Strange New Planet: Fantastic Planet Film Festival 2012

FURLONG IN BELOW ZERO Furlong in Below Zero

Fans of Science Fiction are a unique breed; they are a loyal, open-minded and adventurous lot who do not discriminate against the independent, low budget or unknown when they search for new and special examples of the genre. Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy films have continuously prevailed as the biggest blockbusters at the box-office, and yet every year hundreds of creative visionaries produce impressive independent films which will not see national cinematic release in Australia.

This week, the much anticipated Fantastic Planet Film Festival landed at Dendy Cinema Newtown, along its sister festival A Night of Horror, bringing with them the opportunity for fans to see the best selection of underground, low-budget and indie horror, fantasy and science fiction from across the globe on the big screen. During March and April, Sydney genre film fans will get the chance to sample a diverse cross-section of very different feature films and shorts, from abstract alternative-reality science fiction to brutal gore numbers and splatter comedy.

This years boasts an impressive selection of films for the eleven-day event, including Australian premiere screenings as well as an array of international awarding winning films. The program began this week with the post-apocalyptic thriller The Divide, which was recently nominated for ‘Best New International Feature’ at the 2011 Edinburgh International Film Festival, followed by the atmospheric and philosophical science fiction drama Another Earth.

CRAWL Georgina Haig in Crawl

The festival will also host the Sydney Premier of the China Brothers critically acclaimed horror-thriller Crawl, which cleaned up at 2011 Screamfest LA, winning Best Actress, Best Director and Best Cinematographer. Another highlight is William Eubanks’ Love, a safe prediction for cult success having been produced and scored by the American supergroup Angels & Airwaves, which includes Tom DeLonge (also of Blink-182).

On the menu is also the American International Film Festival’s ‘Best Horror Movie,’ psychological horror-thrillerBelow Zero, which stars Edward Furlong (Terminator II, Pet Cemetery II, Brainscan, American History X) alongside well-recognized B-grade horror movie veteran Michael Berryman. The festival also includes the winner of ‘Best Feature Film’ at the 2011 Sci-Fi London Film Festival, Adam Mason’s psycho-hillbilly sadistic horror flickPig, which was shot in only three takes, one of which is an epic seventy-minutes long.

The Fantastic Planet Film Festival and A Night of Horror Festival will run at Dendy Cinema Newtown, until April 1st 2012.

MORE INFO: http://www.fantasticplanetfilmfestival.com/

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