Fantasia Film Festival announces first wave of programming, including The Last Temptation of Becky, Hot Spot, and more

The Fantasia International Film Festival is celebrating its 30th edition this summer with a solid selection of film screenings, workshops, and launch events. This year's festival will take place from July 16 through August 3. It'll return to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montreal’s Cinéma du Musée.

The full line-up of programming won't be announced until July, but the first wave announcement includes some major genre must-sees, including The Last Temptation of Becky, Hot Spot, and Makoto Ueda's debut feature You Are the Film.

Check out the film's listed in the first wave announcement.

Agnieszka Smoczynska returns to Fantasia with Hot Spot

Agnieszka Smoczynska's The Lure premiered at Fantasia in 2016. The director went on to create The Silent Twins and Fugue. The director's latest takes place in a near future society ruled by A.I. A private eye investigates a murder case, only to uncover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. The movie stars Andrzej Konopoka, Noomi Rapace, and Reika Kirishima.

Jenn Wexler closes out the Becky trilogy at Fantasia

Writer/director Jenn Wexler is another member of the Fantasia family. Her debut film, The Ranger, played the fest in 2018, and she returned in 2023 with The Sacrifice Game. She's returning to premiere her latest film, The Wrath of Becky. Lulu Wilson reprises her role as Becky for the third film, after annihilating Neo-Nazis previously. She's now a CIA agent, managed by Kate Siegel. In her new job, Becky takes down a modern-day Nazi, played by Neil Patrick Harris. This film sounds like an absolute must-see.

Other first wave Fantasia highlights

Besides Hot Spot and The Warth of Becky, the first wave announcement includes several other films. Check out the rest of the line-up thus far.

You Are the Film: Makoto Ueda's feature debut explores time in an inventive way, with a surprise twist. Separated by three kilometers, which is a 45-minute walk, the film asks how Madoka and Kazuma can watch, interact with, and guide each other on a cinema screen in real time. This will mark the film's North American premiere, after it won the Audience Award and White Raven Award at the Brussels International Fantastic Festival.

No Rest for the Wicked: This feature focuses on a fisherman's first love with a stranded whaler, which unfolds in secrecy under pressures of family, faith, and community. The movie is a queer vampire tale with a dash of folk horror. Directed by Kasper Kalle, the Danish film is an adaptation of Karl Heinrich Ulrich's 1884 novel Manor.

The Eyes: A year after she's brutally attacked by her former boyfriend, Seo-jim remains traumatized. Suffering from blindness, her efforts to secure a corneal transplant are interrupted by the apparent suicide of her twin sister. This occurs just as her attacker is released from prison. Seo-jin is determined to find the culprit before she loses her sight. Director Yeom Ji-oh's film is a reimagination of the Spanish thriller Julia's Eyes.

Home Bodies: At this point, Canadian filmmaker Chris Nash has established a name for himself, thanks to the films The Void and In a Violent Nature. His latest, Home Bodies, is a surreal sci-fi thriller meant to rattle audiences. Twins Red and Blue, played by Emma and Ian Ho, exist in isolation, governed by Papa, a voice behind the door that dispenses food, shelter, and the law. When the androgynous Pal (Ess Hodlmoser) arrives, that world fractures. The movie has been compared to Cube and Pin and is described as a fable about autonomy and control.

Sour Minnows: Director Harrison Atkins' second feature stars Ricky as David Brown and Chase Williamson as Ricky's roommate, Tepper. They witness six men sensually licking the pavement on an empty LA street. After that, time stretches and bends, and Ricky's relationships, including his situationship with fellow cinephile Aura (Suzanna Son), begin to take on surprising new dimensions. Memories transform into lies, reality twists and bends, and Ricky finds himself at the mercy of "The Yellow Thing," an entity that wears people like costumes.

Other movies featured in the first-wave programming include Break Free, Ferine, Sleep No More, Kung Fu, which is Tawain's first martial-arts fantasy in over 40 years, Sazuki=Bakudan, Tight Lettuce, Anymart, Ancestral Beasts, from the producers of Skinamarink, Captured!, which addresses social media fame, the holiday horror movie Unholy Night, and the documentary Rubberhead: The Life & Monsters of Steve Johnson.

For more information, including tickets and scheduling, keep an eye on Fantasia's website.