Offscreen Notes
Fantasia International Film Festival
Fantasia is back with a bang, returning to the Imperial Theatre while its new home, Concordia University, undergoes some much needed renovations. Highlights for this edition include a lifetime achievement award to Poland’s dark genius Andrzej Zulawski, which includes rare screenings of select films from his back log (Szamanka, L’amour Braque), and a career retrospective talk moderated by scholar East European scholar Daniel Bird. Fantasia returns to its initiative of stepping beyond cinema with a theatrical presentation of Clive Barker’s play, “Clive Barker’s A History of the Devil.” Fantasia opened James Wan’s terrific The Conjuring a day before wide city release. I was lucky to catch the film on the opening night and can vouch for it being one of the creepiest haunted house films in years, reaffirming director James Wan’s position as one of the most formally inventive horror masters of his generation. The film is a heady blend of The Exorcist, The Haunting, Poltergeist, and The Amityville Horror. Takashi Miike’s Lesson of the Evil sees him return to his shocking roots, with an audacious attempt to reconnect with the slow burn build-up of Audition. Much more to savor at Fantasia so check their website for details and updates.
