Spotlight on Queer Genre Cinema
Following our tradition of uplifting new voices, radical cinematic visions, and trailblazing genre work, Fantasia is proud to put a spotlight on queer genre cinema.
We are excited to feature Eduardo Casanova’s LA PIETÀ (Spain), a genre-bending surrealist odyssey unlike anything you’ve ever seen, and Tara Thorne’s #metoo tinged revenge thriller COMPULSUS (Canada).
In the horror genre we are happy to be featuring Michelle Garza Cevera’s nightmarish exploration of pregnancy and self-compromise HUESERA (Mexico) fresh off its multiple award-winning Tribeca launch, Carter Smith’s bug-nuts film SWALLOWED (USA), and Addison Heimann’s haunting psychological descent HYPOCHONDRIAC (USA).
PLUS, an inspired pair of Amanda Kramer works, PLEASE BABY PLEASE (USA) and GIVE ME PITY (USA) screening in Camera Lucida as a Primetime Double Feature Spectacular, subverting Beatnik culture and variety shows in one swift, cinematic motion.
Also in the spotlight are two standout documentaries: Rita Baghdadi’s revolutionary Lebanese all-female-identifying punk rock doc SIRENS (USA-Lebanon), and Ry Levey’s queer wrestling chronicle OUT IN THE RING (Canada).
Compulsus
A woman’s safety is key in a community where known assailants receive their just desserts from an unlikely vigilante.
Give Me Pity!
A Primetime Saturday Night Network Television Spectacular curdles into nightmare juice in Amanda Kramer’s uneasily honest television satire.
Huesera
Pregnant with her first child, a woman realizes that she may be cursed by a supernatural entity.
Hypochondriac
When Will’s bipolar mother comes out of the woodwork after ten years of silence, he spirals into a nightmarish mental breakdown.
Out in the Ring
The pageantry of the wrestling world hides the real challenges of fighters from the LGBTQ2IA+ community.
La Pietà
Darkly funny and improbably disgusting, a fairy-tale nightmare about power and control from one of Europe's rising stars of weird cinema.
Please Baby Please
Suze and Arthur question their own sexuality after a deadly encounter with a leather-clad gang in Amanda Kramer’s beatnik-era phantasmagoria.
Sirens
This intimate documentary follows Slave to Sirens, the Middle East’s first all-female metal band, as they strive for success and empowerment.
Swallowed
A creepy-crawly-fable of survival and heartwarming friendship, delightfully grotesque and suspenseful as it is compelling and unsettling.