If you’re a regular HeyUGuys reader you will have seen a few reviews from FanTasia 2010 on the site the past couple of days and there are still a lot more to come but I wanted to put these in context of the wonderful festival that I saw them at as it draws to a close today.

Now in its 14th year FanTasia is one of North America’s largest film festivals and it is particularly dedicated to genre cinema from all over the world. The range of films on offer for audiences is just staggering with films such as the strangely appropriate The Sorcerers Apprentice, Scott Pilgrim or The Land Before Time sitting alongside A Serbian Film or The Human Centipede. The festival also supports the screening of older films with the 2010 FanTasia Festival having fantastic highlights such as the restored Metropolis and Steven Severin (of Banshees fame) providing a new score for Jean Cocteau’s The Blood of a Poet.

One name that also kept coming up at this year’s festival was Ken Russell, who was in town to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award and also to attend a lot of the screenings, including the screening of a lot of his own films, many from rare 35mm prints. I watched Lair of the White Worm at FanTasia and Russell siting in the front row singing The D’Ampton Worm was certainly a strange and wonderful highlight of the festival for me.

Russell was not the only guest in attendance and as you can tell from the list of guests on the FanTasia website the festival attracts an outstanding selection of guests. Often staying for some time in Montreal a lot of the guests can be seen at other screenings and can also often be found drinking and chatting to fans in the local drinking spots.

I hope to return to FanTasia again next year but until then there will be more reviews up on the site over the next week and I will leave you with some tips for getting the most out of FanTasia. Obviously these are based on my experience this year but should also apply for next year’s festival too.

  • Although there are a few different places that show films as part of FanTasia they are all quite close together so you can pack your schedule with films without needing to leave too much time between films, even if they are at different venues.
  • Buy the FanTasia programme. This is probably the most important tip I can offer. Despite the 5 Canadian Dollar price this programme is more than worth it. Featuring in depth reviews of every film in both English and French the programme is the perfect guide to such a diverse selection of films.
  • Although a lot of big films play at FanTasia remember that these are also the films that you will probably have a chance to see another time. One of the great things about film festivals is seeing that film that comes out of nowhere and blows you away. Take a chance and you might find gold. The programmers at FanTasia have fantastic taste in films and you will always find something of interest in the large programme.
  • Booking a hotel near the Concordia is ideal (I stayed at the recently built and wonderful Le St-Martin) as this is the central location for a lot of what happens at the festival but it’s pretty easy to get around Montreal so a hotel further out probably won’t cause you any problems. The Fantasia website has a great selection of hotels if you’re looking for ideas.
  • Traveling around Montreal is pretty easy as the city has a Metro system, buses, good taxis and a fantastic approach to cyclists. You can rent bikes on a short term basis using the city’s BIXI system or hire a bike for the time you are there. I used Ca Roule and thoroughly enjoyed cycling around Montreal.

You can find more information about visiting Montreal at Tourisme Montreal.

Hopefully that’s of some help if you’re considering going next year and if you do then I hope to see you there!

Embedded below is the promo trailer for the festival.