The 2010 icons are here! These icons serve as a visual shorthand for the themes explored in each of our official selection features.

This tradition was started by Ant Timpson and New Zealand’s Incredibly Strange Film Festival  more than 15 years ago, and we continue the proud tradition today at Fantastic Fest. Each year, Mike Sheils, the original artist of the Incredibly Strange icons creates a set of eight new icons for new themes in the current festival features.

You can check out the complete set of festival icons here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2552/3854825483_c56ff8bdec_o.jpg

The first person to correctly identify all eight of this year’s icons will win a $100 gift certificate to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema! Write your guesses as a comment to the original Fantastic Fest Facebook post and we will post the winner there.

…and here’s the full low-down courtesy of Harry Knowles from Ain’t It Cool News:

FANTASTIC FEST Bumper Competition officially starts now!!! Win a week of Geek Heaven for 2 & more!

Hey folks, Harry here… It is less than 22 days till the start of FANTASTIC FEST 2010. There’s just enough time for you to get involved in the 2010 Fantastic Fest bumper contest.The usual requirements for the Bumpers still apply, that they be 15 seconds long and end with the word FANTASTIC being spoken, however you like. Also in past years – we’ve required people to make use of a kid. That is not a requirement this time. And we usually ask that they adhere to some specific genre.

This time. The genre is a favorite of FANTASTIC FEST. The sub-genre of “INAPPROPRIATE”. We’re asking for you, to create a 15 second bumper that is somehow INAPPROPRIATE. That could be through dialogue, sight gags, sickening imagery, exciting imagery… But we want audiences to actually scream OHMYGOD!!! when they see your bumpers. We want something that leaves an impression. Great filmmakers that have worked in the realm of the INAPPROPRIATE sub-genre include the king, JOHN WATERS, TAKASHI MIIKE, LARRY CLARK, KENNITH ANGER, HARMONY KORINE, TOM SIX, FRANK HENENLOTTER, GASPAR NOE, ABEL FERRARA, early PETER JACKSON, ELI ROTH, RUGGERO DEODATO, SRDJAN SPASOJEVIC and of course SATORU OGURA.

A lot to live up to? Yeah – but I’m telling you – if your brain says, “OH NO, WE CAN’T DO THAT” – “OH YES YOU CAN” – Unless of course it is illegal and results in somebody’s unwilling pain.

It is September 2nd.

No later than September 17th, 2010, a standard definition DVD needs to be received by us. You can send it to:

c/o Tim League
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
1120 South Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704

Austin submissions can be dropped off in person at the Alamo South Lamar. The winner will receive two VIP badges for Fantastic Fest 2011, a $250 gift certificate to Alamo Drafthouse as well as a prize pack from Mondo Tees, not to mention the fabulous fame and honor associated with joining the above list of the “INAPPROPRIATE ELITE” – but we’re encouraging you to fuck the norm, fuck it all and express yourself…

Let’s damage some corneas, let’s spin dry some brains and let’s all be FANTASTIC!

Fantastic Fest announces the full short films lineup, including over 40 genre-bending selections from around the world. The festival has amassed the ultimate array of cool, twisted, beautiful, mind-bending, horrifying and hilarious short films. The best short films can pack in more emotion, laughs adrenaline, creativity and flat-out insanity than a million big-budget blockbusters. Or they can show you something so ambitiously horrendous that you beg for mercy.

FANTASTIC FEST 2010 SHORT FILM LINEUP

5 Minute Dating
Canada, Director: Peter Hatch
A dating service where anyone can find their soul mate.

12 Years
Germany, Director: Daniel Nocke
We’re not the only species that needs to endure the wrenching pain of relationships gone sour.

The Astronomer’s Sun
UK, Director: David Bunting
Lovely animated story about a boy and his bear and the secrets of the universe

Atomic Hubbub
UK, Director: Stephen Irwin
Here’s the newest way to enjoy mankind’s impending self-apocalypse.

Barcelona Venecia
Spain, Director: David Muñoz
When you’ve accidentally slipped through a wormhole, you’d better hope your guide isn’t a jackass.

By Night
Germany, Director: Juan DiazB
A man copes with the pain of life through a very unusual medium: snow globes.

Careful with that Crossbow
New Zealand, Director: Jason Stutter
Two children engage in a seemingly innocent game of William Tell.

Culebra
US, Director: Sean Carter
In the desert between the US and Mexico, there are more terrifying things to watch out for than the border guards.

Deus Irae
Argentina, Director: Pedro Cristiani
Exorcism. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.

