The 16th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival kicks off on Thursday July 19, initiating 3 weeks of horror, fantasy, cult and underground films from Asia, Europe and the Americas. To whet your appetite for the genre film fest, from July 12 to 15, organizers will present “Fantasia Under the Stars”, four evenings of outdoor film screenings at the Place the la Paix (and one indoor screening at the SAT), offered absolutely free.

Each night, the festivities will get under way at 7pm. SAT’s Mixsession DJs will supply the tunes while SAT Labo Culinaire chefs fire up the BBQs. The tasty and affordable eats will be only available till 9pm, so get there early!

Here’s a break down of the nightly offerings:

Thursday July 12: AU DELÀ DE L’ANIMATION
26 animated short films from around the world in 110 minutes, in English and French. You’ll see Fantasia programmers’ favourite animated shorts selected from the 2011 edition. All genres will be represented!
DJ Maus will provide the tunes from 7 to 9pm.
Screening from 9 to 11pm.
From 7pm @ Place de la Paix, St-Laurent just north of René Lévesque. 

Friday, July 13: FANTASIA PROGRAM LAUNCH
The 2012 program is officially launched at the SAT. Get your Fantasia schedule and program, including a DVD featuring 4 hours of Fantasia trailers and extras, as well as the 2012 Fantasia t-shirt!
From 8pm, you’ll have the chance to watch around 100 film trailers of Fantasia’s 2012 offerings, showed on multiple screens in the SAT, as well as outside at Parc de la Paix.
DJ Jan Pienkowski will spin from 7 to 9pm.
From 7pm @ SAT [Société des arts technologiques], 1201 St-Laurent. 

Saturday, July 14: Screening of Karate-Robot Zaborgar
A free outdoor screening of Japanese director Noboru Iguchi’s 2011 film Karate-Robot Zaborgar (101 min, Japanese with English subtitles). Witness secret police agent Yukata Daimon transform into Zaborgar, a fierce karate-robot, in order to avenge his father’s kidnapping.
DJ TIND will spin from 7 to 9pm.
Screening from 9 to 11pm.
From 7pm @ Place de la Paix, St-Laurent just north of René Lévesque 

Sunday, July 15: Screening of Les aventures de Chatran
A free outdoor screening of Japanese director Masanori Hata’s Les aventures de Chatran (77 min, in French). Before kitten clips on Youtube, there was Chatran. In this 1986 film, Chatran is an adorable kitten mistakenly abandoned in the country with his pal Pousquet, a pug puppy. Not simply a montage of cute animal clips, Chatran is a paean to childhood, life and friendship.
DJ B’UGO provides the tunes from 7 to 9pm.
Screening from 9 to 11pm.
From 7pm @ Place de la Paix, St-Laurent just north of René Lévesque.

All screenings are free. In case of rain, the screenings will be cancelled (except for the Friday screening, which will also take place inside the SAT).