The history of the Fantasia Festival has roots in the Asian Film scene in Montreal. Beginning in 1996 where it screened Asian films from Hong Kong and Anime from Japan, the festival later expanded its international repertoire and screened genre films from all across the world. Since this time many world and international premieres have featured at Fantasia fest, including Shaun of the Dead, Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Midnight Meat Train, Dread, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Uzumaki.
Among the many North American premieres have included Ringu, Inglourious Basterds, Thirst, We Are What We Are, Visitor Q and Night Watch.
The Creeping Garden was one of the featured films in the 2014 Festival.
Fantasia 2012 featured the screenings of the films Toad Road, Doomsday Book, the horror anthology film V/H/S, Hidden in the Woods (original version), Seediq Bale, and Quentin Dupieux's Wrong.
Fantasia 2011 opened the 2011 edition of the festival with the Canadian Premiere of Red State. The festival also featured the presentation to John Landis of a lifetime Achievement award. The Canadian premiere of the director's new film, Burke and Hare also took place. Also notable was the world premiere of the Swedish horror film Marianne which had been hailed as one of the great discoveries in genre cinema of 2011. The world premiere of Final Destination 5 was part of Fantasia 15.
Burke and HareRed StateThe Wicker TreeAbsentiaMoriturisAversionBrawlerDeadballExitFinal Destination 5LoveMarianneRabiesRetreatThe Devil's RockThe Theatre BizarreThe Whisperer in DarknessIf a Tree FallsZombie Hunter (film)Curse of ChuckyFantasia 2010The films for Fantasia 2010 were announced on Tuesday, June 29, 2010. Tickets went on sale on July 6, 2010 at 1 pm. The Festival started on July 8, 2010 running until July 28, 2010 with 6 indoor screening venues and one outdoor location. For 2010 a permanent blog was introduced to communicate with fans year-round.
Fantasia 2009The films screened at Fantasia 2009 were, among others,
Thirst,
Love Exposure,
Embodiment of Evil,
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl,
Smash Cut,
Trick 'r Treat,
Neighbor,
Must Love Death,
Cencoroll and
Dread.The festival started on July 9 with
Takashi Miike Yatterman and ended on July 29, 2009 with the North American premiere of
Quentin Tarantino's film
Inglourious Basterds.
Fantasia 2008The lineup will be announced on Thursday, June 26, 2008.
FanTasia 2007The edition was held from July 5 to July 23, 2007 at the Concordia University. In addition to the Hall hall and DeSeve hall, a third screening room has been added at the
D.B. Clarke Theatre. There were, however, no outdoor shows this year. Montreal film
Flutter received the award for best Quebec short feature.
FanTasia 2006 (10th edition/10th anniversary)Fantsasia's 10th anniversary and 10th edition, the 2006 edition, is the first to feature free outdoor shows. The outdoors shows are at Parc de la Paix and are free. Outdoor projections included films from the previous editions:
Kamikaze Girls, the last four episodes of Goldorak,
Night of the Living Dorks and
Attack the Gas Station. The indoor shows use the same Concordia University facilities as since the move to Concordia. The outdoor shows are several kilometres away from the indoor shows.With the 10th anniversary, Fantasia is helping to launch an associated but separate
Toronto festival
Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
Fantasia 2005Fantasia is now 10 years old. However, this is the 9th edition of the festival, due to a missed year in 2002. The festival is again held at Concordia University. This year, a trailer-filled DVD is provided as part of the festival guide book and not a separate purchase.
Fantasia 2004The 2004 Fantasia was held at Concordia University using the Hall Auditorium and deSeve Cinema. Unlike the 2003 event, no DVD filled with trailers was available.
FanTasia 2003 (move to Concordia University)Fantasia 2003 was held for the first time on the Concordia University campus, using the
DeSeve Cinema and
Henry F. Hall Alumni Auditorium. The venue change was instigated by the lack of consideration that the Imperial Theatre gave in informing the festival organizers on the status of Imperial. This was also the first year that a DVD filled with movie trailers of movies shown at the festival was available for purchase with the festival guide book.
FanTasia 2002 (missed year)Fantasia 2002 was cancelled due to problems with the Imperial Cinema. The air conditioning system was broken, and it could not be fixed in time for Fantasia. Indeed, the theatre was not repaired until 2004. Due to the lack of assurance that the theater would be available, and the fact that it broke four months before the festival, meant that alternate bookings were not available. The lack of assurance for the 2003 festival meant a change in venue.
FanTasia 2001The 2001 edition was the last held in the Imperial Cinema. It was also the last time the festival was jointly held with Comedia.
FanTasia 2000The 2000 edition of Fantasia featured the debut of the Just For Laughs film festival, Comedia, as a selection of comedy films were shown with the regular Fantasia fare. This was also the final year that a Toronto edition of the festival was presented.
Fantasia International Film Festival 1999The 1999 edition of Fantasia was the only one which utilized the ex-Centris facilities. This year also featured the second Toronto edition.
Fant-Asia 1998Fantasia's Toronto edition premiered at the Bloor Cinema.
Fant-Asia 1997Some of the films featured were
Perfect Blue,
Drunken Master II,
Stagefright,
El Dia de la Bestia,
Henry,
A Gun for Jennifer,
Tromeo and Juliet and
Cutting Moments.
Fant-Asia 1996 (inaugural festival)Small Gauge Trauma (ASIN B000FOQ01Y)Small Gauge Trauma is the name of the film shorts component of Fantasia. A DVD anthology of various shorts shown over various editions of Fantasia has been published.
Red to Kill (ASIN B00007ELI4)Fantasia has published a subtitled VHS version of the Hong Kong film
Red to Kill, for release in Quebec.
Run and Kill (ASIN B00007ELI5)Fantasia has published a subtitled VHS version of the Hong Kong film
Run and Kill, for release in Quebec.
Jackie Chan's Greatest StuntsFantasia has published a subtitled VHS version of the Hong Kong action scenes compilation
Jackie Chan's Greatest Stunts Volumes 1 & 2, for release in Quebec.
Jackie Chan: My Stunts (ASIN B000067JH0)Fantasia has published a subtitled VHS version of Jackie Chan's stunt action compilation
My Stunts, for release in Quebec.
Jackie Chan: My Story (ASIN B000067JH1)Fantasia has published a subtitled VHS version of Jackie Chan's autobiography
My Story, for release in Quebec.
Trailer DVDFor the 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2003 festivals, a DVD filled with trailers of some of the films being played has been provided for purchase.
