By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The fest is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a wide range of movies.
Fantaspoa, Brazil’s longest-running film festival, has announced the first round of features for its 2024 edition, running April 10-28 at four venues in Porto Alegre. Some of the movies will also be available on-line, geo-blocked for Brazilian viewers. Over 25 of the films will be world premieres, and there will be a number of other events, including an opening party on April 12 featuring live Lucha Libre wrestling.
“This is by far the most unique lineup we’ve ever put together,” say festival directors João Fleck and Nicolas Tonsho. “The 200-plus films, comprising both shorts and features, were selected from over 1,000 entries submitted. We are proud of the fact that over 90 percent of the films selected were entries submitted on FilmFreeway, and could not be happier by the sheer amount of premieres that we are able to bring to the world.”
The first 50 features announced for Fantaspoa 2024 are:
- (ICONIC) (dir. Matthew Freiheit. 2024, United States, International Premiere)
- A HALLOWEEN FEAST (dir. Guile Branco. 2024, United States, World Premiere)
- ALL YOU NEED IS BLOOD (pictured; dir. Cooper Roberts. 2023, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- BARK (dir. Marc Schölermann. 2023, Germany, Latin American Premiere)
- BIONICA (dir. Sebastian Perillo. 2024, Argentina, World Premiere)
- BLIND COP 2 (dir. Alec Bonk. 2023, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- BOYFRIEND DOUBLE (dir. Christopher Faust. 2024, Brazil, World Premiere)
- BRUTAL HEAT (dir. Albert Hospodarsky. 2023, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latin American Premiere)
- CAT CALL (dir. Rozália Szeleczki. 2023, Hungary, Latin American Premiere)
- CHILDREN OF THE WICKER MAN (dirs. Justin Hardy, Dominic Hardy, and Chris Nunn. 2024, United Kingdom, World Premiere)
- DARK MY LIGHT (dir. Neal Dhand. 2024, United States, World Premiere)
- DEVIANT (dir. Daniel M. Caneiro. 2024, Spain, World Premiere)
- DOME (dir. Tayo Cortés. 2023, Colombia, Brazilian Premiere)
- ENDLESS SUMMER SYNDROME (dir. Kaveh Daneshmand. 2023, Czech Republic, France, Latin American Premiere)
- FACELESS AFTER DARK (dir. Raymond Wood. 2023, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- FAILURE! (dir. Alex Kahuam. 2023, Mexico, United States, Brazilian Premiere)
- FOREST KILLER (dir. Radim Špaček. 2024, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, World Premiere)
- HARAKIRI SQUAD (dir. Ryosuke Kanesaki. 2024, Japan, World Premiere)
- HAUNTED ULSTER LIVE (dir. Dominic O’Neill. 2023, United Kingdom, Latin American Premiere)
- HEAVIER IS THE SKY (dir. Petrus Cariry. 2023, Brazil, Regional Premiere)
- HIDDEN CITY (dir. Francisco Bouzas. 2024, Argentina, Latin American Premiere)
- JEIT (dirs. Carlos Ángel Luppi and Daniel Schäfer. 2024, Argentina, Germany, World Premiere)
- KERATYNA (dir. Miguel Azurmendi. 2023, Spain, Brazilian Premiere)
- LET THE MOON BE MY MOON (dir. A.D. Calvo. 2024, United States, World Premiere)
- LISTEN CAREFULLY (dir. Ryan Barton-Grimley. 2024, United States, World Premiere)
- MAMI WATA (dir. C.J. “Fiery” Obasi. 2023, Nigeria, France, United Kingdom, Regional Premiere)
- MARISA Y GOMOSO (dir. Pablo Parés. 2023, Argentina, International Premiere)
- MASTERGAME (dir. Barnabás Tóth. 2023, Hungary, Latin American Premiere)
- MOTION PICTURE: CHOKE (dir. Gen Nagao. 2023, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
- MUSHROOMS (dir. Paweł Borowski. 2023, Poland, Latin American Premiere)
- MY MOTHER’S EYES (dir. Takeshi Kushida. 2023, Japan, Brazilian Premiere)
- ONCE AGAIN (FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME) (dir. Boaz Yakin. 2023, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL (dir. Ellie Foumbi. 2022, France, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- PARIAH (dir. Edson da Conceicao. 2024, Netherlands, Latin American Premiere)
- PETROL (dir. Alena Lodkina. 2022, Australia, Latin American Premiere)
- PINKCITY: A PSYCHEDELIC MEDITATION (dir. Nick Gaglia. 2024, United States, India, World Premiere)
- PUDDYSTICKS (dir. Megan Seely. 2024, United States, International Premiere)
- QUEEN OF BONES (dir. Robert Budreau. 2023, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- RATS! (dir. Carl Fry, Maxwell Nalevansky. United States, Latin American Premiere)
- RED CORN (dir. Diego Ortuño. 2024, Ecuador, World Premiere)
- RIVER (dir. Junta Yamaguchi. 2023, Japan, Latin American Premiere)
- SELF DRIVER (dir. Michael Pierro. 2024, Canada, World Premiere)
- SOMEWHERE QUIET (dir. Olivia West Lloyd. 2023, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- SUPPRESSED (dir. Tomas Masin. 2024, Czech Republic, Latin American Premiere)
- THE DISINVITED (dir. Devin Lawrence. 2024, United States, World Premiere)
- THE G (dir. Karl R. Hearne. 2023, Canada, Latin American Premiere)
- THE HORNED FROG (dir. Augusto Sinay. 2023, Argentina)
- THE ISLAND BETWEEN TIDES (dir. Austin Andrews, Andrew Holmes. 2024, United States, Latin American Premiere)
- THE SLIT MOUTHED WOMAN RISES (dir. Yu Nakamoto. 2024, Japan, International Premiere)
- THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT (dir. Michael Felker. 2024, United States, International Premiere)
- WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN (dir. Kim Albright. 2023, Canada, Latin American Premiere)