Fard
France, Director: David Alapont and Luis Briceño
A civilization built on the idea that “What you don’t see doesn’t exist” is severely disturbed when a man opens a mysterious package.

El Fin Del Mundo
Spain, Director: Alberto Gonzales
President Reagan has an extremely important message for us.

Giant
UK, Director: Yann Benedi
A bittersweet introduction to the not-so-human condition.

The Importance of Awards in Advertising
US, Director: Jim Hosking
A concise, informative, hairy and fairly nude introduction to the world of big business.

Interview
Germany, Director: Sebastian Marka
A journalist scores an interview with a notorious and so far uncaptured serial killer.

It’s Me, Helmut
Switzerland/Germany, Director: N. Steiner
Happy birthday! Your entire life was squandered and you’ll die alone!

Jaulas
Mexico, Director: Juan Jose Medina
A man treads across a post-apocalyptic landscape carrying a bitter, vengeful burden.

King Chicken
Canada, Director: Nicolas Bolduc
Even the most ridiculous, lonely people can find romance. Wait. No. Probably not.

King Jeff
UK, Director: Phil Dale
Two costumed medieval wannabes are forced to face off against all-too-real foes.

The Legend of Beaver Dam
Canada, Director: Jerome Sable
A bloodthirsty campfire terror legend goes…musical?

Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers
Sweden, Director: Johannes Stjärne Nilsson and Ola Simonsson
Percussion reaches bold new heights in this brilliantly unique tale of urban paradiddles and ratamacues.

My Invisible Friend
Spain, Director: Pablo Larcuen
A semi-catatonic young man is finally able to reach beyond his world of porn and video games thanks to his first and only friend: an alien fish-man.

Ninjas
Brazil, Director:  Dennison Ramalho
Emotionally tortured after accidentally shooting a child, a policeman is offered a brutal shot at redemption.

Off Season
USA/UK, Director: Jacob Jaffke
A burglar and his dog navigate seasonally abandoned houses, and find someone is committing much more terrible crimes.

One Man and His Dog
UK, Director: Jonathan Hopkins
An interstellar would-be savior stumbles across a violent flim-flam man. Hijinks ensue.

Only Son
New Zealand, Director: thedownlowconcept
A young man receives unwanted dating advice from his dead father.

La Petit Mort
Germany, Director: Jan Gallasch
This nurse does not abide by the Hippocratic Oath.

Piano Man
USA, Director: Andrew Wilding
It’s the perfect crime…what could possibly go wrong?

Picnic
Sweden, Director: Henrik Andersson
A happy couple enjoying a gorgeous summer day together is unprepared for the difficulties that attack their peaceful life.

La Piñata
Spain, Director: Manuel Arija
A street performer draws a tremendous crowd, including a young lady who may regret watching.

Pixels
France, Director: Patrick Jean
A full-scale invasion from the 8-bit dimension!!!

Protoparticles
Spain, Director: Chema Garcia Ibarra
Life is hard. Life in a hermetically sealed space suit is nearly impossible.

Renegades
USA, Director: Jim Hosking
Two tragic friends enter a world of weaponry, nudity and cake shaped like a clown’s head.

Le Rescape du Hippocampe
France, Director: Julien Lecat
A woman enters the deepest recesses of her friend’s brain to help him get back on track.

Rise of the Living Corpse
Canada, Director: Chris Walsh
Rotting flesh breaks soil and the fun begins. The shortest short in FF history.

Rosenhill
Sweden, Director: Johan Lundborg and Johan Storm
A lovable grandmother is certain that her nursing home caretakers are murderous maniacs. She’s right.

Sasquatch Birth Journal 2
USA, Director:  The Zellner Brothers
An unprecedented peek at the mysteries of nature.

Seed
Czech Republic/UK/USA, Director: Ben Richardson and Daniel Bird
Birth. Junk. Expansion. Technology. Death. Usually in that order.

Sorry…I Love You
Spain, Director: Leticia Dolera
A shy, possibly non-human man ends up working with a girl who makes his heart — or something else in his chest — go pitter-pat.

St. Christophorus: Roadkill
Germany, Director: Gregor Erler
With the help of some corrupt cops, a man driving through the forest of Germany has the worst goddamn night in history.

Stranger Hero
USA, Director: Stephen Carolan
Prepare to witness the power of the ultimate warrior of the lost world: Stranger Hero!!

Teclópolis
Argentina, Director: Javier Mrad
Impossible landscapes created by everyday objects. Hypnotic and perfect.

