Before the awards conversation shifts to Venice, Telluride, and Toronto, all genre heads descend upon Montreal, Canada, for the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival, North America’s leading celebration of all things pushing the boundaries of genre storytelling.
For three decades, Fantasia has championed everything from horror and science fiction to fantasy, animation, thrillers, and the unclassified, experimental in-betweens. This year’s milestone anniversary continues that tradition with another packed lineup of world premieres from bold, emerging voices in film.
Featuring an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and events running from July 16 through August 2, over 125 features and 200+ shorts will soon be available to explore.
To kick off this year’s fest, the Rolling Tape team highlights a few titles that we’re looking forward to.
Godhead, dir. Mark H. Rapaport
Rapaport, no stranger to Fantasia Fest, brings his second feature film, Godhead, to the festival following the strong reception of his 2023 debut, Hippo. If you’ve read my work for The Rolling Tape or heard some of my podcast appearances, you know I am all about exploring faith and religion in movies. Godhead does just that. The film follows a pair of twins who claim to be prophets and their efforts to bring a priest into their schemes. I’m excited to see how Rapaport handles the concept of prophecy and priesthood in this film. Slap the horror/thriller genre tags on there, and you have a film made for me.
Sour Minnows, dir. Harrison Atkins
I have been heavily invested in Suzanna Son’s career since Sean Baker’s Red Rocket (2021), and just seeing her name in the cast for Sour Minnows is enough to get me amped. Atkins’ new feature promises an experimental take on hangout films and an exploration of the world we’ve inherited post-pandemic. Son’s performance and the themes at play are certain to deliver a compelling, reality-bending experience.
— Cameron Ritter
You Are the Film, dir. Makoto Ueda
You Are the Film just might be the trippiest movie at Fantastic Fest this year. A film’s scriptwriter and composer are in separate small theaters, but each can see the other in real time on the silver screen. This debut feature from Ueda purports to deal with time and linear storytelling in a unique way, and I can’t help but be intrigued. This may be Ueda’s first time in the director’s chair, but he co-wrote my favorite film from Fantasia 2025, Rewrite. He’s proven that he can work with time, so who knows what he’s capable of with full control.
— Cameron Ritter
Jim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer, dir. Nicolas Athane & Marco Nguyen
One of the core pillars of Fantasia Fest has always been its focus on animation. It shows the types of animated films that don’t have the luxury of a major conglomerate studio, showcasing varied stories that would bypass the safe bubble of a PG rating. That spirited attitude is embodied in Jim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer, an adult-animated French film that follows Jim Parfait, a famed gay fitness icon in Paris, who must find a cure for a disease that turns gay men straight. Billed as being a raunchy, ridiculous celebration of LGBTQ liberation, Jim Queen first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to wondrous acclaim. Directors Athane and Nguyen make it clear that animation remains a medium for creative and bold storytelling, even in the most unlikely places.
— Paul Rai
The Samurai and the Prisoner, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
While known for his psychologically probing and exciting horror films, such as Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997), Kurosawa has always remained a dynamic storyteller, always challenging himself and the extent of his directorial talents. The Samurai and the Prisoner, based on Honobu Yonezawa’s prize-winning novel, is a historical war thriller set during the Sengoku period in Japanese history. Araki Murashige (Masahiro Motoki) has barricaded himself within Arioke Castle as he solves several strange occurrences, including a mysterious murder, with the help of a military strategist, Kanbei Kuroda (Masaki Suda). Fresh from its world premiere at Cannes, any new film from Kurosawa takes its genre trappings and transforms them into a wholly new creation, bursting with striking visuals and a transfixing narrative.
— Paul Rai
The Last Temptation of Becky, dir. Jenn Wexler
In the third chapter of the Becky franchise, The Last Temptation of Becky finds Lulu Wilson’s iconic Nazi-killing Becky Hooper as a CIA undercover agent battling the start of a secret Fourth Reich in one of Hitler’s WWII bunkers called The Wolf’s Lair, led by General Wilhelm Reuss (Neil Patrick Harris). The Becky films have no pretense as to what they are: gleeful exploitation films of Neo Nazis underestimating a young girl who possesses the skills, tenacity, and grit to brutally maim and kill them with ease. Starting with the 2020 film in which Wilson (who was then 15 years old) faced off against Kevin James in a home-invasion thriller, one of the best aspects of the franchise has been watching Wilson’s progression and growth as Becky. To see her become a government asset promises a whole arsenal of weapons and situations for Becky to kick Nazi butt.
