Frankenweenie opens Fantastic Fest 2012 in black & white style

Holy Shatner! I knew going into FANTASTIC FEST in 2011 that it was going to be awesome. I went for the first time and:

• made many new friends
• did karaoke with Ti West along with 25 others for Only The Good Die Young
• along with the Mexican contingent with KISS’ Rock And Roll All Night
• saw some kick-ass films from all over the world

I managed to not see any English-speaking films for the first five days of the festival. That said, here’s one English-speaking film I am excited to see…and thanks to the awesome/killer/badassery that is Fantastic Fest, I will get the chance to see this before everyone else. I hope.

I don’t have a VIP pass (which allows you to pick films to see before regular pass-holders) and I know this will be one of the hot tickets for sure. I can only hope that they show it on more than one screen at the same time for the opening film.

FRANKENWEENIE!

Tim Burton’s newest feature length film  and based on his own black and white short will be the gala opening film at this year’s Fantastic Fest on September 20th at the ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE at their South Lamar location.

It is the World Premier to boot, so I expect all the bells and whistles will be out for this one. Last year’s gala premier film was Human Centipede II (which I gladly opted out of), and did not miss a whit.

I bought my pass nine months ago for this, and just used all my ‘points’ to get my plane tickets for this and am so thankful that Southwest Air now flies out of Atlanta. If you have the means (to go to this excellent event  – and not just for the gala film, but the parties, karaoke, drinking and camaraderie) I highly recommend you pick one up. (thanks for that line, Ferris)

Tim Burton stands as a titan of modern genre cinema.

To world premiere the feature adaptation of his early beloved short is a huge honor for me personally and for the festival in general. – Tim League — Fantastic Fest co-founder and creative director

 

Frankenweenie is a heartwarming tale about a boy and his dog. After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science(!) to bring his best friend back to life-with just a few minor adjustments.  Though he tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but when Sparky gets out, Victor’s fellow students, teachers and the entire town all learn that getting a new “leash on life” can be monstrous.

A stop-motion animated film, Frankenweenie was filmed in black and white and rendered in 3D, though originally a short, film when originally done decades ago it has been expanded to feature length  Joining Catherine O’Hara (Nightmare Before Christmas) are Martin Short, Martin Landau, Charlie Tahan, Atticus Shaffer, Robert Capron, Conchata Ferrell and Winona Ryder as the voices of Victor and his family.

Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. They have premiered such acclaimed (and infamous) films like THERE WILL BE BLOOD,  ZOMBIELAND, and THE HUMAN CENETIPEDE 2 and guests such as Bill Murray, The RZA, and Darren Aronofsky.

FantasticFest is one of the “25 coolest film festivals” and the “25 film festivals worth the entry fee” — Moviemaker Magazine.

I can vouch for the quote above as I personally think that Tim opened The HighBall — which is hands-down the best nightclub/bar/restaurant/bowling alley/karaoke & skeeball joint this side of 1963 –– just so he could have parties there during Fantastic Fest.

Fantastic Fest is partnering again with companies like AMD, Well Go USA Entertainment and Shiner Beeras well as hotels like Embassy Suites, Radisson and the Intercontinental and bringing on board new sponsor Sony Digital Cinema 4K  — these fine folks do things like sponsor themed karaoke nights, give  bottle openers to everyone (at LET THE BULLETS FLY) and even providing hundreds of beers for the audiences (huzzah!) as well as providing a place to crash that is comfy and affordable for the weary film-goers at the end of the night. I can’t wait to see what Sony 4K will bring to the table besides an excellent picture and sound.

As they start releasing what other films are making the cut for this year’s schedule, I’ll try and post about them.  But in the meantime, I leave you with the amazing (Mayan apocalypse be damned!) poster for this year’s Fantastic Fest. Big thanks as always to the folks at Fons PR for all the deets!

~~ H. Blain lives in HOTlanta and has already started making plans for barbeque while in Austin in September for Fantastic Fest. If you want to join her, find her on the tweety at @MediaTsarina ~~