If you passed the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar last Thursday, you might have thought you’d stumbled into a scene from Game of Thrones.
Seventy-five armored warriors – live action role players – clashed in a medieval battle in front of the theater.
But this wasn’t Westeros; the battle heralded the opening night of Fantastic Fest, as famous for its film premieres as for its outrageous stunts. Now in its 20th year, the nation’s largest genre film festival is still rewriting rules of what a film festival can be.
“We have buried people alive,” the festival’s director, Lisa Dreyer, said. “One year, we had people – under the supervision of a doctor – draw their own blood and cook it into a traditional blood sausage and then they ate it. Last year, we had people from a sideshow come and they let guests staple their face.”
The fest has grown from a scrappy gathering of horror fans into a cultural juggernaut, she said, adding that horror movies are some of the only movies making money at the box office these days.
The opening-night film, Primate, is about a killer chimpanzee and stars Troy Kotsur. Fans also lined up for the fest’s trademark “secret screenings,” which aren’t revealed until the lights go down. This year, they included Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia.
But beyond the big premieres, the festival has had a history of elevating up-and-coming filmmakers.
“It really is the place that everyone’s looking for of who are gonna be the next voices,” Texas-born director and UT grad Bryan Bertino said, “who are gonna be the new filmmakers who are gonna pop.”
Dreyer said Fantastic Fest is about nurturing the next generation of filmmakers, and organizers are doubling down on its role as a launch pad for new voices.
“Making movies, it seems, gets harder and harder every year financially,” Dreyer said, “so Fantastic Fest really just wants to expand our impact and our reach so we can help our filmmakers make a living making art.”
To do that, the fest introduced a competition this year called “Fantastic Pitches.” Five finalists battled live on stage for $100,000 and a guaranteed world premiere.
“Our goal with Fantastic Fest is to really continue to champion filmmakers and to help filmmakers with their careers,” Dreyer said.
The winners this year were Nicolas Curcio, Kirby Gladstein and Ben Gojer for their film Play House, which was described as sinister meets Sesame Street. It's a story about how one man's fixer-upper turns nightmarish when tapes from a creepy children's show unleash dark secrets in his new home.
Then there are the fest's legendary traditions, like the "Fantastic Debates," where filmmakers argue hot topics on stage then settle the score in the boxing ring. In keeping with the medieval theme this year, though, boxing was out and sword-fighting was in.
“Fantastic Fest is kind of a refuge for all the artists and weirdos,” Dreyer said, “and we're definitely keeping things weird.”