— Paul Rai
Attack on Paradise, dir. Bob Colaers
Described as the “exhilarating ass-kicker” of Fantasia’s 2026 slate, Attack on Paradise is going to rock my world. The film follows Suleyman (Saïd Boumazoughe), a local legend and famed “cop killer,” after being released from a seven-year stint in prison. He returns to his dying mother and wishes to live in paradise at Antwerp’s Paradise apartments. Alas, Suleyman arrives at a tumultuous time, as drug lord Prince Hamza (Achmed Akkabi) has taken over the apartments and made his own fortress, including the penthouse suite. Suleyman walks into an undermanned police raid that fights the Prince’s robust, private army. He just wants to protect his mother, but this is easier said than done. Suleyman crosses paths with a rookie cop (Clara Cleymans), and together they must make their way to the penthouse to defeat Prinze Hamza. Attack on Paradise seems to be firing on all cylinders, and while it has similar strokes to The Raid: Redemption (2011) or Dredd (2012), I am sure Colaer’s direction and Boumazoughe’s performance as star and co-writer will make it a unique and thrilling experience for action lovers.
The Fox, dir. Dario Russo
What if you lived in a world where animals talked, lied, schemed, hustled, and swore? Russo’s latest film takes us to this fantasy land, where we meet Nick (Jai Courtney), who discovers that his fiancée, Kori (Emily Browning), is cheating on him. Broken and hopeless by this realization, he captures a fox (Olivia Colman) who offers him some advice to be set free: push your fiancée into this mystical hole, and she will be a changed woman. She will love him unconditionally and never leave him. Nick doesn’t think twice, and down she goes, not realizing the fox has bigger plans in mind. Billed as “riotously funny and brilliantly subversive,” The Fox features a star-studded cast, including the late, great Sam Neill in one of his final performances. Both in its absurdist quality and representation of animals, people, and their relationships, the film appears to have notes of The Lobster (2015). With human performances and wild, puppeted animals, The Fox sounds zany in the best possible way. I’m really excited for this film and for a chance to hear Neill’s voice in a film for one last time.
— Mari Fabian
Sunspark, dir. Danny Bourque
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland with no humans, a lonely robot finds the damaged body of another robot whilst scavenging for spare parts. As he tries to revive her, he must come to terms with how much he’s willing to give up for her to survive. Bourque’s new animated short looks polished and colorful, reminding me of a cartoon I would’ve watched as a child. I’m also a sucker for a love story like this — it’s simple, but it works so well. I have a feeling this will tug at my heartstrings. Bourque was also the sole creator behind this film, which makes Sunspark even more crucial to view.
— Mari Fabian
Hot Spot, dir. Agnieszka Smoczyńska
Smoczyńska is a perfect match for Fantasia’s ethos of bold genre storytelling. The Polish director announced her voice in 2015 with The Lure and is bringing Hot Spot to Fantasia after years of development. It’s described as an ambitious sci-fi cop-noir set in a near-future governed by sentient surveillance artificial intelligence, where a rebel group is working to hack into the system and create existential destruction. Featured in the festival’s flagship Cheval Noir section, the retro-futuristic, synth-driven aesthetic paired with political commentary on technology makes Hot Spot primed to cause a cinematic stir.
When You Open the Door, dir. Eriko Katagiri
If you think Robert Eggers is the only director lending their vision to the “werewolf” this year, think again. Programmed in the Underground Section, When You Open the Door is the directorial debut of Katagiri, who won the Japan Horror Award. The film dives into feminine isolation through Miki, a young adult who is drawn into the woods after half-remembering a wolf bite. Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s longtime cinematographer, Akiko Ashizawa, shoots the film, which is likely to blend folkloric rituals and iconography with thoughtful psychological explorations.
— Danny Jarabek
The Last Footage, dir. Arkar Soe Oo
One of the greatest differentiators that separates Fantasia from other festivals is its ability to reach every corner of the Earth and showcase vibrant genre filmmaking. That is especially true of The Last Footage from writer/director Soe Oo, who hails from the politically and geographically isolated Myanmar. It is claimed to be the country’s first found-footage horror film, a subgenre I will always be drawn to, and it’s shot in an almost real-time first-person POV. The story follows a young boy who disappears into a remote forest and confronts multiple awakened supernatural forces as he fights for survival. Likely to stray from Western tropes of the horror genre, I’m excited to see a movie that is quite possibly the first of its kind from a country we rarely see on the festival scene.
— Danny Jarabek
Courtesy of The Rolling Tape Team
Images Courtesy of Fantasia Film Festival