Fantastic Fest is back at it again with the incredible programming. The Austin-set festival that has gifted us with first glimpses of There Will Be Blood, Zombieland and Bone Tomahawk is upping their game by honoring the past and embracing the future. 2016 marks the 12th year of the Fest, a one-stop shop for lovers of horror, fantasy and sci-fi fare. But in its decade-plus of fantastic film showcasing, the festival has become so much more than another week or genre films.
Artistry is always center stage, and being a part of the latest developments in film is something that Tim League—festival founder and the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse—takes very seriously. “I’m proud of the diversity of experiences we’ll be bringing to Austin this September,” League says. “This world of cinema has evolved so drastically since our first festival in 2005, and we want to be part of the change by exposing audiences to films, formats and filmmakers that they may never see otherwise.”
However, this doesn’t mean that some veteran directors aren’t returning to that blazing Austin spotlight. Tim Burton will be in attendance with his new flick Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, and master of horror Don Coscarelli will be there with his Phantasm cast and a remastered look at the film. But as the 2016 fest honors the present, it also looks to the past—and the East.
Bollywood films and Indian cinema are the centerpiece of this year’s event, as classic films like Khalnayak and Psycho Raman are shown to audiences to celebrate the skill, invention and downright insanity of South Asian filmmakers. Evrim Ersoy, the Fest’s Head of Programming, believes that the Asian infusion makes the 2016 festival a must-see event. “It is a dream come true to bring the glorious excess and pageantry of Indian cinema to Fantastic Fest,” Ersoy says. “We are celebrating not only Bollywood but also Tamil, Telegu and Malayalam cinema, highlighting the kaleidoscope of textures and content that is as wide and varied as the subcontinent itself.”
As fantastic as that sounds, something tells me that it is the uncharted continents that will have fans flocking to (and possibly running from) the Texas capitol. For the first time, Fantastic Fest is entering the virtual reality realm.
Through a partnership with the VR studio Dark Corner, the festival will premiere Mule, a 360-degree virtual reality cinema experience that the team at Fantastic Fest is calling “an emotional, fast-paced hell-ride that catapults the viewer through the final shocking moments of a man’s life (and beyond).” Well, that’s one way to finally dispel the notion that this is just another genre festival.
The 12th annual Fantastic Fest will take place on September 22-29. Stay tuned for more details, and head to the festival’s official website for the 2016 lineups.
