These are our ten recommended Asian films from the Fantasia International Film Festival, which is taking place from July 18 until August 4, 2024 in Montreal, Canada.

A Samurai in Time by Junichi Yasuda – Japan | 2024 – 131 minutes | International Premiere

A samurai who gets hit by lightning wakes up to find himself on a film set in the present day and starts to work as an extra on samurai films. (Mubi)

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Don’t Call it Mystery by Hiroaki Matsuyama – Japan | 2023 – 128 minutes | Quebec Premiere

Kuno Totono, a curly-haired college student, visits Hiroshima and becomes embroiled in a mystery surrounding the inheritance of the Kariatsumari family’s assets, using his intelligence and loquaciousness to unravel the case. (IMDb)

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FAQ by Kim Da-min – Korea | 2023 – 90 minutes | Canadian Premiere

One day, Dong Chun, an introverted elementary school girl picks up a barrel of rice wine at a summer camp and takes it home with her out of curiosity. She then realizes that the bubbling sound of the rice wine is not merely the sound of fermentation, but words spoken to her in Morse code… (Mubi)

House of Sayuri by Koji Shiraishi – Japan | 2024 – 108 minutes | North American Premiere

A family moves into a house, but discover that it is haunted by a murdered girl. (Mubi)

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Not Friends by Atta Hemwadee – Thailand | 2023 – 129 minutes | Canadian Premiere

Riding on hype and hope, Pae and his high school friends set out with gusto to make a short film about their recently deceased classmate Joe. But their plans go awry when a close friend of Joe’s returns to school after illness. (Mubi)

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Penalty Loop by Shinji Araki – Japan | 2024 – 99 minutes | North American Premiere

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Or hot, whatever. But imagine for a second if you’d have to eat that dish every day, stuck in an eternally looping schedule of daily murder? (Mubi)

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Swimming in a Sand Pool by Nobuhiro Yamashita – Japan | 2024 – 86 minutes | North American Premiere

It is summer vacation but high schoolers Kokoro and Miku have been instructed by their PE teacher, Yamamoto, to clean the swimming pool. The pool has been drained of water and it is covered with sand from the baseball team’s field next door. Thus, under the blazing sun, they are meant to sweep the sand but distractions abound as Chizuru and Yui join them and stray in their path. Together, they initially discuss school life, love and makeup but it isn’t long before their worries begin to overflow and their thoughts intersect…

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Tatsumi by Hiroshi Shoji – Japan | 2023 – 108 minutes | North American Premiere

After the murder of low-level criminal Tatsumi’s ex-girlfriend, her young sister, defiant car mechanic Aoi, seeks revenge and asks him for his help. (Mubi)

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The Killers by Kim Jong-kwan, Roh Deaok, Chang Hang-jun, Lee Myung-Se – Korea | 2024 – 119 minutes | Canadian Premiere

Four master helmers from Korea reload the hitman flick. Vampire sleaze, assassin slapstick, neo-noir, and an avant-garde mind-bender to die (kill) for!

The Tenants by Yoon Eun-kyung – Korea | 2023 – 89 minutes | Canadian Premiere

In this Kafkaesque reality, a soon-to-be-evicted tenant employs a bizarre subletting scheme that may be his solution. (Mubi)

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More information: https://fantasiafestival.com/en