Fantastic Fest Day Five

My hotel mates are flying out today but Adam was kind enough to give me a ride over to S.Lamar around 9am. Not super early but don't have a big day planned. After getting my tickets I walked back to the hotel to chill for a bit. Was pretty cool getting a ride back from Zombie Girl, director of Pathogen, Emily Hagins' mom! Decided to go with the Drawn and Quartered: Animated Shorts in my first slot rather than a film due to it's 1:05 start time. Enjoyed the selection of shorts but it was Don Hertzfeldt's Wisdom Teeth that clearly stood out.


Quickly left the shorts screening to jump into the massive stand-by line for Yoshihiro Nakamura's Golden Slumber. The buzz from its first screening had everyone wanting to get into its second screening. When it came time to let in stand-by they said "only 3" would be allowed! The long line dispersed rather dejected but then another attendant came out and said she'd take 4 more if they were willing sit in folding chairs in the back of the theater. Hell yes! I was the 4th & last person admitted and it was so damn worth it. Truly wonderful film in so many ways. Hopefully someday I'll be able to view this with my girlfriend.

Next on my schedule was Jiri Barta's In the Attic: Who Has a Birthday Today?, a Czech Republic stopmo film featuring characters created from found objects. This is a very good little family adventure film with so much inventiveness. Unfortunately it was so soothing that it was hard to stay awake. Need to watch this one again. The Q&A with Barta moderated by Karrie League was also quite nice as we got to see one of the characters in person.

For the 9PM slot, Brian Kelley (@BTSJunkie) displayed his awesomeness once again and gave up his ticket for Bunraku so I could make this screening (since Rubber was sold out and my ticket was for the Awards Ceremony, which I didn't want to attend). Was thrilled to get this screening having heard mixed reactions from the previous night. Hard to describe Guy Moshe's genre-blend of futuristic, stylistic east meets west action piece but I know I enjoyed it. Interesting to see Gackt in a feature film. Definitely one I will revisit.


Finally capped the evening with the can't-miss event of the Fantastic Feud sponsored by Fearnet and hosted by Scott Weinberg. Man, if Weinberg was ever in his element it's at the Feud. The Feud is essentially a "Family Feud" style competition pitting America against the World (team of six on each side) answering mostly horror trivia questions, many of which are quite challenging! I won't go into all the antics here but suffice it to say that you need to be at the Feud to experience the Feud. Kudos to the team who made it happen. Such a entertaining event! Time for bed.

22 Films watched, 1 shorts program, 1 event. 3 days left!

Next: Fantastic Fest Day Six
Previous: Fantastic Fest Day Four

• September New: 66
• September Re-watch: 0
• September Total: 66
• 2010 TOTAL: 573