To My Mother and Father
UK, Director: Can Evrenol
A nightmarish example of a practical joke gone awry.

Uncle Jack
USA, Director: Jamin Winans
A very special uncle soothes his nephew with a very special bedtime story.

Unholy Night
Iceland, Director: Arni Jonsson
Original Icelandic legend provides for 13 Santa Clauses, each of whom arrive in succession on different nights.  But their Santas aren’t as benevolent as ours, and tonight is the night for the one they call “Meathook.”

United Monster Talent Agency
USA, Director: Greg Nicotero
You’re likely already familiar with the classic monster films of Hollywood’s golden age. Now, learn how tough it was to get those monsters to behave on camera!

Vision
UK, Director: Jamie Hooper
A young woman receives a mysterious DVD in the post.  She soon comes to realize that pressing “play” was a bad mistake.

Voltage
Brazil, Director: Filippe Lyra and William Paiva
A crew of robots teaches us lousy humans how it’s really done.

Wisdom Teeth
USA, Director: Don Hertzfeldt
The latest hilarious heart wrecker from unstoppable animation force Don Hertzfeldt!

Yuri
Switzerland, Director: Cécile Brun, Katja Schiendorfer, Immanuel Wagner and Nils Hedinger
An astronaut wanders the spaceways in search of new life. When something shows up…he’s at a loss.

And if you don’t catch these shorts before one of our features, you’ll have a chance to see some of them in our shorts programs:

DRAWN & QUARTERED: Animated Shorts
It’s been said that animation isn’t just for kids anymore. Well, that’s ESPECIALLY the case at Fantastic Fest. We’ll be showcasing all aspects of genre entertainment in animated form, some of which will make you laugh, and some of which will make your bodily functions shut down entirely.
12 YEARS
ATOMIC HUBBUB
THE ASTRONOMERS SUN
FARD
GIANT
JAULAS
PIXELS
RISE OF THE LIVING CORPSE
SEED
TECLOPOLIS
VOLTAGE
WISDOM TEETH
YURI

Short Fuse! Severe Fantastic Fest Shorts
The best short films can pack in more adrenaline, creativity and flat-out insanity than a million big-budget blockbusters. Or they can show you something so ambitiously horrendous that you beg for mercy. Your intrepid Fantastic Fest programmers have scoured the international celluloid goldmines for the most skull-bursting, taste-annihilating and eyeball-destroying shorts in existence, and this program is truly the mother load.
DEUS IRAE
THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM
INTERVIEW
NINJAS
OFF SEASON
ROSENHILL
TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER

Fantastic Fest has scoured the globe for the very best in action, horror, science fiction, fantasy to the truly bizarre in contemporary cinema for your viewing pleasure. Look for more announcements in the final weeks before the festival, including information on our gala events, parties and AMD Next Wave filmmakers in attendance.

Fantastic Fest is the film festival with the boring parts cut out. Miss this one and your regrets will agonize you for years to come. You have been warned.

For the latest developments visit Fantastic Fest Facebook & Twitter.

The tutorial:

The entry-level side-to-side technique:

The challenging up and down technique:

The highly technical figure 8 technique:

If you have created an exceptional Shakey Face photo, please post it to the Fantastic Fest Facebook Page. The best shakey face photo of 2010 will win the grand prize, an 8 foot blanket with your slobbering distended face woven into the fabric, awarded at the Fantastic Fest Awards Ceremony on Monday, September 27th.

Yes, it’s true! Fantastic Fest has its very own iPhone app which is now available for free in the iTunes Store. This app is part of the IFP Festival Genius™ product family, and was developed by our friends over at Slated. With hundreds of screenings, parties, and one-of-a-kind events at Fantastic Fest, this app helps you discover films, plan your festival, and share your feedback with the rest of the world.

We have yet to announce our full schedule, but when we do be sure to download the latest schedule from within the app. Also another update is planned before the festival starts so stay tuned for more news. Don’t wait til then though, download it now!

KEY FEATURES:

• Complete schedule, film & event details for Fantastic Fest 2010
• Fully integrated with the official Fantastic Fest web site, powered by IFP Festival Genius™
• Build personal calendar to plan your festival, and rate films after you’ve seen them
• Publish your ratings and personal calendar to the festival web site to share them with the World, and download changes you make on the web site to your phone

APP DETAILS:

• Browse complete film list and event schedule
• Sort by title or by audience rating
• Search by title or director
• Filter by event type, category, and venue
• View film details with stills, synopsis, and cast & crew
• View venue maps
• Build a personal calendar of the films you want to see
• Rate films after you’ve seen them
• View & edit your personal calendar with My Cal
• See what’s playing right now with Now Playing
• Sync your ratings and personal calendar with the festival web site, and download the latest festival schedule & event data
• Get application help with the Festival Genius™ help manual, or contact support

People who purchase the DVD from See of Sound.com — it is really inexpensive — will get a poster signed by the film’s subjects: Jeff Turner and Kelly McCormick! That is an offer that cannot be denied. Supplies are limited so get to it!

