Fantastic Fest 2011 Announces Signature Events

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fantastic Fest announces the events lineup as well as two additions to the film programming with LOVE and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.  The events and parties at Fantastic Fest are part of what makes the festival a wholly unique experience.  The festival is pleased to continue the tradition with events like Fantastic Debates, 100 Best Kills, and Chaos Reigns: Fantastic Fest Karaoke Party and offer new events like Attempted Rap Throw Down.  

LOVE (2011)
Austin Premiere
Director/Writer William Eubank, Actor Gunner Wright and Producer & Angels & Airwave's Tom DeLonge live in person!
Director William Eubank, USA, 85 minutes
After losing contact with Earth, Astronaut Lee Miller becomes stranded in orbit alone aboard the International Space Station. As time passes and life support systems dwindle, Lee battles to maintain his sanity - and simply stay alive. His world is a claustrophobic and lonely existence, until he makes a strange discovery aboard the ship.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (2011)
Texas Premiere
Director Lynne Ramsay, UK, 112 minutes
Based on the award-winning novel, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is a suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller that explores the factious relationship between a mother and her evil son. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance, plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child, Kevin.

Fantastic Arcade Happy Hours and Tournaments
Location: The Highball
Dates: Thursday, Sept. 22nd, Friday Sept. 23rd, Saturday Sept. 24th
Time: 6pm-8pm
Description: Every day from Thursday the 22nd through Saturday the 24th, guests are encouraged to come by the highball and compete or just watch the daily indie game tournaments.  We'll have drink specials each day and you will get to meet the folks that make up both the indie gaming scene in Austin as well as the international Fantastic Arcade game designers.

Fantastic Fest Opening Night Party
Location: The Highball
Date: Thursday, Sept. 22nd
Time: 10pm
Description: Eat, drink and be merry with us after the world premiere of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2: FULL SEQUENCE, the second installment in Tom Six's squirm-inducing saga of unnecessary surgery.  Featuring live music from The Charles Edward Cheese band and an attempt to break the world's record for the longest human centipede conga line.  100% medically fun!

Attempted Rap Throw Down
Location: The Highball
Date: Friday, Sept. 23rd
Time: 11:30pm
Description: Come watch the battle unfold as a handful of nerdworthy contenders vie for lyrical supremacy in this movie-themed rap competition all from Fatboy Roberts tracks.  Click here for an example of an attempted rap from Eugenio Mira.

Fantastic Debates presented by KNUCKLE and Arc Entertainment
Location: South Austin Gym
Date: Saturday, Sept 24th
Time: 11:55pm
Description:  Quench your thirst for blood AND intellectual disputation with another installment of the Fantastic Debates, where the burning questions facing the fan community are resolved once and for all.   In honor of the regional premiere of the acclaimed Irish bare-knuckle boxing documentary KNUCKLE, this year's debates will culminate in a fight-to-the-pain featuring KNUCKLE star and undefeated bare-knuckle brawler James Quinn McDonagh versus Fantastic Fest Co-Founder Tim League.

Japan Night: Chaos Reigns Karaoke Party presented by Well Go USA Entertainment
Location: The Highball
Date: Sunday, Sept. 25th
Time: 11pm
Description:  Demented revelry and potential humiliation combine in the night of your life during one of our favorite traditions here at the festival.

Fantastic Fest Awards
Location: Alamo South Lamar
Date: Monday, Sept. 26th
Time: 9:30pm
Description: Not for the faint of heart… when you win an award at Fantastic Fest you better be ready for a shotgun-blast of appreciation to the face.   Strap on your drinking horns and join us for a night of ceremonial tomfoolery.

Fantastic Feud
Location: Alamo South Lamar
Date: Monday Sept. 26th
Time: 11:55pm
Description: The Fantastic Feud, brainchild of FearNet's own Scott Weinberg, pits the greatest American horror scholars against the feeble competition from foreign lands.  Much drinking and feats of mental agility ensue.

Karaoke Apocalypse
Location: The Highball
Date: Tuesday Sept. 27th
Time: 11pm
Description: You provide the vocals while the kids of Karaoke Apocalypse do the rest with their scorching live renditions of your favorite punk and metal hits.

100 Best Kills
Location: Alamo South Lamar
Date: Tuesday Sept. 27th
Time: 11:55pm
Description: Fantastic Fest celebrates the great legacy of stomach-churning, blood-spurting movie magic with this interactive showdown party where YOU THE AUDIENCE are invited to join the FF programmers in providing the all-time greatest on-screen headbursts, rib-rips and gutblasts!

Fantastic Trivia presented by Geeks Who Drink
Location: The Highball
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 28th
Time: 7pm
Description: A special Fantastic Fest edition of our weekly trivia challenge at the Highball.

