FEATURE FOCUS W
n GENRE FILM FESTIVALS
ith Montreal’s Fantasia Inter- national Film Festival set to launch its inaugural Frontieres
international co-production market at this year’s edition, there is yet more evi- dence that genre film festivals are no longer the fanboy underground events they once were — they are becoming a key stop on the industry’s festival circuit. “Maybe a couple of years ago it was
more underground film festivals, it was small festivals that were struggling,” explains Stephanie Trepanier, market director at Fantasia. “But now, they’re really organised, world-class events.” Trepanier admits the launch of a co-
production market was, among other reasons, born out of a desire to bring industry to the festival in order to achieve “the premiere status we want to get to”. And Fantasia is not the first genre film festival to introduce an indus- try-driven event into its annual line-up. Launched in 2008, the Network of
Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) was the first genre-exclusive market. Running during the Puchon International Fan- tastic Film Festival (PiFan), NAFF involves three strands: It Project, a genre-exclusive project market allowing film-makers from Asia and the Asian diaspora to hold business meetings with international film producers and key investors; Industry Programs, promot- ing the global genre film industry; and the Fantastic Film School, a specialised education programme for genre film professionals. NAFF managing director Jongsuk
Thomas Nam says it is now a truly glo- bal event. “Because there are, nowadays, many financiers or co-production part- ners from Australia, UK, US, who are interested in Asian elements, we get the buyers, financiers or co-production partners from all over, not only Asia.” This year’s It Project has a record 20
projects from 13 territories, including the first 3D animation at NAFF, The Birth Of B/W Man, and Korea’s first genre romantic sci-fi fantasy The Weirdo From Mars. Such diversity is more indicative of
what genre film festivals are all about. “I think it’s a good thing because it has re-
n 50 Screen International June-July 2012
SCREAMING ROOM
As genre titles become more popular in the marketplace, festivals such as Fantasia, FrightFest and PiFan are not just for the fanboys any more. Ian Sandwell examines how the industry is embracing fantastic events
educated the general audience that there are more than just horror films when it comes to genre films,” Nam suggests. Alongside the project market, the
educational programme this year will focus on animation, film and new media, and like last year, will be open to professionals from all over Asia.
Sparking relationships There is often a close-knit relationship between the three industry initiatives that NAFF runs, with film-makers that start out in the educational programme
(Above) Legendary genre director George A Romero and friends at 2007’s FrightFest in London; (Right) Panic Button’s world premiere at the festival helped to cement the film’s UK distribution deal
submitting projects for the market which eventually go on to screen at PiFan. In addition to this, NAFF gives its participants the chance to meet with other film-making professionals who often go on to work together. “One of the prime examples [is] Oh
Young-doo, who was one of the direc- tors of [horror anthology] Neighbour- hood Zombie, which was in our festival in 2009,” says Nam. “Yubari festival director Tokitoshi Shiota saw the film and liked it so much he invited Oh to Yubari in 2010. Oh’s latest film Invasion
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