It may be hard to believe that we're already over halfway through the year, but at least that means we're easing out of the big summer movie season and into the prestige-heavy fall when a lot of the year's big awards contenders make their debuts. This past week saw three of the biggest film festivals in the world announce their first waves of programmed titles, so we decided to round up just a handful of our most anticipated movies below.
Even if you can't make it to any of these festivals, it's a good idea to keep an eye on their lineups. If a movie plays at one of these, it's a pretty reliable sign that it's worth your time.
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest takes place at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas September 24 through October 1, 2015. It specializes in weird and unusual films from all over the world.
Bone Tomahawk
United States
World Premiere
Director - S. Craig Zahler
Kurt Russell starring in a Western about men who set out to rescue a woman and her love from a tribe of cannibals. How can you be anything but excited for a movie like that?
The Deathless Devil
Turkey, 1972
Repertory Screening
Director - Yilmaz Atadeniz
One of the cool things about Fantastic Fest is that they don't only play new movies, they also put on special showcases for vintage movies. This year's theme is Turkish movies, and while they have several of them lined up, this one caught our eye for this absurd synopsis: "The mysterious Dr. Satan's nefarious plans threaten the future of everyone on the planet, and the only men who can stop him are the brilliant Copperhead and his assistant Sherlock Holmes!"
In Search of Ultra Sex
France
North American Premiere
Directors - Nicolas Charlet and Bruno Lavaine
Speaking of absurd, eye-catching plots, In Search of Ultra Sex is about a group of astronauts who have to save Earth from a virus that has infected everyone with "infinite lust."
Love and Peace
Japan, 2015
US Premiere
Director - Sion Sono
We will always, always get excited from a new movie from the guy who made Why Don't You Play in Hell?, Love Exposure and Cold Fish. But even if this weren't a Sion Sono movie, we'd be more than a little intrigued by a movie about a businessman whose best friend is a turtle.
Remake, Remix, Rip-off
Turkey/Germany
US Premiere
Director - Cam Kaya
One of the easiest ways to get a crash course in obscure movie histories is to watch documentaries like Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed and Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. Remake, Remix, Rip-off looks to do what all three of those did, but for late '70s Turkish cinema. If you think that sounds a little dry, you should go read the plot description for The Deathless Devil above.
The Toronto International Film Festival
TIFF takes place in theaters all around Toronto from September 10-20. It specializes in showcasing a huge number of high profile, celebrity-studded films from studios and indie labels alike.
The Martian
United States
World Premiere
Director - Ridley Scott
It seems unfair to put a big studio movie on a list like this, since film festivals are usually about discovering the unknown gems you may not see otherwise, but we simply cannot wait to see how this movie turned out.
The Program
United Kingdom
World Premiere
Director - Stephen Frears
From Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge and Dirty Pretty Things director Stephen Frears comes this biopic about controversial cyclist Lance Armstrong (played by Ben Foster). And if those names weren't enough to put this on your must-see list, The Program also stars Dustin Hoffman, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace and Chris O'Dowd.
Stonewall
United States
World Premiere
Director - Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich is certainly best known for his destruction-filled CGI blockbusters like The Day After Tomorrow, but occasionally he goes a bit smaller scale and the change-up is worth watching. This time around he focuses on one of the most important moments in gay rights history in the United States: the Stonewall riots of 1969.
The Family Fang
United States
World Premiere
Director - Jason Bateman
Jason Bateman's directorial debut, the dark comedy Bad Words, was a bit of an overlooked gem when it came out in 2013, but it definitely made us curious to see what he'd be up to next. Apparently it's this drama starring himself and Nicole Kidman as a brother and sister who search for celebrity parents after their mysterious disappearance.
Victoria [Also playing Fantastic Fest]
Germany
Regional Premiere
Director - Sebastian Schipper
Victoria is a movie about an average girl who goes out for a night of dancing and ends up in the middle of a bank robbery. There's plenty of potential in that premise, but what makes this one stand out is the fact that the entire movie plays out over real time in a single shot. Check out the trailer to get a taste of the intensity in store.
Venice Film Festival
VFF takes place in Venice, Italy from September 2-12. It has a bit more of an international, art house-type feel to it.
Anomalisa [Also playing TIFF]
United States
World Premiere
Directors - Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson
A stop-motion animated fantasy from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation screenwriter Charlie Kaufman? Thank you, movie gods. Thank you.
Beasts of No Nation [Also playing TIFF]
United States
World Premiere
Director - Cary Fukunaga
Beasts of No Nation has the potential to be a very important film, and not just because it will likely introduce many to the harrowing reality of child soldiers. It's Netflix's first major bid at releasing a feature film that could gobble up some Oscar gold, and they're releasing it in theaters and on their streaming platform on the same day. If it's a hit, it'll be a big deal for how and where these prestige movies are seen in the future.
Equals
United States
World Premiere
Director - Drake Doremus
Like Crazy and Breathe In director Drake Doremus returns with Equals, a sci-fi drama set in a future where emotions have been eradicated. We're guessing stars Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult and Guy Pearce start to defy that future.
A Copy of My Mind
Indonesia and South Korea
Regional Premiere
Director - Joko Anwar
Since we're suckers for movies about ordinary people who get caught up in a political conspiracy, this sounds right up our alley: A young woman steals what she thinks is an advanced copy of Transformers 5 and gives it to the boy she likes, who makes a living selling pirated DVDs. He in turn starts selling copies, not realizing that the disc actually contained secrets about local politicians.
Everest
United States
World Premiere
Director - Baltasar Kormákur
As with The Martian's premiere at TIFF, spotlighting an already big movie like Everest is a touch redundant, but we can't help ourselves when the movie looks this good.
