A Fond Farewell to Fantasia 2020

This year, Fantasia International Film Festival went online to present an incredible selection of films from around the world. I am so thankful to have been a part of covering content featured at the festival, and I must say that I am very pleased with what I experienced.

I watched movies from around the world, like the Japanese film Crazy Samurai Musashi, with an impressively coordinated 77 minute one-shot take bookended by stunning and dramatic opening and closing sequences. And A Mermaid In Paris, a French film exuding with charm and charisma as a man and a mermaid fall in love. Or the Taiwanese thriller Detention, where fantasy and reality collide in a tale about forbidden love, literature, and freedom.

I watched documentaries address big topics in unique ways, like how Feel Good Man presented the history of Pepe the Frog - a widely known and controversial meme - through the eyes of the creator who watched the world assign unflattering depictions and representations to his comic character. Or how Class Action Park offers a comprehensive look at the most dangerous water park ever through unbelievable stories, anecdotes, and memories of people involved with the park. And Clapboard Jungle, earnestly documenting Justin McConnell’s long, arduous, and ongoing struggle to make movies in a complicated filmmaking industry.

I watched the Pacific Northwest, the wonderful region where I live, play host to stories of some of the festival’s most prominent film selections. Alone, a story of survival after a woman moving to restart her life gets kidnapped, is set in the foresty landscape of Oregon. The Paper Tigers brought martial arts to the streets of Seattle, with a final showdown set on a rooftop with the night time Seattle skyline as an illustrious backdrop. And Survival Skills, stylized as an 80’s police training video, has its lead character’s hometown identified as Tacoma, WA, and resounding “Go Hawks” planted in a pivotal scene.

And finally, I got to talk to some fantastic filmmakers. Quinn Armstrong, the writer and director of Survival Skills in fact, and Vayu O’Donnell, lead actor for the movie, took time to speak to me via Zoom about the film, the process of making it, and how risky, yet necessary, it was to release a police-centric film at a time when tensions between the police and the public are high. I was also fortunate enough to get director Cody Calahan and actor RJ Mitte from Breaking Bad on a call to discuss the world premiere of their film, The Oak Room; a creative film whose ominous story-within-a-story-within-a-story narrative had me on the edge of my seat. (Interview video posting soon).

I did my best to experience as much of Fantasia as possible, but of course, I couldn’t cover everything the festival had to offer. So I’d like to strongly recommend you check out Awesome Friday for even more content from this year’s Fantasia festival.

Today though, Fantasia draws to a close. I couldn’t be more grateful to the festival for allowing me to be a part of this year's exciting and unique event. The festival may be over, but I encourage you to stay connected as I continue publishing reviews for movies I watched for the festival.

Farewell, Fantasia, until next year.