After covering the festival remotely last year, I made the return to Montreal this year to cover the 22nd annual Fantasia Film Festival. It was definitely a very busy festival for me, with my coverage continuing well after my return to Toronto earlier this week. However, now it is time for me to put my…
Here are my thoughts on the few short films I saw at the 2018 Fantasia Film Festival. Fauve Two boys play a seemingly innocent power game, which quickly turns dire. Fauve is a relatively simple story of a game of one-upmanship, which gains some real life or death consequences when the boys encounter a sinkhole….
Four friends discover a portal leading to alternate realities in Parallel. Josh (Marc O’Brien), Lena (Georgia King), Devin (Aml Ameen) and Noel (Martin Wallström) are four members of an upstart tech development company, who are struggling to find investors for their proposals. Worried about their future, the four friends stumble upon a hidden attic in their rental home,…
A comic artist gains superhuman abilities after undergoing an experimental transplant procedure in Lôi Báo. Tam (Cuong Seven) is a young artist striving to make Vietnam’s first superhero comic. However, Tam is dismayed to discover that he has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer with only a few weeks left to live. However, it turns out…
A 12 year old boy struggles to survive a trip to his grandfather’s farm in Knuckleball. Despite some apprehension from his mother Mary (Kathleen Munroe), 12 year old Henry (Luca Villacis) is dropped off at the farm of his grandfather Jacob (Michael Ironside), while Henry’s parents go to a funeral. Despite being relatively estranged from the family, Jacob quickly…
A woman spends Halloween night with her PTSD-suffering husband in Hurt. It is Halloween night in the small town of New Caney, Texas and Rose (Emily Van Raay) is reunited with her husband Tommy (Andrew Creer), who has just returned from the war. After spending some time with Rose’s sister Lily (Stephanie Moran) and her husband Mark…
An unconventional police force tries to take down a deadly gang in The Outlaws. Inspector Ma (Don Lee) is the head of the Serious Crimes Unit in Seoul’s Garibong neighbourhood, which is home to a number of Chinese-Korean gangs. Things heat with with the arrival of the Black Dragon Gang, lead by Jang Chen (Kye-Sang Yoon), who begins…
A middle-aged rock star takes a soft-spoken street musician under his wing in LOUDER! Can’t Hear What You’re Singin’, Wimp!. Sin (Sadao Abe) is a middle-aged rock star, who has been injecting drugs into his vocal chords to help him maintain the primal screams he is known for. However, the toll has become too great and his…
A teenage girl undergoes some unexpected changes in Blue My Mind. Mia (Luna Wedler) is a 15 year old girl, who has just moved to a new town and has lived for much of her life under the strict control of her parents. This results in Mia getting a bit of a rebellious streak, as she begins…
A trio of college freshmen get more that they bargain for they try to join an extremely exclusive fraternity in Pledge. David (Zack Weiner), Ethan (Phillip Andre Botello), and Justin (Zachary Byrd) are three college freshmen, who find themselves shunned by most of the campuses fraternities. The three are approached by Rachel (Erica Boozer), who invites…
