Fantastic Film Festival Australia: Cult Classics, Indie Darlings And Sheer Screenings

Get ready to experience cult classics of the past and future at the Fantastic Film Festival Australia, bringing strangely sensational cinema from across the globe to the Ritz Cinemas in Sydney during April and May.

Featuring 17 premieres of audacious new works and 10 bonafide classics, including a full Lynne Ramsey retrospective, this year’s FFFA is set to give audiences a way to explore some of the craziest offerings that the Australian cinematic landscape has to offer. With wild experiences like movies given live instrumentation and the (in)famous nude screening returning, the Fantastic Film Fest is distinctly unlike any other celebration of movies in Australia.

“FFFA is a celebration of vibrant, boundary-pushing cinema, spotlighting unrestrained and wholly original voices from around the globe,” said the festival’s Artistic Director Hudson Sowada. “It’s an invitation to take a ride on the wild side, discover cult classics in the making, and join our community of likeminded cinematic explorers.”

Take a look below at some of the highlights of this year’s extensive festival program!

New cult classics make their debut

Though the many classic screenings are sure to be a hit at this year’s Fantastic Film Festival, it’s possible you’ll find one of your new favourite movies with the slate of movie premieres at the festival.

Head to the Ritz on opening night to catch Hell of a Summer, a throwback to the campground slashers of the 80s directed by and starring young stars Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard. The campy-looking Clown in a Cornfield makes its debut at the festival, as does The Balconettes, a reunion between the creative team behind Portrait of a Lady on Fire with Noémie Merlant set to star, direct and co-write with Céline Sciamma.

There’s also a huge slate of Australian works on display at this year’s FFFA. New works include Pure Scum, Salt Along The Tongue, A Grand Mockery and Sword of Silence, all of which look to have delightfully uncomfortable vibes. Plus, there’s the Sydney Shorts event that’ll allow you to see seven new shorts from local Sydney filmmakers!

Strip down with Austin Powers

A tradition of the Fantastic Film Festival Australia is the yearly nude screening, where audiences strip down to watch a movie with an audience of completely unclothed patrons. Previous years have seen comedy classics like Zoolander and The Naked Gun viewed by a rather sheer crowd, which have been described as a way to attain an absolute sense of personal freedom.

This year, the nude screening returns with the audacious Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, the classic spy-movie sendup spearheaded by Mike Myers. There are rules, of course – you’ve gotta bring a towel to sit on, and no walking out of the cinema unclothed. But for those who dare, they’ll find a groovy cinematic experience that they’ll rarely ever replicate.

A techno-nightmare triple feature

Partnering with Aussie distributors Umbrella Entertainment, FFFA are bringing a night of internet horror with the Umbrella-Palooza Digital Nightmares Triple Feature. Showcasing three films from the 90s and 00s – Cypher, Hardware and Pulse – that are concerned with the internet and its potential for horror, it’s a highly thematic evening that offers the chance to see three cult classics on the big screen.

In between each film, you’ll also get to hear from the director of the Dark Nights Film Fest Bryn Tilly about the technological terror of these cult masterpieces, and from paranormal investigator Jason King about his personal experiences with the supernatural. All-in-all, a great night for anyone looking to be spooked.

End the Fantastic Film Festival with a bang, or a hundred 

To close off the festival, bear witness to the glory that is John Woo’s ultra violent magnum opus Hard Boiled on 35mm with a live and improvised jazz score courtesy of The Rookies. Starring two of Hong Kong’s greatest stars in Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung, this maximalist crime epic has one of the highest bullet to minute ratios of any action film ever.

Yet underneath the many, many explosions lies an incredible tale of two men who are forced to work together and learn to respect one another while kicking serious ass and saving a lot of babies. A chance to see Hard Boiled on 35mm is already hard to pass up, but the addition of an improvised jazz score to accompany one of the ultimate demonstrations of gun-fu makes it one of the best events at the fest.

See the full FFFA program at https://www.fantasticfilmfestival.com.au/.