Final round of films and schedule announced!

OK folks, it's time to sign up for a BSide account and start scheduling your films. The final Fantastic Fest lineup has been announced and the schedule is posted online. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the film scheduler through the Fantastic Fest website, and once the festival is underway, use the rating system to tell us what you think. You can also write reviews for each of the films that you see.

Except for the secret screenings and the opening and closing night films, most of this year's titles play twice: once in the first four days and again in the second four days. Your reviews and ratings during the first four days will help other folks in the Fantastic Fest community decide what to see in the second half. If you have other friends attending Fantastic Fest, you can check out their schedule if you know their BSide user ID.

The programming staff also reads all of your feedback, reviews and comments. Your opinions help us to understand what you like, what you don't and what you want to see in the Fantastic Fests of the future. Look back to the Fantastic Fest blog often for more SMS/PDA integration of the schedule plus a few last minute surprises. For the time being, though, here are the last round of confirmed features and shorts for Fantastic Fest 2007:


NEW FEATURES ADDED TO THE LINEUP:

Alone
Alone tells the story of Pim, who moved from Thailand to Korea to escape the guilt of being the surviving half of a conjoined twin. Flashbacks to Pim's childhood show how the bittersweet relationship with her sister and their commitment to stay together forever transforms into a repressive bond that ultimately leads to a separation. After she returns to visit her dying mother, the spirit of her dead sister angrily thrusts herself into Pim's life. Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, the writer/director team behind the critically acclaimed SHUTTER.


The Backwoods
Gary Oldman and friends have set out to escape the grid and take a relaxing vacation in the deep country woods of northern Spain. From the moment they arrive in a nearby village, however, it is clear that tension is thick and wealthy foreigners are not welcome. When they stumble across a feral child with deformed hands chained inside a cabin in the woods, the mood of the villagers grows significantly more unfriendly.


Devil's Helper: the Folk Art Films of Phil Chambliss
Writer-Director Phil Chambliss live in person!
“An Arkansas auteur...imagine if Fellini had lived in a trailer in Arkansas instead of Rome.” - The London Times
Phil was born, raised, and has lived his entire life in Calhoun County, Arkansas. He never went to film school or college, never took a class or read a book on filmmaking, and, as far as I can tell, saw very few movies. But the ones he did see – Sergio Leone’s FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, the entire PEYTON PLACE television special, and a particular episode of THE RIFLEMAN in which Lee Van Cleef plays Johnny Drago – led him to take the ninety-five dollars his then-wife had saved for a new icebox and purchase a video camera. With that one camera, and using a few guys from work whom he managed to talk into becoming actors, Phil went on the make twenty-six bizarre and brilliant films.


Flash Point
Hong Kong action cinema is BACK! The newest action extravaganza from Wilson Yip featuring smoldering action set pieces by Donnie Yen establishes this point fully. Yen plays a rogue cop who -- after one last gratuitous beating of a suspect -- is demoted to the police music department. In typical rogue-cop fashion, this mere slap on the wrist is not going to stem the righteous anger and the fountains of blood that accompany it. For those who thought Hong Kong action has been in decline since the John Woo days; I am happy to report that beautiful, frenzied fisticuffs are again flying out of Hong Kong!


Invisible Target
Now what was I just saying about Hong Kong being back? After you see the vast tracts of Hong Kong that were blown up and shattered in the Chinese trailer for INVISIBLE TARGET, I think you will agree, that it has returned with a vengeance. Barry Chan's non-stop knuckle-biter has the hell-bent mayhem of classic Jackie Chan with the dramatic sensibilities of a modern police drama.


Son of Rambow
I may be more excited about watching this film than any other in the Fantastic Fest lineup. Raised in a devoutly religious household in the 1980s, Will (Bill Milner) has never watched TV or seen a movie. When the world-wise Carter (Will Poulter) makes him watch a bootleg copy of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD, Will's mind shatters and he becomes obsessed with making and starring in his own action feature, SON OF RAMBOW. From Garth Jennings, director of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (2005).


Timecrimes
Director Nacho Vigalondo live in person!
Lauded short film director Vigalondo makes his feature debut with this tense, unstoppable vision of science and natural law gone awry. An incredibly well crafted time-travel story, TIMECRIMES doesn't spend money on extravagant effects, although the visual style of the film is great. Instead, the layered science-fiction plot is created through fabulous writing and solid acting from a very small cast of characters. Look for great things to come from Vigalondo!


SHORTS:
The Bird the Mouse and the Sausage
Criticized
The Ecstasy Note
Everything Will Be OK
The Faeries of Blackheath Woods
Happy Birthday 2 you
The Run
Lump
Sniffer
Waiting for Yesterday

CONFIRMED GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE WITH THEIR FILMS:

Sean Olson, Director: BATTLE FOR THE SERPENT STONE
Karim Hussain, Director: LA BELLE BETE
Naoko Masuda, Director: THE BIRD, THE MOUSE AND THE SAUSAGE
Brian Rohan, Actor: CRITICIZED
Christopher Brady, Composer: CRITICIZED
Richard Gale, Director: CRITICIZED
Maurice Devereaux, Director: END OF THE LINE
Damon Vignale, Director: ENTRANCE
Don Hertzfeldt, Director: EVERYTHING WILL BE OK
Ian Mackay, Actor: FAR OUT
Phil Mucci, Director: FAR OUT
Michael Houk, Production Designer: FAR OUT
Sandra Paduch, Actor: FIVE ACROSS THE EYES
Ryan Thiessen, Director: FIVE ACROSS THE EYES
Greg Swinson, Director: FIVE ACROSS THE EYES
Scott Thomas, Director: FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
Mark Eberle, Director of Photography: FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
Grant Show, Actor: GIRL NEXT DOOR
Gregory Wilson, Director: GIRL NEXT DOOR
Andrew van den Houten, Producer: GIRL NEXT DOOR
Mike Williamson, Director: IN THE WALL
Ryan Schifrin, Director: KING IN THE BOX
Larry Fessenden, Director: THE LAST WINTER
Marko Zaror, Actor: MIRAGEMAN, KILTRO
Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, Director: MIRAGEMAN, KILTRO
Derek Rundell, Producer: MIRAGEMAN, KILTRO
Hasko Baumann, Director: MOEBIUS REDUX
Martin Eberle, Editor: MOEBIUS REDUX
Yehudi Mercado, Director: MONSTER JOB HUNTER
Phil Chambliss, Director: DEVIL'S HELPER and other shorts
Zack Ward, Actor: POSTAL
Uwe Boll, Director: POSTAL
Adam Green, Director: SPIRAL
Joel David Moore, Director: SPIRAL
Nacho Vigalondo, Director: TIMECRIMES
Nahikari Ipiña, Producer: TIMECRIMES
Joe Lynch, Director: WRONG TURN 2

Tell you friends who are thinking about attending this year, we only have about 100 badges left for the festival and we are almost certainly going to sell out of those prior to the beginning.

If you don't get a Fantastic Fest badge, there will be some tickets available for individual shows in advance, and tickets will also be available for any remaining seats 15 minutes before each show.

This really does promise to be the most exciting, varied and no-punches-pulled film festival possible, and we're glad to have you here for it. Keep your eyes open for updates, and we can't wait to see you at FANTASTIC FEST 2007.

We'll have a couple of more posts this week about films - the much guarded opening night film as well as some last-minute stragglers. Check back to this blog because the news and action is now coming fast and furious!