27th edition of Fantasia International Film Festival returns July 20 – August 9, 2023 with over 100 featured films with additional short films available. With films starring the likes of Nicolas Cage and his new film Sympathy for the Devil and raising star Georgina Campbell in her new film Lovely, Dark, and Deep, there are tons of options MUST check out. But here are 5 film options incase you needed some help.
1.Les Chambres rouges
Pascal Plante is a director that has made a lot of success in such a short time with his previous films Fake Tattoos and Nadia, Butterfly. Les Chambres rouges makes its North American Premiere as an opening film this year.
The high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, STANLEYVILLE), accused of murdering three young girls and streaming their brutal deaths in the “red rooms” of the Dark Web, has just gone to trial and Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy, BOOST) is obsessed. Every morning she makes her way from her luxurious condo in downtown Montreal to the gates of the Palais de Justice. Snuff: what was once urban legend is now a sordid reality that captures the province’s imagination and inspires a group of devoted, conspiratorial admirers. When reality blurs with her fantasies, Kelly-Anne goes down a dark path to obtain the final piece of the case’s puzzle.
2.Sympathy for the Devil
Well of course any film starring Academy Award-winner Nicolas Cage at Fantasia easily becomes a must watch! Coming off his previous films appearances PRISONERS OF GHOSTLAND and MANDY you just know SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL will be special.
Yuval Adler, the acclaimed director of BETHLEHEM, gives new meaning to “cruise control” as we follow two men one fateful night in Sin City, aka Las Vegas. On the shadowy, neon-lit streets where anything goes, we find a driver (Joel Kinnaman, THE SUICIDE SQUAD) at the end of his day, and he’s got a lot on his mind. His wife is in labour, and as he makes his way to the hospital, a passenger (Nicholas Cage) gets into his car with a gun. Dressed in a red satin jacket with matching fiery hair, this man has a serious agenda, and as the tension builds between passenger and driver, so does the danger.
3.We Are Zombies
This year’s closing film is no other than the world premiere of We Are Zombies by directors and writers François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell.
In a society where zombies (known as “living-impaired”) roam among us, with no cannibalistic tendencies, the imposing shadow of the Coleman Corporation looms over a city. They offer a retirement plan for the living-impaired, promising to conduct research about them by collecting decomposing family members from their homes. Through these collections, a trio of friends infiltrate Coleman’s network to recover the zombies and sell them on their own. Everything seems to be working fine until their grandmother is kidnapped. To pay the ransom, they have to accept assignments that could prove rather dangerous, especially in a society where everything has gone wrong.
4.Richelieu
Director and writer Pier-Philippe Chevigny makes his feature length film debut with Richelieu. If you missed this at Tribeca, well here is your time now to watch a film that was nominated for best International narrative feature certainly worth every bit of that nomination.
Still reeling from a recent break up, Ariane (Ariane Castellanos) is close to losing her condo if can’t keep up with her mortgage payments. Jumping on the first opportunity she is offered by a friend, she finds herself working for Stéphane (Marc-André Grondin, LES AFFAMÉS, C.R.A.Z.Y.), insensitive and rigid both as a man and an employer. Within her functions as an interpreter for the plant’s seasonal Guatemalan workers, Ariane has little to no influence over what befalls them, and must bear witness to their horrible treatment. Despite herself, she bonds with the men over their shared heritage, and she will have to face the limits of what she is willing to do in the name of justice.
5.ROMI
This cast alone is worth the watch as it stars Alexa Barajas, Pavel Kriz & Juan Riedinger. ROMI makes it world premiere as director Robert Cuffle reunited with reunites with acclaimed writer and producer Susie Moloney to once again create magic.
Forced to hide out at a state of the art smart home, a young woman on the run is terrorized by ROMI, its sinister digital assistant
Be sure to check out the entire schedule here