The 6th annual Fantastic Fest will honor director and master fight choreographer Yuen Woo Ping with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the world premiere of his new martial arts fantasy True Legend, starring Vincent Zhao (Fong Sai Yuk, Dragon Gets Angry) Zhou Xun (The Emperor and the Assassin, Suzhou River) with Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and the late David Carradine (Kill Bill), on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at The Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX. The film will play as part of a double feature with Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, Yuen Woo Ping’s directorial debut and the film that put action legend, Jackie Chan on the map. Fantastic Fest will play host to Yuen Woo Ping’s first U.S. festival appearance.

If you’ve ever walked out of a movie theatre after watching a martial arts film and left your jaw on the floor, your eyes were probably dazzled by the fight choreography of filmmaker, Yuen Woo Ping. Gods of kung fu—Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Jet Li, Donny Yen and Michelle Yeoh—have all had their impressive abilities molded into a cinematic language of fist-pounding aerial artistry at the hands of Yuen Woo Ping. His work headlines the top fight sequence lists of all time from films like The Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Iron Monkey, Drunken Master, Once Upon a Time in China, Fist of Legend and Kung Fu Hustle.

“We are thrilled to have a filmmaker of Mr. Yuen’s incredible talent and filmography attend our festival to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Fantastic Fest co-founder Tim League. “A large part of our programming at Fantastic Fest is devoted to a genre of which Mr. Yuen represents the pinnacle of quality.”

Tickets for the Gala Screening of True Legend will go on sale Wednesday, September 8 at NOON CST on the Fantastic Fest official site.

True Legend (2010)
World Premiere, Hong Kong, director: Yuen Woo Ping
Yuen Woo Ping, legendary director and martial arts choreographer, brings TRUE LEGEND, an epic tale of Su Can, Master of the Drunken Fist.

A well-respected martial arts teacher and a good husband and father, Su Can’s journey begins when his vengeful brother, Yuan, returns from war. Seeking revenge from a dark family history, Yuan, armed with the Five Venom Fist, destroys Su Can’s family and dignity. Reduced to a beggar, Su Can finds apprenticeship from Lord Wushu and adapts to a new form of martial arts, the Drunken Fist. At peace with himself, he regains his strength to reclaim his life and returns home to claim retribution and his family honor. Good versus evil, two skilled rivals battle to become the ultimate warrior.

Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)
Hong Kong, director: Yuen Woo Ping
As a director and action choreographer, Yuen Woo Ping is identified with the ‘new school’ of kung fu. But just as a jazz musician must master the standards before he can take off on wild harmonic flights, Yuen had to earn his diploma from the old school before he could tear down the walls. Think of this movie as his graduate thesis. It’s similar to the Shaw Brothers training films so popular at the time, but there are crucial differences in humor and attitude. Jackie Chan, at his acrobatic best, stars as an orphan who ekes out a Dickensian existence as the janitor and human punching bag at a kung fu school. When he sees an old beggar (played to sheer perfection by Yuen Woo Ping’s father, Siu Tien Yuen) being roughed up by bill collectors, he jumps in to help. The old man, actually a great martial arts master, is touched by the gesture but appalled by the terrible kung fu so he takes the boy on as a disciple, teaching him the Snake Fist boxing style. Unfortunately, the master of the Eagle Claw style, played by phenomenal high-kicker Hwang Jang Lee, has vowed to eradicate the Snake Fist style and all its practitioners from the Earth, which spices things up considerably. The kung fu fights here are among the best you’ll ever see, with some staggering moves you won’t believe. Best of all, it’s entertaining from beginning to end.

Fantastic Fest has scoured the globe for the very best in action, horror, science fiction, fantasy to the truly bizarre in contemporary cinema for your viewing pleasure. Look for more announcements in the weeks to come, including information on our gala events, parties and AMD Next Wave filmmakers in attendance.

Fantastic Fest is the film festival with the boring parts cut out. Miss this one and your regrets will agonize you for years to come. You have been warned.

For photos of the announced films, visit this page.

For more photos from Fantastic Fest, visit our Flickr page.

