Fargo Fantastic Film Festival

Cinema | October 7th, 2015

Genre Bending:

By Brittney Goodman

Fargo is about to get weird … and fantastic! The Fargo Fantastic Film Festival, in its thirteenth year, will feature 87 films and over 24 hours of programming over three days, Oct. 8-10, 2015, at the iconic Fargo Theatre. The festival celebrates “films of the Fantastic,” which includes science fiction, fantasy, horror and thrillers. It is one of the longest-running genre film festivals in the U.S., according to Moviemaker Magazine.

The festival kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, and goes until 11:20 p.m., featuring three sessions. Day two of the festival, Friday, Oct. 9, begins at 12:30 p.m. with six separate sessions, continuing until 11:45 p.m. The event’s final day, Saturday, Oct. 10, features six 100-minute sessions and opens at 12:30 p.m. with films showing until 11:30 p.m.

Tony Tilton, chairman of the festival, is also the director of “Valley News Live” (“Valley Today” and “North Dakota Today”) as well as general manager of Moorhead Community Access Media and Television. Tilton assures all festival-goers that “you will never be bored” during the fest because of the variety of films and the chance to meet visiting filmmakers.

The Fargo Fantastic Film Fest started as a part of ValleyCon, but the organizers found that the event had grown to need its own separate event. This year over 500 films were submitted from almost 40 countries. The Fargo Fantastic Film Festival is a labor of love with not only Tilton involved, but several ValleyCon alumni, some West Coast filmmaking friends, members of Moorhead Community Access Media and local Fargo-Moorhead film lovers.

Tilton is excited to screen all of the films, but when asked about highlights, he mentioned the excellent “Devil Makes Work” which screens at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. Inspired by films such as “Angel Heart,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Evil Dead,” the film shows us “the world seen through the eyes of the devil.” He also thinks the audience will love “Holy Hell,” the closing film on Saturday, showing at 10 p.m. He describes it as “a hilarious and nasty ’70s grindhouse throwback.”

Tilton asserts that people will find the festival very engaging and promises that audiences will see “a wide range of entertaining, thought-provoking and sometimes hilarious and/or terrifying films by creators from all over the globe.” He also stresses that the 100-minute sessions leave plenty of time in between for attendees to get delicious Fargo Theatre popcorn.

Any students or educators get a discounted ticket price and there are also discounts for multiple sessions.

IF YOU GO:

Fargo Fantastic Film Festival

Oct. 8-10

The Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway N.

http://www.valleycon.com/filmfest.html

TICKETS: Tickets are $8 adults and $5 kids/students per session with discounts if you buy for full day/multiple sessions. Students include anyone going to school and also all educators.

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