Festivals - Fantasia 2021 : Virtual masterclass & career achievement award to Shunji Iwai 

By Mulder, 21 july 2021

For its 25th anniversary, Fantasia is proud to honour writer, director and video artist Shunji Iwai with a Career Achievement Award and play host to a special masterclass led by the esteemed filmmaker. His latest film, The 12 day tale of the monster that died in 8, previously announced as part of the Camera Lucida slate – designed as a relief film for the Japa-nese film industry during the Covid-19 pandemic – perfectly captures the all-too-online mo-ment in which we find ourselves. This is only the latest example of Iwai’s preternatural talent for capturing and sublimating the unspoken feelings that accompany pivotal moments in life, such as the end of elementary school, the beginning of university, the uncertainty of married life, or turn-of-the-millennium teen angst. He expertly communicates what it means to live in increasingly in-terconnected times, integrating the language of message boards, dating apps, and handwritten love letters into his work. A chronicler of changing hearts and changing times, Iwai’s filmogra-phy stands as one of the most unique and influential in all of Japanese cinema 

Also screening as part of this tribute: Fireworks, Should we see it from the side or the bottom? (1995), April story (1997), all about lily chou-chou (2001). 

The festival passport is already on sale online and individual tickets, for both virtual and theatrical screenings, will go on sale Friday, July 23rd at 1PM EDT.

The 25th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival will be presented by Videotron in collaboration with Desjardins, and will be made possible thanks to the financial assistance of the Government of Quebec, SODEC, Telefilm Canada, the City of Montreal, the Conseil des arts of Montreal and Tourisme Montréal. A final wave of Fantasia 2021 titles will be announced in late July, with ticket sales commencing shortly afterwards. Mrs. Van Houten, a woman who seems to be losing touch with reality, and her treatment un-der Dr. Caligari, who diagnoses her with a "disease of the libido." 

For more information, visit us on the web at www.fantasiafestival.com

(Source : press release)