Tributes

Lifetime Achievement Award: Edward R. Pressman

Fantasia will be presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to maverick producer Edward R. Pressman, who has consistently championed some of the boldest voices of the last 40-plus years of American cinema, often in their crucial, formative periods.

Having produced films for Terrence Malick, Brian De Palma, Sam Raimi, Oliver Stone, Mary Harron, Abel Ferrara, John Milius, Kathryn Bigelow, David Gordon Green, Sylvester Stallone, Larry Fessenden, Ernest Dickerson, David Byrne, Alex Proyas, David Mamet, Steven Shainberg, Douglas Buck, John Frankenheimer, Danny DeVito, and Jason Reitman, among others, Pressman has consistently embraced and nurtured game-changing talents in his country. On the International front, he’s produced films for Zhang Yimou, Wolfgang Peterson, Alex Cox, Michael Apted, Barbet Schroeder, James Marsh and Werner Herzog, to name a few.

Mr. Pressman will be given a Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday, July 13, at a 45^th Anniversary screening of the recently restored De Palma classic PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE.

The following afternoon, the celebrated producer will hold a Master Class event.

In addition, Fantasia will also be presenting a special 25^th anniversary 35mm screening of Alex Proyas’ THE CROW.

Join us in celebrating the vision of an extraordinary producing talent!

Photograph by George Hurrell, courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Canadian Trailblazer Award: Ted Kotcheff

“I am not the judge of my characters. I am their best witness.” – Ted Kotcheff

Fantasia will bestow its inaugural Canadian Trailblazer award to Director Ted Kotcheff, a singular filmmaker who has worked across genres and mediums to tell bold, vivid stories with strong points-of-view. Born in Toronto in 1931, he began directing at the CBC when he was 24, at the time the youngest director at the station. Two years later, he moved to the UK where he directed television works that won him two British Emmy Awards.

His film career started in England with TIARA TAHITI (1962), a social comedy starring James Mason and John Mills. His fourth feature, WAKE IN FRIGHT (1971), which screened at Fantasia as a special restoration in 2011, was made in Australia and was the country’s entry in the Cannes Film Festival. Kotcheff returned to Canada in 1972 to make a film of a novel written by his best friend, Mordecai Richler, THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ (1974). This film, a quintessential Montreal work largely thought to be one of the best Canadian films ever made, won the Golden Bear First Prize at the Berlin Film Festival and numerous other awards including an Academy Award nomination for best script. Kotcheff also directed FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (1977), starring Jane Fonda and George Segal; WHO IS KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE? (1978), starring Jacqueline Bisset and George Segal; NORTH DALLAS FORTY (1979) — which he also wrote — starring Nick Nolte (a film considered by many in the sport to be one of the best ever made about professional football); FIRST BLOOD (1982), which introduced Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo character to cinephiles worldwide and went on to create on of the most beloved action film franchises of the ‘80s; UNCOMMON VALOR (1983), starring Gene Hackman; and WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S (1989). In the mid-'80s Kotcheff made a film of another Mordecai Richler novel, also set in Montreal, JOSHUA THEN AND NOW (1985).

Mr Kotcheff will be awarded at a special screening of the Canadian Film Centre’s restoration of THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ.

Fantasia will also be screening StudioCanal’s recent restoration of FIRST BLOOD as part of the festival’s Action! Section lineup.

Denis Heroux Award: Roger Cantin

Since his teenage years, when he became passionate about 8mm cinema, Cantin has been a prolific independent filmmaker, making more than 30 short films as screenwriter, director, editor or producer. He is particularly noted for his experiments in special effects, and many of his films won mentions and awards. He is co-screenwriter of LA WAR DES TUQUES, directed by André Melançon, one of the first major popular successes of Quebec cinema, which later saw an animated remake.

Starting in 1989, he wrote and directed several feature films with fantastic and humorous flavour: SIMON THE CLOUDS, THE ASSASSIN PLAYED TROMBONE, THE GREAT ZEAL, MATUSALEM, THE VENGEANCE OF THE WOMAN IN BLACK, THE LAST OF THE BEAUCHESNE (MATUSALEM II), THE SUSPENDED FORTRESS, and A CARGO FOR AFRICA. Cantin also adapts his scripts to novels for young readers, and plans to publish new works soon. His future projects include a historical documentary series and several feature-length fiction films, including a semi-autobiographical tale inspired by the universe behind LA GUERRE DES TUQUES.

The Denis Héroux Award was created in 2016 to recognize exceptional contribution to the development of genre film and independent cinema in Quebec. It was awarded to Jean-Claude Lord in 2016, Nicole Robert in 2017 and Yves Simoneau in 2018. Fantasia International Film Festival, in collaboration with Éléphant, mémoire du cinéma, is proud to present the 2019 Denis Héroux Award to Roger Cantin.