When it comes to being a journalist who attends film festivals, they can be overwhelming. You’re seeing a lot of movies all at once, you’re trying to get it all done quickly, and you often are so stressed out that fun is kind of a pipe dream. Luckily, Fantastic Fest exists to make it all worth it.
For 20 years, Fantastic Fest has been sharing the love of genre films and I was reminded this year why it made me fall in love with Austin in the first place. My first festival was in 2024. I flew in for a day, was mad I had to leave, and made plans to come back for SXSW almost instantly after. So it should be no surprise that I made sure to head to Austin for the entire festival this time around.
And while the movies were great and the events were fun, it is the people of Fantastic Fest that make it special. There are people who do not get enough love, like those behind Fons PR who help run everything and who always make us journalists feel welcome and loved, and there are people who dedicate so much time to make this a success.
And so I would like to thank those people. They make sure we have a fun week, that while we are working we still can have some time to celebrate and smile and relax in the midst of it all. That, to me, is priceless. We get so stressed during comic cons and festivals that it often feels more like a chore than anything run.
Festivals like Fantastic Fest remind us that we got into this job because of our love of movies and television shows and so it is nice to get to see just how much fun we all got to have. Did I ever think I’d be at a party at Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios? No! And yet Fantastic Fest made that a reality and I will forever be grateful to this festival for giving me a love of Austin and a love of genre festivals that celebrate fans and the movies themselves.
(featured image: Rick Kern/Getty Images)
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