Fantastic Fest 2015 has today announced it’s first wave programming lineup for the 11th annual celebration of genre-bending films! This year’s highlights include the World Premiere of director by S. Craig Zahler Bone Tomahawk with Kurt Russell and Matthew Fox in attendance, a retrospective of Turkish Genre Cinema, and a special Mondo Gallery event and programming series curated by filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn to celebrate the release of his new book Nicolas Winding Refn: The Act of Seeing, which profiles Refn’s collection of vintage exploitation-era American movie posters.
“We’re very excited about this year’s mix of premieres, unique events and a retrospective theme unlike any other featuring audacious and otherworldly Turkish remakes of classic Hollywood films,” said Fantastic Fest founder Tim League. “…Bringing Kurt Russell back to the Alamo is something we’ve been trying to do for a long time. And to do it with ‘Bone Tomahawk,’ a quintessential Fantastic Fest film, means we’re in for one hell of a closer. Huge thanks to Caliber Media for making it all happen.”
Turkish genre cinema is at the heart of Fantastic Fest 2015, inspiring both feature programming and the festival theme. This relatively unknown school of ’70s renegade filmmaking is explored in Remix, Remake, Rip-Off, which will be receiving its U.S. Premiere with director Cem Kaya in attendance.
”We are delighted to be digging deep into Turkish cinema for a journey of discovery,” said Fantastic Fest 2015 Head Programmer, Evrim Ersoy. “With its ‘filmmaking-at-any-cost’ mentality, the sheer insanity of Turkish cinema is a perfect match for Fantastic Fest.”
As part of the Turkish celebration, Fantastic Fest 2015 will be screening three seminal films, Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam (aka The Man Who Saves the World, aka Turkish Star Wars), Yilmayan Seytan (aka The Deathless Devil) and Tarkan Viking Kani (aka Tarkan vs the Vikings). The screenings will be complemented by the attendance of iconic Turkish filmmaker Çetin İnanç and moviestar Kunt Tulgar.
“Due to the high cost of exhibiting American movies, Turkish filmmakers created their own versions of these classics, and with it a new universe of madcap cinema was born. I’m proud to say we’ve selected some of their wildest rides,” said Ersoy.
In keeping with the Turkish spirit, this year’s poster is comprised exclusively of elements from classic Turkish movie art, of which there will be over 60 original movie posters on display at the festival.
