Fantasia International Film Festival 2026 – Films to Watch
The Fantasia International Film Festival is celebrating its 30th edition in 2026. Festival dates are July 16 through August 2. While the festival takes place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, remote access for press coverage is available to those unable to travel outside the country. Next to Fantastic Fest, Fantasia is my favorite film festival of the year, with incredible offerings from horror, fantasy, martial arts, animation, and gloriously weird film genres. And most of these films aren’t mainstream, with more focus on films outside of America.
Sometimes, Fantasia will feature some mainstream films because release dates differ between Canada and America, and the Canadian film festival often hosts retrospectives of older films. The opening night film will be Nicholas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell. Refn will also be in person to receive the Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award. There will be a 4K restoration of Takashi Miike’s 2003 film Gozu, which is a yakuza film with one of the craziest endings I’ve ever seen. The 2021 animated film Hayop Ka! will also have a special screening. Gaining traction for animation in the Philippines, Deaf Crocodile picked up the film for distribution later this year. I reviewed the film as part of my 2021 Fantasia coverage here.
While the film lineup is announced in three waves, a lot of these films can only be seen in person when they’re screened in Canada. However, the screening library has a select variety of films available for the press to request, which generally open on the festival’s second day (July 17). Even then, just because you request to review a film from the screening library doesn’t mean you’ll always be granted access to a screener from the filmmakers. They have to handle a massive number of requests over the course of the festival, and it sounds like it’s really heavy, particularly at the beginning.
From the three waves of announced titles debuting at Fantasia, I’ve made a list of nearly 50 films I’m interested in seeing. Not all will be available to remote press, and realistically, I’ll probably only be able to cover 5-10 films remotely. To narrow it down, here are the eight I’m looking forward to the most:
Kung Fu – Director Giddens Ko is responsible for making one of the best Taiwanese films, which likely wasn’t seen by many. Mon Mon Mon Monsters is so violently bleak and depressing. It resonated with me so much when I first saw it that viewing it felt like a punch to the gut that never went away. Now Ko is back with a martial arts film based on his own novel. The story, based on the novel’s synopsis, is about two high school outcasts who save an old, homeless man who turns out to be an invincible martial arts master.
God Skin – A martial arts film from Thailand described as cyberpunk Muay Thai. A delivery boy named Marwin stumbles onto a secret arena where the wealthy bet on high-tech martial arts matches. Action choreography is by Panna Stunt Team, who worked on bangers such as Ong-Bak, Tom-Yum-Goong, Born to Fight, and Chocolate.
Cherry & Virgin – Ryo is a 32-year-old erotic manga artist, while Ami, a 28-year-old BL-lover (yaoi), is both awkward and overly critical of their own drawing styles. They date, fall in love, and have a bunch of stuff in common, like the fact that neither has ever had sex. An animated romantic dramedy that combines several different animation styles. My dating life was full of awkward blunders and constant self-criticism. The Fantasia synopsis makes it sound like the end goal is having sex for the first time, and in a way, it probably is. But speaking as someone who has been there, finding that person who’s worth taking to the bedroom over and over again is a film concept worth exploring.
The Origin of Ultraman – This year is the 60th anniversary of the broadcast of the first Ultraman episode. This is a documentary that not only celebrates the character but also the impact the franchise has had on everything that has followed, including famous filmmakers, other tokusatsu series, and anime.
Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant – The story of a girl getting pregnant by her neighbor who has tentacles for testicles. She also has a tentacle fetish, so it kind of checks out. A New Zealand film described as a body-horror comedy inspired by Peter Jackson’s early films.
Spacetime Chronicles – A romantic comedy that sounds like it takes heavy inspiration from Michel Gondry, particularly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Fred is trying to reconnect with Hana, but the universe seems to be keeping them apart. The film is stop-motion animated using colorful paper craft. It looks a lot like old-school South Park.
The Samurai and The Prisoner – The new period film from Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse). Based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Honobu Yonezawa, Kurosawa is known for a slow yet intriguing pace with masterful reveals. Seeing how he approaches a samurai period film full of mystery is incredibly exciting.
Colony – An outbreak occurs inside the building hosting a biotech conference. The infected are transformed into cannibalistic zombies. Survival becomes even bleaker when authorities seal the exits to prevent the outbreak from spreading further. A South Korean horror action film from Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, The King of Pigs).
