Austin's weirdest festival returns with sharks, Viennese cocktail robots, Park Chan-wook

The weirdest fall film festival is almost upon us, and it’s bringing cocktail-making robots from Austria, so if you’ve bemoaned the death of Austin, keep that in mind.

Fantastic Fest, the annual celebration of genre film from the folks at Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse, on Tuesday revealed its 2022 films, as well as a wild-and-wacky round of parties and events, marking the return of a few traditions sidelined by the pandemic after 2019.

Crucially, there will be a lot of movies about sharks, and also, there will be a new Timothée Chalamet flick. Here’s what to know about the 17th edition of Fantastic Fest, running Sept. 22-29 at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

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A South Korean filmmaking legend will come to Austin.

Fantastic Fest loves to salute a master – Alamo Drafthouse’s South Lamar theater was honorarily named for Bong Joon Ho when the director came to screen “Parasite” in 2019 – and this year, the spotlight’s on Park Chan-wook. The mind behind Korean classics like “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” will come down to Texas to accept a lifetime achievement award. The fest also will screen the U.S. premiere of his new movie, “Decision To Leave.”

Fantastic Fest has lined up some big movie premieres.

Speaking of notable premieres, here are a few biggies to look out for at the fest. Expect to hear more about these when they hit theaters:

• “Call Me By Your Name” fans, take note. “Bones and All,” the film that will reunite director Luca Guadagnino and actor Timothée Chalamet, will make its Texas premiere at the fest. Guadagnino will be in attendance.

• Satire “The Menu,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes, will make its U.S. premiere.

• Another U.S. premiere: “The Banshees of Inisherin,” the latest from acclaimed director/writer Martin McDonagh. He’ll be in attendance.

• The world premiere of “Smile,” a psychological thriller, will open the fest.

• Director Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness,” which won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, will close out Fantastic Fest this year.

• Fan-favorite studio A24 will screen “Medusa Deluxe,” a murder mystery about competitive hairdressing, in its North American premiere.

Sharks? Sharks.

Fantastic Fest this year will dedicate an entire programming track to those carnivorous cartilage creatures, those dorsal divas, those great white frights: sharks. “Fantastic Fest programmers dug deep to bring audiences the most entertaining shark movies from around the world,” the lineup announcement reads, adding that many have never before been screened in the U.S.

One to note: “Tintorera!” It’s a Mexican film, and the fest will show a 35mm print that belongs to none other than Quentin Tarantino.

The weirdness of Fantastic Fest comes alive at its parties.

OK, the cocktail robots. Fantastic Fest promises that Roboexotica, a Vienna, Austria-based festival and conference, will bring its mechanized mixologists to the opening night party.

Longtime Fantastic Fest attendees will be happy to know that three of the festival’s signature events – 100 Best Kills, the Fantastic Feud and the Fantastic Debates – are back on for 2022.

More non-film-screening fun: a performance by the music performance group Itchy-O and podcast recordings (including with movie meister Leonard Maltin).

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How to get a badge for Fantastic Fest 2022

Badges, $275-$1,495, are now on sale at fantasticfest.com, though at least one tier is already sold out. There’s also a virtual version of the fest, FF@Home, that’s $175.

Check out the full lineup at the Fantastic Fest website.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Fantastic Fest lineup includes Park Chan-wook, Timothee Chalamet films