Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has decided to mount its 2020 edition as a cutting edge virtual fest in August.

“While we’re saddened not to be able to put on the larger-than-life physical event that we’d been planning for this year, we’re extremely excited to be working with Festival Scope and Shift72 on an unconventional virtual edition,” said Fantasia co-director Mitch Davis. “They’ve enthusiastically embraced every challenge we’ve thrown their way, particularly when it comes to making so many of our screenings be real-time, live events instead of the usual streaming approach. It’s going to make things so much more exciting and will go a long way towards keeping the intensity and engagement of the in-person experience vibrant in an online realm.”

Fantasia’s virtual lineup will include an array of World and International feature film premieres, including anticipated titles from the cancelled SXSW and Tribeca editions, whose original selections will be given credit.

All film screenings will be geo-blocked to Canadian audiences and only accessible from within the country, vastly expanding the number of viewers Fantasia can engage with outside of Quebec.

Fantasia’s virtual edition will take place August 20 through September 2, 2020 while the Frontières Co-Production Market, which typically runs in conjunction with the festival, will take place from July 23rd through 26th. The first wave of Fantasia titles will be revealed in late May.