Despite all the promises made by all the news outlets, we were not swept away by a tornado last week.
We have, though, been (figuratively) spun around and around by a whole host of things over the last eight days. We’ve been pulled in every possible direction, rendered dizzy and disoriented. The primary culprit for all this personal and writerly havok is the upcoming 27th EDITION OF THE FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
Since the program was released a little while ago, we’ve been hurled this way and that (like a cow in a twister, natch) by the promise of a lot of weird movies. We’ve been watching trailers and reading synopses and just generally operating a little obsessively while biding our time until the festival begins. And now the wait is almost over.
FANTASIA, finally, starts on Thursday and we’re going to be covering it. What does covering it mean? We’re not sure. (We didn’t go to J-School.) But we’re covering it. And what is FANTASIA even?
FANTASIA is an international film festival dedicated to GENRE movies. And what, in this context, does GENRE mean? Basically anything that isn’t, like, a movie about sad man looking out a rainy window contemplating his wasted youth. Genre is the opposite of whatever Aftersun was. It’s horrors, sciences fiction, crimes, romances, fantasies, actions, spycrafts, experimental things (that never disclose what they’re experimenting with or why), as well maybe also comedy? Genre is freaky, strange, and disquieting. It’s funny, odd, and unexpected. It’s formulaic, intriguing, and irresistable. It’s everything and nothing. It’s good and bad!
GENRE FILMS - in the nauseating parlance of the cultural industry - are essentially films that have elements that fall outside of so-called ordinary life. It is a category for everything that isn’t a “drama” (which, itself, is technically a genre - but nevermind that now). Genre films contain elements that are not verisimilar or representationally tethered to the world as it currently exists or typically functions IRL. Does that make sense? No! You’re right! It doesn’t make sense - but you’re going to have to roll with it.
There are, like, hundreds and hundreds of movies (features and shorts) playing (check out all of them here), so chances are good that there’s something you’re into - maybe a nice time-travel comedy? or vintage erotica cum social commentary? or a dream story (??) about an “anachronistic firefighter” (????) - regardless of your taste in genre as such or any genre in particular.
We’re going to be doing our usual thing (?) and writing about whatever crosses our path or comes to mind. It’s not going to be a daily thing (pls don’t unsubscribe just yet!) nor is it going to be especially focused or traditional coverage (again, we don’t know what “coverage” means) - but we are going to write many and various things either about or at least at FANTASIA.
We’re very excited (and also entirely overwhelmed).
Why are we telling you all this? Why make an announcement rather than just, y’know, start writing substantive posts?
Because we thought that a fun/terrifying thing to do would be to let you know some of the films we’re seeing in case you, too, wanted to see them “with” us.
While you don’t know who we really are and we don’t know who you really are that doesn’t need to stop us from being in the same place at the same time! We can all spend the awkward ten minutes before movies start being suspicious of everyone and anyone. It’ll be like LARPing The Thing. What better accompaniment to weird movies than weird antisocial social experiments?
SO, if you want to see (potentially) interesting movies and (potentially) “see” us, you can 100% “find” us at the following screenings:
Talk to Me at 7 on July 23rd
Lovely, Dark, and Deep at 9:40 on July 23rd
Booger at 9:30 on July 24th
T Blockers at 9:30 on July 30th.
Perpetrator at 9:30 on August 1st
[Tickets, btw, are $13.50 (incl. tax).]
We’re, of course, going to see much more than these five films - but these five are the one’s were most excited for. Debut features! Weird body stuff! Coming-of-age stories! Allegories probably! Films that might never find a distributor because their vision is too bold and their aesthetics too wild!
So, get hype for FANTASIA! Or get hype for us writing about FANTASIA! Or neither of these things! Or both! We’re going to uncover what “coverage” means and also maybe what “genre” is. We’re going to muse about criticism and the culture industry. We’re probably going to go to the press lounge, evesdrop on everyone, and tell lies about The Hollywood Reporter in particular. Maybe we’ll interview someone if we manage to clear enough space off our phone to download a voice recording app? Maybe we’ll be discovered by some fancy producer who - now that all the writers and actors are on strike - will want us to write and star in a film adaptation of this very blog. Anything is possible! FANTASIA! GEMRE./
For real, we’re really looking forward to regretting that we told you our IRL location and also talking about weird movies while living through weird times. “Join” us! “Coverage” starts on the 20th!