Australia has two major genre film festivals of note: A Night of Horror, dedicated to horror flicks (duh); and Fantastic Planet, the sci-fi/superheroes/fantasy domain. This year, both festivals have "joined forces" to form a mega-fest the likes of which Australia has never seen. (Or maybe they have. I've never been to Australia.) The festivals are not merging into one; they are simply running in tandem so you can get all your weird cinema in one, concentrated heap.
Fantastic Planet will be debuting their Launch Pad program at this year's fest. Developed to "provide a solid starting point for genre feature films just commencing their festival run," three films have been chosen for the inaugural run: A Dark Matter, directed by James Naylor (Twisting cerebral sci-fi thriller);
The Taking, directed by The BAPartists (Deep and disturbing art-house horror); and Wet and Reckless, directed by Jason Trost (Hilarious buddy caper-cum reality TV parody).
In addition, the festival's opening night film has been announced as All Superheroes Must Die, a Saw-meets-Kick-Ass action flick making its Australian premiere. Director Jason Trost and star Lucas Till will be there for a Q&A, and stick around to promote their newest flick, Wet and Reckless, in its world premiere at the festival.
The festival will run at the Dendy Cinema Newtown in Sydney from April 11-21 (so hurry up and get your tickets). More info can be found at FantasticPlanetFilmFest.com and ANightofHorror.com