After revealing the first batch of titles from its upcoming lineup last month, Brazil’s Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival announced the remaining selection of features appearing in its eighteenth edition. The full Fantaspoa 2022 lineup will consist of 90 features and 97 shorts – equaling 187 incredible movies, shown in five theaters around Porto Alegre from April 15 to May 1 of this year.
The festival’s selection of feature films is divided into five competitive sections: International; Ibero-American; Brazilian; Animation; and “Mondo Bizarro”. While the first three are based on the geographic origin of the productions, the others are built solely around genre and content. The animation program, as its name suggests, celebrates global productions that contain some form of animated content; while “Mondo Bizarro” exhibits transgressive work with more radical agendas – films that explore diverse and unconventional media, themes, and formats. Says organizers João Fleck and Nicolas Tonsho, “Our exhibition categories aim to give a glimpse into genre film production in recent years. We want to challenge our audiences and show quality cinema that, unfortunately, would rarely reach cinemas here if not for festivals like Fantaspoa.”
This year’s edition of Fantaspoa will pay homage to filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura, who will be in attendance as a special guest. The festival will celebrate the career of the Japanese splatter master, and screen two fan favorites from his thirty-plus years in the industry: TOKYO GORE POLICE (2008) and VAMPIRE GIRL VS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL (2009). Fantaspoa will also proudly stage the World Première of Nishimura’s latest spectacle, HOLY MOTHER.
After two wildly successful online editions, Fantaspoa XVIII will proudly return to not just live screenings – but live events, including its popular closing night party, with a costume ball, aboard a boat on the Guaiba River, the massive body of water that puts the “Port” of Porto Alegre. The fest will also host another party, a costume contest, three screenings with live music, and five free in-person workshops which will address different topics, such as animation, production, screenwriting, assistant director skills, and the relationship between theater and the movies.
Joining the previously announced films, the festival is proud to reveal the final 46 features included in Fantaspoa XVIII. Eight of these titles will make their World Premiere, four will celebrate their International Premieres, thirteen will have their premiere in Latin America, and twelve will have their Brazilian Premiere – emphasizing Fantaspoa as the most important window for the exhibition of cinematic production in the Latin American fantasy genre.
GUESTS
Some of the festival’s confirmed guests from these features include Marcos DeBrito (SOULS DANCING IN THE DARK), Jimena Monteoliva and Florencia Franco (WELCOME TO HELL), Cesar Cabral (BOB SPIT: WE DO NOT LIKE PEOPLE), Marcelo Leguiza (RED SKY – METAL GIANTS), Armando Fonseca (MISGUIDED), Gustavo Spolidoro (THE DRAGONS), Chema García Ibarra (THE SACRED SPIRIT), Dan Slater (THE FAMILY), Marc Carreté (LAGUNAS), Yoshihiro Nishimura and Natsumi Tadano (HOLY MOTHER), Nikias Chryssos (A PURE PLACE), Paulo Biscaia Filho (DR. LUCCHETTI’S MACABRE ATHENEUM), Nicanor Loretti and Camilo de Cabo (ONE MILLION ZOMBIES), Randal Kamradt (THE MONSTERS WITHOUT), Chris Sivertson (MONSTEROUS), Tyler Bourns (DESERT SHADOWS), Ignácio López Vacas (THE NANNY’s NIGHT), Igor Legarreta (ALL THE MOONS), and Matheus Marchetti (PHANTOM SUMMER).
Fantaspoa XVIII is presented by Ministério do Turismo, Fantaspoa Produções, and Instituto Ling, and sponsored by Banricard and Crown Embalagens.
