Welcome to New York to close Fantasia

Welcome to New York will receive its North American premiere as the closing film of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

Abel Ferrara’s controversial feature, loosely based on the DSK scandal, is part of the second wave of programming for the Montreal-based genre festival, along with the international premiere of Masayuki Ochiai’s reboot Ju-on: The Beginning of the End.

The second wave includes three additional world premieres – Tim Grabham & Jasper Sharp’s The Creeping Garden, Joseph O’Brien’s The Devil’s Mile and Chad Archibald’s The Drownsman – while the likes of Brian O’Malley’s Let Us Prey and Maximilian Erlenwein’s Stereo receive their North American premieres at this year’s edition.

Nicholas McCarthy’s At the Devil’s Door (formerly Home), Wong Jin’s From Vegas to Macau, Gerard Johnstone’s Housebound, Jeff Baena’s Life After Beth and Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows are among the films receiving Canadian premieres.

This year will also see a new section in the festival’s programming, Fantasia Underground, dedicated to showcasing indie outsider visions.

For its inaugural edition, the section will highlight four features from Canada, Japan and the US, three of which will be world premieres: Andres Torres’ Bag Boy Lover Boy; Matt O’Mahoney’s Bloody Knuckles; and Bennet Jones’ I Am a Knife with Legs.

The North American premiere of Hisayasu Sato’s Hana-Dama: The Origins rounds off the selection.

Alongside the previously announced award for Mamoru Oshii, the festival has announced that Tobe Hooper will also be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hooper will receive the award ahead of the Canadian premiere of the 4K restoration of his seminal horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The full line-up of screenings and events for this year’s Fantasia will be unveiled on July 10.

Second wave in full

At the Devil’s Door (formerly Home) (US) CP
Dir: Nicholas McCarthy

Bag Boy Lover Boy (US) WP
Dir: Andres Torres

Bloody Knuckles (Canada) WP
Dir: Matt O’Mahoney

Cheatin’ (US) CP
Dir: Bill Plympton

Closer to God (US) IP
Dir: Billy Senese

Creep (US) CP
Dir: Patrick Brice

The Creeping Garden (UK) WP
Dirs: Tim Grabham, Jasper Sharp

Dancing Karate Kid (Japan) CP
Dir: Tsukasa Kishimoto

The Devil’s Mile (Canada) WP
Dir: Joseph O’Brien

The Drownsman (Canada) WP
Dir: Chad Archibald

Fight Church (US) IP
Dirs: Daniel Junge, Bryan Storkle

Frank (UK) QP
Dir: Lenny Abrahamson

From Vegas to Macau (Hong Kong) CP
Dir: Wong Jin

Fuku-Chan of Fukufuku Flats (Japan) CP
Dir: Yosuke Fujita

Hana-Dama: The Origins (Japan) NAP
Dir: Hisayasu Sato

Housebound (New Zealand) CP
Dir: Gerard Johnstone

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (Sweden) CP
Dir: Felix Herngren

I Am a Knife with Legs (US) WP
Dir: Bennet Jones

Ingtoogi: The Battle of Internet Trolls (South Korea) IP
Dir: Um Tae-hwa

In Order of Disappearance (Norway-Sweden-Denmark) CP
Dir: Hans Petter Moland

Jellyfish Eyes (Japan) CP
Dir: Takashi Murakami

Ju-on: The Beginning of the End (Japan) IP
Dir: Masayuki Ochiai

Kumiko the Treasure Hunter (US) CP
Dir: David Zellner

Kundo: Age of the Rampant (South Korea) QP
Dir: Yoon Jong-bin

Let Us Prey (Ireland-UK) NAP
Dir: Brian O’Malley

Life After Beth (US) CP
Dir: Jeff Baena

3D Naked Ambition (Hong Kong) CP
Dir: Lee Kung Lok

No Tears for the Dead (South Korea) QP
Dir: Lee Jeong-beom

Open Windows (Spain-US) CP
Dir: Nacho Vigalondo

Starry Eyes (US) CP
Dirs: Dennis Widmyer, Kevin Kolsch

Stereo (Germany) NAP
Dir: Maximilian Erlenwein

Summer of Blood (US) CP
Dir: Onur Tukel

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (4K restoration) (US) CP
Dir: Tobe Hooper

Ugly (India) CP
Dir: Anurag Kashyap

Welcome to New York (US) NAP
Dir: Abel Ferrara

White Bird in a Blizzard (US) CP
Dir: Gregg Araki

WP – World Premiere
IP – International Premiere
NAP – North American Premiere
CP – Canadian Premiere
QP – Quebec Premiere