Fantastic Fest Announces Second Wave of Programming, Including ‘Arrival,’ ‘Toni Erdmann’ and ‘The Handmaiden’
Fantastic Fest has announced the second wave of programming for this year’s edition of the Austin-based fête, which runs from September 22 — 29. “The Bad Batch,” a new restoration of 1971’s “The Zodiac Killer,” “Toni Erdmann,” “The Handmaiden” and opening-night selection “Arrival” are among the most prominent selections, with a number of appropriately oddball offerings thrown in as well. Full list below.
“Aalavandhalan” (Suresh Krissna)
Kamal Hassan stars in this ridiculously entertaining tale of an Indian commando pitted against his own serial killer twin brother in a deadly race to save the beautiful Tejaswini from certain death.
“Arrival” (Denis Villeneuve)
When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team — led by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) — are brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers — and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.
“Assassination Classroom — Graduation” (Eiichiro Hasumi)
This conclusion to last year’s hit finds Class-E running out of time in their efforts to assassinate Koro-sensei, their yellow octopus smiley-faced teacher who is about to destroy Earth.
“The Bad Batch” (Ana Lily Amirpour)
Ana Lily Amirpour follows up her alt-cult sensation “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” with her highly anticipated dystopian cannibal desert trip.
“Dog Eat Dog” (Paul Schrader)
From the brilliant minds of Edward Bunker and Paul Schrader comes this unhinged pulp comedy at a million miles an hour; the story of three hardened criminals and the final, simple crime which will bring them all down.
“Elle” (Paul Verhoeven)
Paul Verhoeven’s debut in French cinema highlights an incredible Isabelle Huppert in a dramedy that first subverts then transgresses the rape-revenge narrative.
“Eyes of My Mother” (Nick Pesce)
After a traumatic event, a young girl begins to associate pain and death with love and friendship in increasingly dangerous ways.
“Girl With All the Gifts” (Colm McCarthy)
In a dystopian future, young Melanie must go on a trip with the soldier who needs to kill her, the doctor who wants to use her and the teacher who wants to help.
“Goke: Body Snatcher from Hell” (Hajime Satô)
An airplane crashes under mysterious circumstances and the survivors find themselves stalked by an evil blobby presence bent on world domination.
“The Handmaiden” (Park Chan-wook)
In the 1930s, country girl Sook-hee is hired as a handmaiden to Japanese heiress Lady Hideko, who lives a secluded life with her uncle. However Sook-Hee is not what she seems… and neither is Lady Hideko, Count Fujiwara or Uncle Kouziki.
“Helmut Berger, Actor” (Andreas Horvath)
Filmmaker Andreas Horvath (“Earth’s Golden Playground) offers a deeply personal and unblinking portrait of Helmut Berger, the Austrian film star of the ‘60s and ‘70s best known for his work with director Luchino Visconti.”
“The High Frontier” (Wojciech Kasperski)
Father/son bonding time takes an extraordinarily dark turn when a former guard and his two teen boys receive an unexpected guest in their remote cabin along the Poland-Ukraine border.
“Kammattipadam” (Rajeev Raji)
Aging gangster Krishnan returns to his hometown after receiving a distressing phone call from a friend, only to find that he’s picking up the pieces after thirty years of bloody gang war.
“Nova Seed” (Nick DiLiberto)
Painstakingly hand-drawn by a single animator over four years, this saturated slice of lo-fi sci-fi pulp recalls both Moebius and Miyazaki as it ambitiously realizes an eclectic post-apocalyptic future populated by lion-men, brain-leeching slugs and Saturday Morning Cartoon villainy, the latter most memorably personified by the sublimely named Dr. Mindskull.
“Raw” (Julia Ducournau)
Part sister bonding, part coming-of-age story, part gross-out horror flick, Julia Ducournau’s debut feature is the terror discovery of 2016.
READ MORE: PODCAST: Fantastic Fest 2015: Tim League and Nicolas Winding Refn Are In Love
“The Red Turtle” (Michaël Dudok De Wit)
A castaway ekes out an existence on a deserted tropical island guarded by an enigmatic red tortoise in this magnificent animated fable from the imagination of acclaimed Dutch animator Michael Dudok de Wit (“Father and Daughter”) and produced in part by the legendary Studio Ghibli.
“Sadako vs Kayako” (Kôji Shiraishi)
The showdown of the century is about to begin and no one in Tokyo will be spared: “Ring’s” Sadako vs “The Grudge’s” Kayako in a fight to determine the future of humanity.
“Safe Neighborhood” (Chris Peckover)
Chris Peckover, director of 2010’s “Undocumented,” returns to Fantastic Fest with this playfully twisted suburban Christmas thriller in which babysitter Ashley must protect twelve-year-old Luke during an unusual home invasion.
“Shimauma” (Hajime Hashimoto)
Dora is a lowlife con man who runs a marriage scam with his associates. But a badly timed encounter with a yakuza will plunge Dora into a new, deep world of darkness, both ugly and enticing!
“Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl” (A.D. Calvo)
Adele is a friendless young woman living with her wealthy but agoraphobic aunt. She meets Beth and the two become fast friends, but Adele may be drawn to a darkness within her new companion, a darkness that threatens to overtake everything.
“Terry Teo” (Gerard Johnstone)
Teenaged cat burglar Terry Teo turns crime fighter when his estranged father is killed by local gangsters in this revival of the classic New Zealand character.
“Toni Erdmann” (Maren Ade)
A father tries to reconnect with his repressed, career-driven daughter in the funniest movie to ever come out of Germany.
“They Call Me Jeeg Robot” (Gabriele Mainetti)
A lowlife thug finds his grimy, pornography-filled existence disrupted when he accidentally acquires superpowers that force him to become a better man against his will.
“Young Offenders” (Peter Foott)
The day after the largest drug bust in Irish history, with massive packages of cocaine washing up along the shoreline, two go-nowhere teens make a most sensible decision: They will ride to the coast on stolen bicycles and claim a bundle of that wondrous cocaine for themselves.
“The Zodiac Killer” (Tom Hanson)
AGFA and Something Weird present a brand new 4K transfer of this sanity-defying, tabloid-horror vortex that was produced with one goal in mind: to capture the real-life Zodiac Killer.
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