For the latest developments visit Fantastic Fest Facebook & Twitter.

Check out the fantastic line-up of movies and fun! Bring your family and come enjoy a new twist on Austin night-life. All movies are free. Amusing pre-show antics start at 7:30 p.m. and movies start at dusk. Arrive early and have a picnic! Alcoholic beverages, glass and styrofoam are not permitted in the park. Please bring your own chair or blanket. For more information visit the Movies in the Park page.

Movies in the Park: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Wednesday, September 1st at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by The Downtown Austin Alliance
Steven Spielberg’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK plays like an anthology of the best parts from all the Saturday matinee serials ever made. It takes place in Africa, Nepal, Egypt, at sea and in a secret submarine base. It contains trucks, bulldozers, tanks, motorcycles, ships, subs, Clippers, and a Nazi flying wing. It has snakes, spiders, booby traps and explosives. The hero is trapped in a snake pit, and the heroine finds herself assaulted by mummies. The weapons range from revolvers and machine guns to machetes and whips. It’s a Boy’s Own Adventure, a whiz-bang slam-a-rama. It’s done with a kind of heedless joy. Spielberg was old enough (34) to have the clout to make the film, and young enough to remember why he wanted to. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times)

Movies in the Park: THE WIZARD
Wednesday, September 8th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Fantastic Arcade
In this ode to 8-bit gaming, Fred Savage takes his emotionally stunted, virtual-savant younger brother across the United States to play in the video championships. He’s competing to be the top gamer in the world, and to prove it he’s got to play a brand new game no one’s ever heard of: Super Mario Bros 3.

While it’s hard to imagine a world in which SMB3 didn’t exist, this movie actually introduced our country to the wonder that was this great adventure. Warp Whistles, the Raccoon Suit, the Koopa Kids, Chain Chomp, whatever the heck a Tanooki Suit is; all of this and more were first just dazzling images in this wonderful movie about the true love of video games. So strap on your Power Glove (“It’s so…bad!”) and come remember when video games were still imaginative and when a 12-year old boy could star in a movie that was actually good.

Movies in the Park: THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Wednesday, September 15th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Fantastic Arcade
What sweaty-browed video game aficionado hasn’t pretended, while feverishly pounding away on their Playstation control, that they were actually saving the universe? That’s the conceit employed in 1984’s THE LAST STARFIGHTER, a lightweight yet wholly entertaining sci-fi adventure that’s come to command a special place in the heart of my disaffected generation. Our hero is the mild-mannered and anxious trailer-park denizen Alex Rogan. After mastering the local Starfighter video game, Alex is visited by an interstellar messenger who delivers a curious message: The game Alex has been dominating is much more than a simple plaything; a planet desperately in need of savvy star pilots has planted these games on Earth in an effort to find new recruits. Imagine that! Excel at a video game and you’re drafted to save a distant planet! How very cool. (Scott Weinberg)

Movies in the Park: PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE
Wednesday, September 29th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop
There is only one truth in this life: PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE is the FUNNIEST MOVIE EVER MADE. If anyone tells you different, they’re just trying to start trouble. Watch the most entertaining man who has ever roamed the earth embark on a cross-country quest to reclaim his kidnapped best friend: a bicycle. Along the way, ol’ P.W. will encounter tough-as-nails bikers, giant dinosaurs, wild animals, ninjas, chubby billionaires, escaped convicts, buckin’ broncos, tone-deaf hobos, unwanted romance, fibbing gypsies, clumsy Godzillas, basement-less Alamos, vengeful boyfriends and even an undead trucker! Fun didn’t exist until Pee-Wee invented it, and now the most funrocious, funtacular, fungorious funsplosion in the history of FUN will be presented on the big BIG screen in a gorgeous 35MM print!

Movies in the Park: POLTERGEIST
Thursday, October 14th at 8:00 PM (Republic Square Park)
Presented by Fantastic Fest
This partnership between Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Tobe Hooper is the great real estate horror film of all time. Starring Craig T. Nelson as a partriarch in charge of a haunted household and featuring some of the creepiest supporting characters of the ’80s (little blonde-haired Heather O’Rourke as Carol Anne, little raspy-voiced Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina Barrons), POLTERGEIST is a ghost story for our generation, hitching up the Indian burial ground angle with a more current medium – they come through the TV! The film that made us all afraid to watch the tube will give you bumps on your arms and static on your set. Make sure to unplug your TV before the show!!

Movies in the park is sponsored by the Downtown Austin Alliance, Mellow Johnny’s, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Arcade, and The Austin Parks and Recreation Department.