Fantasia Film Festival Announces The Fantastic Weekends of Quebec Cinema Section

The Fantasia International Film Festival, whose 29th edition will take place from July 16 to August 3, 2025, is pleased to announce the selection of the Fantastic Weekends of Quebec Cinema section. 

This year, the festival will present nearly 200 short films as well as 18 Quebec feature films, including the North American premiere of Félix Dufour-Laperrière's new film, DEATH DOES NOT EXIST, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Filmmakers' Fortnight and the Annecy Animation Film Festival, opening the section.

8 FEATURE FILMS IN WORLD PREMIERE

Among the entire Quebec program of the festival this year, 8 feature films will be presented in world premieres: the thriller ANNA KIRI by Francis Bordeleau starring Catherine Brunet, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Rosalie Bonenfant, Maxime De Cotret, Benoît McGinnis and Caroline Néron; peau à peau by Chloé Cinq-Mars with Rose-Marie Perreault which explores the silent horrors of early motherhood and postpartum; Old Guys in Bed by JP Bergeron and VILLE JACQUES-CARTON by Jean-Marc E. Roy and André Forcier, previously announced; MESSY LEGENDS by Kelly Kay Hurcomb and James Watts, adaptation of her short film of the same name, which follows the adventures of a group of lost millennials during a night on the Plateau in Montreal; LES ÉCORCHÉS - PART 2 by Luca Jalbert, the children's writer, who is back with the second part of his trilogy, following his popular franchise, Les Enfants perdus ; DÉSORÉ, PARDON, JE M'EXCUSE, Estévan Morin's first feature film, a hilarious meditation on disappointment; and BARBIE BOOMER by Marc Joly-Corcoran, a touching portrait of Sylvie Longpré, known for over 20 years as the "Barbie of Quebec," who dedicated a large part of her life to the famous doll.

Also worth mentioning are the films TIE MAN by Rémi Fréchette, HANK IS IN THE CITY by Feber E Coyote, and AU PIED DU MUR by Alexandra Elkin.

                                GENRES DU PAYS: section of retro Quebec films

6 feature films will be presented in the Genre du Pays section this year: the opportunity to highlight the Canadian Pioneer Career Award given to George Mihalka with a double program: PINBALL SUMMER , his first film, but also Hostile Takeover , in the presence of the Canadian director of course and the actor Michael Ironside; Another screening highlighting a Career Award: BEANS by Tracey Deer will highlight the work of producer Anne-Marie Gélinas who will receive the DENIS-HÉROUX Award this year; To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this atypical romantic comedy, the festival will present LIMOILOU - LE FILM by Edgar Fritz; a very rare screening of the dubbed copy in Quebec of Brrrr … (The Uncanny ) , a Canada/Great Britain co-production of the horror sketch film by Denis Héroux. Finally, let us mention that The Last Tunnel by Érik Canuel will be presented in the presence of many artisans who collaborated on this ambitious production.

 14 short film programs

This year, the Fantastic Weekends will present 14 screenings of short programs from a wide variety of genres. These shorts include the world premiere of MOLOSSE , by Marc-Antoine Lemire ( Extras ) starring Caroline Néron and François Édouard Bernier, as well as DORS PR È S DE MOI directed by Sophie Boyer starring Rémi Girard.

Fantasia will once again reward local talent with several prizes thanks to the support of its valuable partners: AQPM, ARRQ, Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE), Dragonframe , Entreprises Vidé o Service (EVS), MELS, Royal Photo, SLA Location, Spira and Toon Boom.

TWO MUSICAL EVENTS

Two musical events related to genre cinema will be presented: EN SUSPENS , an ambitious film concert set to music by Dominiq Hamel and directed by Émilie Sigouin; the musical comedy STAR WARS D'ICITTE UN SITH ET SON PÉCHÉ by the Productions Epopées troupe. This unpretentious piece is intended to be a stunning encounter between Quebec's biting humor, musical theater and the world of 70s science fiction! The artistic conception and production are by Raphaëlle Proulx-Tremblay and Catherine Bastien .

ROUND TABLES AND MASTERCLASSES

Several free activities will also be offered during the festival, including two masterclasses with the personalities receiving a Career Award at the Festival this year, respectively director and producer George Mihalka and producer Anne-Marie Gélinas. Finally, the round table THE MUSIQUEPLUS YEARS: THESE ARTISTS WHO STARTED WITH THE MUSIC VIDEO will look back at the history of music videos in Quebec as told by Yves Jacques , Gabriel Pelletier , Pierre Gill, Alain Desrochers, Francois Bégin, Myriam Bouchard, and Chloé Robichaud.

Furthermore, the festival is very pleased to unveil the poster for the Fantastic Weekends of Quebec Cinema, a work by Myriam Wares, a Quebec illustrator based in Montreal.

The full festival lineup will be available on July 3. Tickets will go on sale on July 4, 2025.

The 29th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is presented by MELS in collaboration with Concordia University and is made possible thanks to the financial support of Telefilm Canada , the Societe de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), the Ministry of Tourism , the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the City of Montreal, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and Tourisme Montréal .

The festival would like to thank all its private partners, friends of the event , as well as its official suppliers, movie theaters, and all participating filmmakers, sales agents, and distributors for their valuable support.