Fantasia brings the best in sci-fi, fantasy and horror films to campus
The 29th Fantasia International Film Festival will be hitting theatres in and around Concordia with a stacked program of the strange and the titillating, the quirky and the macabre. The program includes more than 60 films by Concordians.
One of the world's leading genre-film festivals, Fantasia has been dubbed "the most important and prestigious film festival on the continent" by Quentin Tarantino and "a shrine" by Guillermo Del Toro.
Screenings, workshops, launch events and talks will take place at the Concordia’s Sir George William’s Alumni Auditorium and J.A. DeSève Cinema, as well as Cinéma du Musée.
This year's festival opens with a heavy hitter: Ari Aster's Eddington, featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler and Emma Stone.
Other notable features include a trio of new works by Takashi Miike, award-winning folk-horror director Adilkhan Yerzhanov's Kazakh Scary Tales, and the animated film La Mort N'Existe Pas by Concordia grad Félix Dufour-Laperrière, FA 07, fresh off its world premiere at Cannes.
Concordians are well represented this year with 3 features and more than 60 short films, including Ellie Charette's Fantasia Award-winner Don't Judge a Unicorn by its Horn.
Don't Judge A Unicorn by its Horn will screen at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 26, at Cinéma du Musée.
The Fantasia Award is given every year to a film at the festival made by a Concordia student.
Charette, an undergraduate student in film production, describes Don't Judge a Unicorn as "a queer fantasy film that portrays Arthur, a young teenager who has started to grow a unicorn horn."
"It's a film about identity, gender nonconformity, and finding your place in the world," she says. "This film is very special to me because it encapsulates, through a fantastical world, a precise experience that many queer teens and young adults have."
Winning the Fantasia award has made Charette realize just how far she's progressed as a filmmaker.
"If someone had told me three years ago that my film would be going to Fantasia, I would not have believed them! I am so honoured to receive this award, as I deeply respect the previous recipients and their films," she says.
"Filmmaking can be very challenging and subjective, but this award stands as testament of my growth throughout the years, and the hard work that my incredible team put into the project."
Don't Judge A Unicorn by its Horn will screen at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 26, at Cinéma du Musée.
What is Charette excited to see at the festival this year?
"One of my favorite parts of Fantasia is how they incorporate and invite filmmakers from around the world. I am very excited to meet all these talented people," she enthuses.
"I love David Lynch, so seeing that Julie Pacino was inspired by him for her feature I Live Here Now made me want to buy tickets immediately. And my friend Joshua Jean Frédéric is showing his film The ARK, which I worked on, and I am excited to finally see it on the big screen."
Here are the feature films by Concordians playing at this year’s festival.
Au Pied Du Mur follows two rock climbers in their 70s as they push the boundaries of age and gravity.
Au Pied Du Mur
Thursday, July 31, 18:30 at Cinéma du Musée
Concordia graduate Alexandra Elkin, BFA 13 in Art history and Film Studies, is screening her debut feature-length documentary, Au Pied du Mur, at Fantasia. It follows two rock climbers in their 70s as they push the boundaries of age and gravity. Au Pied Du Mur is about defying every kind of limit, in a quest to grow old gracefully and audaciously.
Messy Legends is a love letter to a creative class of artists.
Messy Legends
Tuesday, July 29, 21:30, Cinéma du Musée
Directed by Concordia grad Kelly Kay Hurcomb, BFA 13, and James Watts, Messy Legends is a love letter to a creative class of artists, weirdos and wanderers being squeezed out of the Montreal they helped shape.
Felix Dufour-Laperrière’s animated feature-length film La Mort N'Existe Pas premiered at Cannes.
La Mort N'Existe Pas
Thursday, July 17, 19:00, Cinéma du Musée
Writer and director Felix Dufour-Laperrière’s animated feature-length film La Mort N'Existe Pas premiered at Cannes and screened at Annecy. It follows a group of activists who flee to the forest after a botched attack against a wealthy target, where they are forced to re-examine their convictions. British film magazine Screen Daily calls the film "hallucinogenic and ethereal.”
View the full 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival program and find out more about Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.
