Fantasia International Film Festival kicks off 30th edition with genre cinema from around the world

Montreal's Fantasia International Film Festival kicked off its 30th edition on Thursday with a program celebrating local and international genre filmmaking through work from established directors and emerging talent.

Running until August 2, the festival's lineup includes over 125 features and 200 shorts, with screenings, events and workshops held at Concordia University's Hall Building and J.A. DeSève cinemas, as well as select showings at Montreal's Cinéma du Musée.

Opening this year's edition is the Canadian premiere of Nicolas Winding Refn's "Her Private Hell," a sensorial and transgressive film starring Sophie Thatcher, Havana Rose Liu and Charles Melton. Prior to the screening, the Danish director received a Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award for his transformative body of work, which includes the Pusher Trilogy and the 2011 action drama "Drive."

Japanese director Takashi Shimizu also received a Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award for his continuing contribution to the horror genre, with the World Premiere of "Village of Eight Gravestones" and the North American Premiere of "The Mouths" among this year's highlights.

Fantasia's flagship juried competition Cheval Noir includes two Canadian titles, "Freaks Part II" and Wiebke Von Carolsfeld's "Someone's Daughter," alongside 12 other boundary-pushing international features. Other notable screenings include Jane Schoenbrun's "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," Bob Colaers' "Attack on Paradise" and closing film Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein's "Freaks Part II."

The Jury Awards Ceremony will be held on July 25 at Cinéma du Musée. Other notable award recipients include Academy Award nominee Don Hertzfeldt, Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald, and Robert Lepage and Louise Portal, who are both receiving the Denis-Héroux Award.