Prom Party
Location: The Highball
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 28th
Time: 10:30pm
Description: The Highball and Fantastic Fest invite you to dress up, grab a corsage and dance the night away at the prom! Beginning at 10:30 PM, we'll have bowls of spiked punch available for party guests, and we'll be giving away drink tickets to Fantastic Fest badgeholders. Warm up on the dance floor with a prom montage & music videos hosted by the Action Pack, then prepare for a rock 'n' roll journey led by Rick K. and The Allnighters, featuring Steve Moore, a YouTube drumming sensation! We'll also hosting a dance-off and a costume contest, and the winners will be crowned Prom King & Queen. It will truly be a night to remember, and Annie Ray will be there with a photobooth to capture all of those special memories.

Fantastic Fest Closing Night Party: Superhero Carnival
Location: The American Legion Hall, 2001 Veteran's Drive
Austin, TX 78703
Date Thursday, Sept 29th
Time: 10pm
Description: After our heroic closing night film, Comic-Con: Episode Four: A Fan's Hope, put your cape on straight, your tights on tight, ditch that squaresville alter ego of yours for the night, and let your superhero flag fly as we close out this year's Fantastic Fest with a Legion of Superheroes Carnival down at the American Legion Hall!

Not only will you get to booze and schmooze with your fellow defenders of Truth, Justice and Skintight Outfits, but we'll have a full carnival of suitably heroic activities set up in the yard including Aquaman's Ocean, The Flash's Mountain Race Challenge, Batman's Boxing Battle, Spider-man's Wall of Webbing, Superman's House of Flight and more!  Plus, our Alamo chefs are creating special carnival food for everyone (mmm… funnel cake) and plenty of beer and cocktails to help a crusader unwind! 

Presented by Comic-Con: Episode Four: A Fan's Hope, Ambhar Tequila, and Shiner

For the latest developments visit the Fantastic Fest Facebook & Twitter.

For more details regarding Fantastic Fest, contact festival publicist Brandy Fons, at [email protected].  For more information, visit www.fantasticfest.com.

About Fantastic Fest

Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. In years past the festival has been home to world premieres of THERE WILL BE BLOOD, APOCALYPTO, ZOMBIELAND and RED while the guest roster has included such talent as Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Ryan Reynolds, Karl Urban, Josh Hartnett, The RZA, Dolph Lundgren, Jemaine Clement, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky and Mike Judge. FantasticFest also features world, national and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films.  The festival has launched and propelled the buzz for international genre hits like THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, MONSTERS, TIMECRIMES and TROLLHUNTER.  Fantastic Fest is held each year at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar in Austin, Texas. The Alamo Drafthouse was named the best cinema in America by Entertainment Weekly and features food and drink served to your seat without any disruption of the movie experience.

During his Keynote Address at the International film Festival Summit in Las Vegas, Variety president and publisher Charlie Koones listed Fantastic Fest in a list of "10 Film Festivals We Love," a list which included industry heavy-hitters such as Cannes, Toronto and Telluride.  We've also been named as one of the "25 coolest film festivals" and the "25 film festivals worth the entry fee" by Moviemaker Magazine.

Our Partners

Presenting Sponsor Ambhar Tequila is returning as the official tequila of Fantastic Fest. A variety of delicious tequila cocktails will be featured at festival parties taking place at The Highball throughout the week, curated by Alamo Drafthouse Beverage Director Bill Norris. FEARnet is also returning as a Presenting Sponsor. This year, they are the exclusive sponsor of our new outdoor-tented pavilion.

We are proud to announce new partnerships with fellow Texas brands Shiner Beer and Well Go USA Entertainment as Presenting Sponsors. Shiner will be the official beer of this year's festival, with Shiner specials offered throughout the week. Well Go USA Entertainment will present the Japanese content at this year's festival, including our annual Japanese Karaoke Party.

Fantastic Fest partners with Fandango, the nation's leading movie ticketing destination, for exclusive video content, showtime info and ticketing for this year's festival.  Fandango will be a one-stop shop for all things Fantastic Fest — daily interviews, plus video and photo content from the largest genre festival in the United States.  Additionally, Fandango will be the exclusive showtime and ticketing partner for all Fantastic Fest screenings that are available for advance purchase via its online and mobile sites.

About Alamo Drafthouse

The Alamo Drafthouse is a lifestyle entertainment brand with an acclaimed cinema-eatery, the largest genre film festival in the United Sates and an online collectible art store. Named "the best theater in America" by Entertainment Weekly, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has built a reputation as a movie lover's oasis not only by combining food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star studded special events. Alamo Drafthouse Founder & CEO, Tim League, created Fantastic Fest, a world renowned film festival dubbed "The Geek Telluride" by Variety. Fantastic Fest showcases eight days of offbeat cinema from independents, international filmmakers and major Hollywood studios. The Alamo Drafthouse's collectible art boutique, Mondo, offers breathtaking, original products featuring designs from world-famous artists based on licenses for popular TV and Movie properties including Star Wars, Star Trek & Universal Monsters. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is expanding its brand in new and exciting ways, including the launch of Drafthouse Films, a new film distribution label and plans to extend its theaters and unique programming philosophy to additional markets across the United States. More information about Alamo Drafthouse franchise opportunities are available on the official website.

CONTACT:   Brandy Fons
PHONE:   (310) 809-8882
E-MAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE Fantastic Fest