you could ask for in a night at the movies, and for another two whole weeks! GO EXPERIENCE FANTASIA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

-Andrea Boulet
@AndreaMtl