Environment Canada has issued an extreme heat advisory for the end of the week, and we’ll be sweating – with absolute bliss – from one screening to the next in the sun-drenched streets and big grey halls of Concordia (with the echo, it’s more dramatic).
The Fantasia Festival is Montreal’s favorite film festival, because it’s where the year’s hottest and most exciting films are shown first. Opening the festival, Ari Aster’s highly anticipated Eddington divided the critics-and when it divides the critics, it means the film is very, very interesting.
It’s also the favorite festival of weirdos and those obsessed with genre films, horror, gritty comedies and catharsis in cinema.
Unfortunately, since we’re covering all of Montreal, we can’t go to every screening and event, so we had to choose to fill our diary with a few films and events we were looking forward to…
Our Fantasia 2025 agenda
Find Your Friends (2025) by Izabel Pakzad, world premiere
We’ve seen Find Your Friends and we’re absolutely obsessed with the soundtrack of this ultra-angoing, jouissive revenge film that explores the absolute horror of being a young party girl and the traumatic male violence that -unfortunately- often comes with it.
It’s pop, it makes the heart beat 100 times an hour, and it ‘s a bad girls trip to remember…
“Partying” is the only priority for Amber (Helena Howard, I SAW THE TV GLOW, MADELINE’S MADELINE), Lavinia (Bella Thorne, DIVINITY), Zosia (Zion Moreno, GOSSIP GIRL), Lola (Chloe Cherry, EUPHORIA) and Maddy (Sophia Ali, GREY’S ANATOMY) on their girls’ trip to Joshua Tree. They want booze, boys and lots of fun on a party boat. Amber’s ex is also on board. When she catches him with another girl, she turns to the cute Tye (Blaine Kern III, FOUND), who oversteps the bounds of Amber’s consent when she finds herself alone with him. She pushes him away, continues to feast, then attacks Tye, causing the girl group to be thrown off the boat. They don’t give up and still want to have a good time, but Amber remains haunted by her experience with Tye, despite the effect of ecstasy and vodka. After men act aggressively with them at a concert, Amber’s trauma becomes harder and harder to ignore, tensions develop between the friends, and it all has brutal consequences in the California desert.” – Fantasia
It Ends (2025) by Alexander Ullom, Canadian premiere
We’re off to see It Ends on July 30!
“” Life is a highway”, as Tom Cochrane once sang. For four college friends, it’s all the more true. Tyler (Mitchell Cole), James (Phinehas Yoon), Fisher (Noah Toth) and Day (Akira Jackson) reunite one last time before going their separate ways. But the farewell party doesn’t go as planned, and here they are on an endless road to literally nowhere. They drive on and on, without ever seeing a single bend or intersection. What’s more, their car no longer consumes any gas, and the miles don’t even add up on the odometer! They can stop from time to time, but they can’t turn off the engine, and as soon as they stray off the road, danger lurks. Each of the four friends will have to face their destiny in their own way as they try to figure out where they are, and what lies at the end of this never-ending road. Some will choose to accept their destiny, others will want to control it, to explore it, and they’ll all be asking similar questions. When will it end? Can it really end? And if it does end, is that the end for us too?” – Fantasia
William Bagley’s Hold The Fort (2025), world premiere
We’re off to see Hold The Fort on July 26!
“Couple in their thirties, Lucas (Chris Mayers, OZARK) and Jenny (Haley Leary) are excited to finally leave the big city and move to a quiet corner of the suburbs. To be more precise, only Lucas is excited; Jenny is apprehensive about dealing with a homeowners’ association. In fact, as soon as they move in, the association’s president, a certain Jerry (Julian Smith), invites the new neighbors to an Equinox celebration to be held that very evening: an excellent opportunity to meet everyone! Unfortunately, things aren’t quite that simple. This community harbors one of the secret gates to hell, and all manner of supernatural creatures use this passageway to come and torment the living on earth. The equinox celebration is just a pretext to get the newcomers in on the act. Lucas and Jenny will soon regret not having read everything that was printed in very small print in the homeowners’ association contract…” – Fantasia
Lurker (2025) by Alex Russell, Canadian premiere
We’re off to see Lurker on August 1!
“Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) works in a hip Los Angeles clothing store, where he keeps a low profile. One day, rising pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe, MIDSOMMAR) comes in for a visit, to the amazement of the entire store. Matthew performs a song that impresses the star and is rewarded with an invitation to his next show. It’s here that he meets Oliver’s hipster entourage of strangely contemptuous friends and supporters, an entirely new world based on social tension and validation. Matthew quickly manages to insinuate himself into Oliver’s protective and competitive circle, and his online credibility explodes with each new publication made from within this group. As Matthew’s self-esteem soars, a sinister narcissism rises to the surface. He’s determined to keep his privileged access… and he’ll do anything to keep it.” – Fantasia
Together (2025) by Michael Shanks, Canadian premiere
We’re off to see Together on July 26!
“Millie (Alison Brie) and Tim (Dave Franco) have been a couple for 10 years, unmarried, but… happy? More or less, because their relationship is showing serious signs of wear and tear. Millie has just landed a teaching job that requires them to move out of town, away from their friends, to a house in the middle of a wooded area. What they realize too late is that there’s a strange energy in those woods. As the interpersonal tensions between Millie and Tim drive them further apart, this force begins to bind them figuratively and literally. Caught in a symbiotic relationship even when they’re apart, they’ll have to take drastic measures to avoid being united… forever.” – Fantasia
Sweetness (2025) by Emma Higgins, Canadian premiere
We saw Sweetness and loved this worthy little sister to Jennifer’s Body, a rom-com from hell that explores obsession, addiction and the power of being in love with a rockstar when you’re a tween.
“A teenager mistreated by her classmates, Rylee (Kate Hallet, WOMEN TALKING) has lost her mother and lives with her father, Ron (Justin Chatwin, ANOTHER LIFE). Ron works as a policeman, which makes his daughter even more unpopular at school, but all this is forgotten the day Rylee hears Payton (Herman Tømmeraas, RAGNAROK), lead singer of the Swedish band Floorplan, for the first time. Already obsessed, Rylee plans to go and see the band in concert with her best friend, Sid (Aya Furukawa, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER). Her mother’s death, her father’s disapproval, even his new partner: all are swept aside for one night with Payton.” – Fantasia
“Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film” – discussion with Payton McCarty-Simas and book launch.
We’re going to Payton McCarty-Simas’ book launch on July 26 (and it’s a free event!)!
“It may seem obvious that the witch is a feminist symbol in 2025, but that hasn’t always been the case. In this discussion marking the publication of Payton McCarty-Simas’s second book, That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film, Payton will talk about the evolution of witch representation in horror cinema. Touching on everything from the feminist second wave to Satanic Panic, the #MeAlso movement, QAnon and more, iel will examine the political interactions between feminist activism and American genre cinema, analyzing famous and obscure films along the way.” – Fantasia
Practical info
When? July 16 – August 3, 2025
Where? Montreal
How? For accreditations , the complete program and all the details (to come) of the festival, visit the Fantasia website -here!