Posts Tagged fantasia montreal 2026

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9to5.cc Goes to Fantasia: The Mouths & I Love Paris

by on July 29, 2026 at 4:35 pm
Posted In: Fantasia, Fantasia Festival Podcast, Homepage, Podcast, Podcasting

Sarah and I are still grinding deep within the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. We’re not getting to as many screenings as we’d like (broken leg will do that), but we’re still hitting a solid mix of the classic Fantasia checkboxes.

Fresh episode of 9to5.cc Goes to Fantasia is up, and this one covers two strong ones.

First is The Mouths, the North American premiere from Takashi Shimizu. Classic Japanese horror setup: a cursed tree outside a cemetery, a group of teens daring each other to touch it for a courage test, and then the usual (and very well-executed) fallout. Hollow eyes, streaky hair, excellent practical makeup and effects. The film is framed as a series of first-person accounts given to an investigating officer, which lets it play with both the supernatural side and the interpersonal drama between the characters. It leans into that familiar “you kind of brought this on yourself” Japanese horror energy. If you like the original Ju-On or Ringu, this is an easy recommendation. Short, breezy, and does the genre proud.

Then we get to the one that might be my favorite film of the festival so far (and one of my favorites of the year): I Love Paris. World premiere. It’s an underground music-scene mockumentary that happens to have vampires in it. Think What We Do in the Shadows energy, but less cartoonish and more grounded in the actual Parisian music world. Paris (played by Aminata Thiboult, who is fantastic) is an up-and-coming French artist who becomes a vampire mostly by accident and then has to figure out how to still chase a festival slot when she can only work at night. The vampire lore is kept deliberately light — no super strength, no fancy courts, just the inconvenience of living forever and needing blood. The music-scene side is so strong it could almost stand alone as a comedy about trying to make it. Bilingual, full of very French humor, and the main performance is a delight.

Two very different vibes, both worth your time if you’re hunting down movies off the beaten path.

We’ll keep watching. You keep listening. Go see some Fantasia films.

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The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd 2026 at Concordia University.

The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.

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9to5.cc Goes to Fantasia: Nightborn, Godhead & Ancestral Beasts

by on July 25, 2026 at 5:31 pm
Posted In: Fantasia, Fantasia Festival Podcast, Homepage, Podcast, Podcasting

Sarah and I are well into the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. The fest runs until August 2nd, and we’re doing our best to catch as many films as possible while keeping these chats spoiler-light and pretty honest.

This time around we covered three very different movies. Sarah still refers to them as “the baby one,” “the black and white one,” and “the indigenous one,” which somehow works.

First up is Nightborn (Finnish title Yön lapsi), directed by Hanna Bergholm and starring Rupert Grint. A young couple moves into her grandmother’s old cottage in the Finnish countryside, hoping to start a family. Things get tense fast. It’s a folklore-flavored take on the “is the baby evil or is the mother losing it” setup, full of constant baby crying that acts like its own soundtrack. Super effective, really stressful, and a solid cozy-horror watch if you’re into that vibe. Easy recommend, especially once it hits Shudder.

Next is Godhead from Mark H. Rapaport (who brought HIPPO to Fantasia before). This one’s a striking black-and-white film about two eccentric twins who show up claiming to be prophets and put a priest in a brutal moral bind. The cinematography is gorgeous — every frame looks intentional. Sarah watched this one solo and had mixed feelings. She liked the setup and the look, but the dialogue and performances felt a bit theatrical and didn’t fully land for her. It’s interesting, just not a slam dunk.

Finally we get to Ancestral Beasts, the world premiere from Tim Riedel. An Indigenous woman leaves the city for her auntie’s rural cabin, looking for some peace. What starts as a quiet character piece slowly builds into something much more unsettling. Think generational trauma and grief given a horror twist, with strong practical effects and a slow-burn “is this real or is this her mind?” tension that pays off really well. Solid Canadian horror with a clear point of view. Worth seeking out.

More movies coming soon. Go see some Fantasia.

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The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd 2026 at Concordia University.

The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.

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9to5.cc Goes to Fantasia: After School & Dance Freak

by on July 22, 2026 at 9:25 pm
Posted In: Fantasia, Fantasia Festival Podcast, Homepage, Podcast, Podcasting

Sarah and I are still deep in the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival here in Montreal.

It’s time for the second episode of 9to5.cc Goes to Fantasia. As usual, we’re keeping it loose, chatting about the movies we’ve seen, and trying not to spoil anything big. Our dog Clementine made us do a few extra takes again, but we got there.

In this episode we talk about two very different Canadian premieres. First up is After School (also known as Straf), a Dutch dark comedy directed by Merijn Scholte Albers and Tobias Smeets. It follows Edwin (Rutger de Bekker), a music teacher who’s a total pushover and gets himself into deeper and deeper trouble after a bad decision with a nightmare student. It’s super tense, cringe-inducing in the best way, and genuinely one of the funniest straight comedies we’ve seen in a while. There’s a second screening on July 25th so you still have a chance to see it at Fantasia.

Then we get into Dance Freak, from Alan Resnick and Robby Rackleff. This one’s a lot weirder — high-contrast black-and-white surreal absurdity with a ton of practical effects. Underground internet comedy vibes from the 2010s turned into a feature length film. If you’re into the wild late-night Adult Swim shorts (think Unedited Footage of a Bear, Too Many Cooks, etc), Mike Diva stuff, or Sarah Sherman’s SNL sketches, this might be your jam. I was cracking up; Sarah was mostly just staring at me wondering what the hell I was laughing at. It’s definitely not for everybody, but I had a great time with its pure absurdity.

We’ve got more screenings coming up and more episodes on the way. If you’re at Fantasia, come say hi. If not, throw this on while you’re figuring out your schedule.

Go see some Fantasia films kids.

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The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd 2026 at Concordia University.

The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.

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9to5.cc Goes to Fantasia 2026: You Are The Film & Tight Lettuce

by on July 20, 2026 at 10:30 pm
Posted In: Fantasia, Fantasia Festival Podcast, Homepage, Podcast, Podcasting

Sarah and I are back for the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival (July 16th to August 2nd).

We have turned our usual post-movie rambling once again into a podcast this year, so welcome to 9to5.cc Goes to Fantasia 2026. Each episode we’ll chat about the films we catch, share what we thought and give you honest reviews and opinions of the films we saw.

We kick things off with You Are the Film, the North American premiere from Makoto Ueda (the screenwriter of Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes). It’s a short, super breezy time-bendy movie that plays with reality in clever ways. We both loved the small-cast energy, the quirky humor, and how it keeps surprising you even after you think you’ve figured out the rules. Sarah’s takeaway about the weird cafe order may be the best part of her review.

Sarah checked out Tight Lettuce, a world premiere she caught solo. It’s a raw, funny, and sometimes heavy look at a grown son and his dad’s complicated relationship, with addiction in the mix. Really strong performances, especially the dad played by Emmanuel Bilodeau. An amazing standout of Quebecois cinema.

We recorded the whole thing in our usual back-and-forth style (complete with Clementine barking and forcing a second take). It’s loose, honest, and exactly how we talk about movies in real life.

So throw the episode on while you’re waiting in line or planning your schedule. We’ve got more films coming soon.

Go see some Fantasia.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd 2026 at Concordia University.

The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.

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