Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, sponsored by the Alamo Drafthouse and Ain't It Cool News. The festival focuses on the film genres horror, sci-fi, fantasy, asian and "cult". A notable feature of this festival is the inclusion of "special screenings" by Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles. For these screenings, the audience doesn't know what the film will be until seated, moments before it begins. In 2007, Variety publisher Charles Koones included Fantastic Fest as one of "ten festivals we love".^[1]

Festivals by year

2005

Screened films included Feast.

2006

The 2006 festival was held September 21-28.

Screened films included Bug, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Fountain, Tideland, Severance, and The Host.

World Premieres

• Roman

Special Screenings

• An unfinished version of Apocalypto, followed by a question and answer session with Mel Gibson and star Rudy Youngblood
• Pan's Labyrinth; director Guillermo del Toro was unable to attend but sent along a written introduction for the audience

2007

The 2007 festival was held September 20-27.

World Premieres

• There Will Be Blood, with a Q&A by director Paul Thomas Anderson^[2]
• Los Cronocrímenes (Timecrimes), with director Nacho Vigalondo in attendance^[3]

Special Screenings

• Southland Tales, the world premiere of the final version after heavy edits
• Persepolis
• Dai Nipponjin
• El Orfanto (The Orphanage)
• There Will Be Blood, the closing night film

2008

Fantastic Fest 2008 is scheduled for September 18-25.

World Premieres

• Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds, with the director and most of the cast in attendance
• Santos, with the director in attendance
• Seventh Moon, with the director and both stars in attendance
• Zombie Girl: The Movie^[4]

Special Screenings

• The Brothers Bloom, with director Rian Johnson
• Appaloosa
• Role Models, with Paul Rudd and David Wain
• RocknRolla
• City of Ember (closing night film), with Bill Murray and Gil Kenan

References

External links

• Fantastic Fest

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