MUMBAI: Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival will open with the Canadian premiere of Kevin Smith’s Red State.

Red State is a powerhouse film featuring Michael Parks, along with Academy Award winner Melissa Leo and John Goodman. The film is said to be quite simply one of the best horror works of the year. It will be distributed by Phase 4 Films which plans on releasing the film in theatres this August.

The festival takes place from14 July to 7 August.

This year, Fantasia will pay tribute to the history and heritage of Canadian and Quebecois genre cinema by way of a special event that will honour the producing team of John Dunning and André Link, responsible for films like Shivers, Rabid, Happy Birthday To Me, Death Weekend, My Bloody Valentine among others. 

Over the span of their 40-year partnership, Dunning and Link founded Cinepix production company - which eventually became Lionsgate. They also helped launch the careers of some of Canada’s most celebrated independent film titans like David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Ivan Reitman, Denis Héroux, George Mihalka, Larry Kent and Jean-Claude Lord.

Fantasia will award the duo with Lifetime Achievement Awards at a ceremony that will feature reminiscences by a score of Canadian film industry players, the careers of whom were shaped by their gutsiness and vision.

The film festival will also hold retrospectives of Dunning and Link in collaboration with the Cinémath?que québécoise., “There was a time when genre and exploitation filmmaking was the backbone of Canada’s film industry, and a great deal of the most influential forces behind this scene came tearing out of Quebec”. “What better way to celebrate our 15th anniversary than by championing an aspect of our national film history that makes every one of us proud?,” Fantasia Co-Director Mitch Davis has been quoted as having said.

Fantasia will also honour the career of director John Landis with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Landis films include The Blues Brother, Animal House, Trading Places, Kentucky Fried Movie and Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.