The second round of fantastic features selected for Fantaspoa 2022 are:
A Pure Place (d. Nikias Chryssos, 2021, Germany and Greece, Latin American Premiere)
All the Moons (d. Igor Legarreta, 2020, Spain, Latin American Premiere)
Apps (d. Sandra Arriagada, Camilo León, Lucio A. Rojas, José Miguel Zúñiga, and Samot Marquez, 2021, Chile, Argentina, Brazilian Premiere)
Archipel (d. Félix Dufour-Laperrière, 2021, Canada, Local Premiere)
The Attachment Diaries (d. Valentín Javier Diment, 2021, Argentina, Brazilian Premiere)
Bob Spit: We Do Not Like People (d. Cesar Cabral, 2021, Brazil, Local Premiere)
The Day Today (d. Maxence Stamatiadis, 2021, France, Latin American Premiere)
The Dragons (d. Gustavo Spolidoro, 2021, Brazil, Local Premiere)
Desert Shadows (d. Tyler Bourns, 2022, United States, World Premiere)
Dozens of Norths (d. Koji Yamamura, 2021, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
Dr. Lucchetti’s Macabre Atheneum (d. Paulo Biscaia Filho, 2022, Brazil, Local Premiere)
Everyone will Burn (d.David Hebrero, 2021, Spain, International Premiere)
The Family (d. Dan Slater, 2021, Canada, Latin American Premiere)
The Greenhouse (d. Thomas Wilson-White, 2021, United States, Latin American Premiere)
Ghosting Gloria (d. Marcela Matta, Mauro Sarser, 2021, Uruguay, Brazilian Premiere)
Holy Mother (d. Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2022, Japan, World Premiere)
Holy Shit! (d. Lukas Rinker, 2021, Germany, Local Premiere)
Homebound (d. Sebastian Godwin, 2021, United States, Latin American Premiere)
Lagunas, la Guarida del Diablo (d. Marc Carreté, 2022, Spain, World Premiere)
Mandrake (d. Lynne Davison, 2022, United States, International Premiere)
Masking Threshold (d. Johannes Grenzfurthner, 2021, Austria, Brazilian Premiere)
Misguided (d. Armando Fonseca, 2022, Brazil, World Premiere)
The Monsters Without (d. Randal Kamradt, 2021, Philippines, Latin American Premiere)
Monstrous (d. Chris Sivertson, 2021, United States, Latin American Premiere)
The Nanny’s Night (d. Igna L Vacas, 2021, Spain, World Premiere)
One Million Zombies (d. Nicanor Loreti and Camilo de Cabo, 2022, Argentina, World Premiere)
Opal (d. Alain Bidard, 2021, France, Brazilian Premiere)
Phantom Summer (d. Matheus Marchetti, 2022, Brazil, World Premiere)
The Plague (d. José Mojica Marins, 1980, Brazil, Latin American Premiere)
Preman (d. Randolph Zaini, 2021, Indonesia, Latin American Premiere)
PussyCake (d. Pablo Parés, 2021, Argentina, Brazilian Premiere)
Red Point (d. Nicanor Loreti, 2021, Argentina, Brazilian Premiere)
Red Sky (Metal Giants) (d. Marcelo Leguiza, 2022, Argentina, World Premiere)
Revealer (d. Luke Boyce, 2022, United States, International Premiere)
The Sacred Spirit (d. Chema García Ibarra, 2021, Spain, Local Premiere)
The Sadness (d. Robert Jabbaz, 2021, Taiwan, Brazilian Premiere)
Second Sun (d. Rinat Tashimov, 2021, Russia, International Premiere)
Seire (d. Kang Park, 2021, South Korea, Latin American Premiere)
Slumber Party Massacre (d. Danishka Esterhazy, 2021, South Africa, Brazilian Premiere)
Soul of a Beast (d. Lorenz Merz, 2021, Switzerland, Brazilian Premiere)
Souls Dancing in the Dark (d. Marcos DeBrito, 2021, Brazil, Local Premiere)
Tiong Bahru Social Club (d. Bee Thiam Tan, 2020, Singapore, Brazilian Premiere)
Tokyo Gore Police (d. Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2008, Japan)
Two Witches (d. Pierre Tsigaridis, 2021, United States, Brazilian Premiere)
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (d. Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2009, Japan)
Welcome to Hell (d. Jimena Monteoliva, 2021, Argentina, Brazilian Premiere)
You Animal! (d. Avid Liongoren, 2020, The Philippines, Latin American Premiere)
