Fantastic Fest is getting a boost from J.J. Abrams.
The Austin, Texas-based festival has announced the first wave of films it will screen in September, and the Abrams-produced World War II zombie project Overlord is getting its world premiere there. Director Julius Avery will be on hand with stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbaek, John Magaro and Mathilde Ollivier to give audiences the film before Paramount releases Overlord in theaters Nov. 9.
The Raid filmmaker Gareth Evans’ upcoming Netflix thriller Apostle is also among the films screening at the fest, alongside director Timo Tjahjanto’s violent action-thriller The Night Comes for Us and Alejandro Fadel’s Murder Me, Monster, which is getting its North American debut at the fest after premiering at Cannes. Fantastic Fest is also bringing older South Korean films such as Bangreumyeon from Kim Ki-young, who is known to have influenced Park Chan-wook, and Quit Your Life, from late helmer Park Nou-sik.
The festival is also highlighting the work of female genre filmmakers from around the world, including Ukrainian Marysia Nikitiuk’s When the Tree Falls; Spanish filmmaker Sonia Escolano’s House of Sweat and Tears; and Isabella Eklof’s Danish Sundance film Holiday, which The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic Todd McCarthy named one of his favorites of that festival.
Organizers of Fantastic Fest, now in its 14th year, describe its mission as celebrating offbeat and brilliant cinema. See the full, first-wave lineup at the Fantastic Fest website.
The festival runs Sept. 20-27 in Austin.
