{"id":1646,"date":"2017-07-16T19:54:19","date_gmt":"2017-07-16T19:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commarts.pleather.us\/2017\/07\/16\/how-fantasia-film-festival-has-fostered-a-new-generation-of-genre-filmmakers\/"},"modified":"2017-07-16T19:54:19","modified_gmt":"2017-07-16T19:54:19","slug":"how-fantasia-film-festival-has-fostered-a-new-generation-of-genre-filmmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/2017\/07\/16\/how-fantasia-film-festival-has-fostered-a-new-generation-of-genre-filmmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"How Fantasia Film Festival Has Fostered a New Generation of Genre Filmmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Festivals\"<\/a><\/div>\n

When Philippe McKie\u00a0was seven years old in 1996, his cinephile father took him to a screening of the Japanese anime \u201cThe End of Evangelian\u201d at the very first edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. \u201cIt blew my mind,\u201d said McKie in a recent interview. \u201cIt created this love for international cinema \u2014 and this love for Japanese cinema.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

That passion continued through his teen years, as he continued watching movies at the three-week genre festival and eventually went to film school at Montreal’s Mel-Hoppenheim School of Cinema, before leaving the city to make movies in Japan. Now he\u2019s back in an entirely new context, as a filmmaker with two short films in competition, both made abroad. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t even fully dawned on me that I\u2019m part of it now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the programmers by reputation but it\u2019s my first time being a part of the fest. I\u2019m meeting these guys for the first time as a filmmaker, so they don\u2019t know, but to me, it\u2019s really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKie\u2019s experience is a variation on a familiar story in Quebec\u2019s growing genre scene, which Fantasia has fostered for more than two decades. Supported by the province\u2019s cultural SODEC in addition to Telefilm Canada and Creative Europe, Fantasia hosts some 150 features and 300 short films, in addition to the growing genre market Fronti\u00e8res, now in its fifth year.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There\u2019s definitely an institutional openness to genre that we\u2019re seeing develop,\u201d said Lindsay Peters, the festival\u2019s market and industry director. \u201cIt\u2019s taken a long time, but it\u2019s looking positive now.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKie\u2019s two shorts in the lineup collectively speak to the expansive nature of Fantasia\u2019s programming strategy: \u201cBreaker\u201d is a cyber-punk thriller set in dystopian Japan, while \u201cBe My First\u201d is an erotic drama about a young woman on an enigmatic mission to lose her virginity. He was clearly enthusiastic to be back at the festival that inspired his burgeoning career. \u201cI think this city is really funky,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got this clash of cultures, the whole French-English clash, but it\u2019s also a very artistic city. People are very open. I\u2019m really thankful that I can be from here. It\u2019s always going to be a part of my identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Phillipe<\/p>\n

Phillipe McKie<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Whereas many film festivals see their local talent move on, Fantasia\u2019s specific focus on genre films has led many filmmakers like McKie to keep coming back to the festival \u2014 and, in other cases, stay put. Each of the festival\u2019s three weekends contains a different short film section featuring work by Quebecois directors. One of these is Ariane Louis-Seize, whose wordless 19-minute short \u201cThe Wild Skin\u201d revolves around the peculiar experiences of a young woman who discovers a python in her apartment and undergoes a strange erotic experience as a result.<\/p>\n

Louis-Seize grew up near Ottawa idolizing Jane Campion\u2019s films, and has found her groove producing work in Montreal. She waits tables two nights a week, but mostly lives off grant money. \u201cI don\u2019t need a lot to live here and feel comfortable,\u201d she said during a happy-hour event for Quebecois filmmakers on the festival\u2019s first weekend. \u201cThere are great talents and technicians here. It\u2019s just easier because you have a real industry and I was able to create my own circle. It\u2019s really nice because it\u2019s all so casual.\u201d<\/p>\n

A native French speaker for whom speaking English doesn\u2019t come easily, she has no plans to attempt working in other parts of the world. \u201cI really like it here, but I don\u2019t know anything else,\u201d she said, adding that she had no major commercial ambitions. \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t really think of that. My new short is really unclassifiable. It\u2019s slow, and dark. For now \u2014 and probably for the rest of my life \u2014 I\u2019ll work here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ariane<\/p>\n

Ariane Louis-Seize<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ariane Louis-Seize<\/p>\n

Fantasia\u2019s role in supporting Quebecois filmmakers shows no sign of waning, as much of the market\u2019s activity proves. This year, Canadian producers are eligible for funding from European financing institution Eurimage, and Fronti\u00e8res will host a panel on the fundraising behind two recent projects, \u201cMuse\u201d and \u201cBorder.\u201d Another panel finds seven Canadian projects from up-and-coming female writer-directors being pitched in front of industry experts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the participants in the panel is Elza Kephart, who runs the production company Midnight Kingdom Films out of Montreal. Unlike\u00a0Louis-Seize, Kephart never landed government funding for her projects and attended film school in the U.S., at Emerson. However, Fantasia has played a crucial role in the evolution of her career: When she was looking for support on her directorial debut, 2003’s “Graveyard Alive,” programming director Mitch Davis met with Kephart’s producer early in the production and promised a slot in the lineup. It played there to a sold-out crowd. A decade later, she pitched a project at the market. “I was hooked,” she said. “I feel like the film crowd is a big circus family.”<\/p>\n

She’s firmly entrenched in Quebec’s film scene and active in several local organizations, such as the women filmmaker collective Equitable Leaders, which “strives to attain equity for women directors in Quebec’s film industry.” At this year’s market, she’s pitching the project “Slaxxx,” which features a pair of killer pants. “I like death, blood, weirdness,” she said.<\/p>\n

For much of Fantasia’s community, the festival provides a validation of their shared sensibilities \u2014 and the prospects of finding an audience beyond the limitations of the three-week gathering.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s an opportunity for the local industry to really interact with the national scene,\u201d Peters said. “The Quebec genre community is small, but it\u2019s very strong.”<\/p>\n

Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: IndieWire film<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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