by Walter Chaw Fantasia Festival is special. Every time I cover it, I see something I love.
Oftentimes, when I see something I love outside a festival setting, I notice that it played first at Fantasia. In terms of scope, the festival is massive–twenty days from start to finish, which hardly seems possible. My coverage strategy is that I'm going to eschew films destined for wide release (or rather whatever passes for a "wide" release nowadays), mostly in the hopes of providing the only real service a critic can ever provide with regards to a film's financial prospects. There's no better feeling in this gig than championing a movie that needs a few organic champions.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fest's PR director, Kaila Hier. She's a gem, a rarity, a real live human in there who makes it a point to know the films she represents and the critics she's enlisting to cover them. I want to mention her because I think, too often, this aspect of festivals and the distribution/exhibition ecosystem, when mentioned at all, is spoken of in terms of derision. It's a truism in the service industry that the vast majority of people leaving comments are the unhappy ones. Well, I'm very happy to be covering Fantasia Festival once again, and a lot of that has to do with Kaila's professionalism and passion.
Anyway, that's it. Hey ho, let's go.
