Fantastic Fest turns 20 this year and the genre festival is the best, so we’re celebrating! A film festival is only as strong as the people who make it possible and today, for the 20 years of Fantastic Fest women, we’re celebrating Annick Mahnert and Ahbra Perry!
Mahnert is the head of programming for Fantastic Fest and Perry is the programmer for Burnt Ends. Burnt Ends is a “virtual showcase of outlier and outsider media that intersect definitions of genre, avant-garde, and trash art, while shattering all traditional borders of taste and convention.” The two celebrated their work at Fantastic Fest by…boxing each other? In one of Fantastic Fest’s best traditions and both Mahnert and Perry took to boxing one another.
“Not only can they deliver a programming lineup like champions, they can deliver body blows too. In 2024, FF Head of Programming Annick Mahnert took on Burnt Ends Programmer Ahbra Perry in a rumble for the ages,” the Fantastic Fest team wrote of the event and it is pretty iconic. If you spent your time organizing a fun event like Fantastic Fest for everyone else to enjoy, would you want to have fun like this?
Both Mahnert and Perry work hard to bring genre fans the best festival. Their work has made so many of us fall in love with the festival and the city of Austin, myself included, so it is easy to praise the two for the work that they’re doing. And hey, if you had fun at Fantastic Fest in years past, you probably have these two to thank for that!
You can see our celebration of all of the women who have made Fantastic Fest here and keep checking back for more celebrations as we prepare for the 20th year of Fantastic Fest!
(featured image: Fantastic Fest/Fons PR)
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