Celebrating its 30th edition this year, the Fantasia Film Festival is back, once again presenting fantastic works from across the world. Running from July 16th through August 2nd, this year’s festival features 125 features and more than 200 shorts. Hosted in Montreal, Canada, venues this year include Concordia Hall, J.A. de Sève cinemas, and Montréal’s Cinéma du Musée. Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is set to receive the Cheval Noir Achievement Award, and the opening film is the Canadian Premiere of his latest, Her Private Hell. Meanwhile, prolific Japanese director Takashi Shimizu will receive the other Cheval Noir Achievement Award. The festival is also presenting the premieres of his two latest projects: Village of Eight Gravestones and The Mouths.
Below are some of the most fascinating titles in the line-up of the 2026 Fantasia Film Festival.
A Safe Distance – Directed by Gloria Mercer
Gloria Mercer presents her debut feature, A Safe Distance, a feature adaptation of her short film of the same title. Premiering at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, the film follows a woman whose boyfriend abandons her in the forest. Suddenly, she befriends a couple who she suddenly realizes that they are a pair of bank robbers on the run from the law. At least on paper, Mercer’s debut feature sounds like a fascinating use of the ‘lost in the woods’ trope. Holding its Canadian Premiere at the festival, the film plays in the Septentrion Shadows section.
Anymart – Directed by Iwasaki Yusuke
Following the daily activity of a convenience store, director Iwasaki Yusuke’s debut feature, AnyMart covers the microcosm of the customer service industry experience, one where the store supervisor demands sympathy and smiles the whole time. Suddenly, the lines between life and death blur, as Sakai (Shota Sometani) starts to question his part in life. The North American premiere of Yusuke’s film will be held at this year’s festival, following its previous World Premiere at this year’s Berlinale Film Festival. It promises to be both a micro-scale and reality-questioning film centered about the current economic system of labor and the purpose of life. AnyMart plays in the Cheval Noir selection.
Insectasy – Directed by Angus Silver
In recent years, the underground section of the Fantasia Film Festival has grown into one of the most fascinating programs of the event. In the past, the section has featured films such as Hundreds of Beavers, Skinamarink, and The Serpent’s Skin. This year’s program features the third effort by writer-director Angus Silver, Insectasy. The film tells the story of Sadie (Tirion Healy), a woman attempting to balance her work, her social life, and an erotic fascination with insects. It is a film in which sex is intrinsic to the character’s motivations and the reasoning of its dramatic arcs. Insectasy is one of the festival’s world premieres.
Jim Queen – Directed by Nicolas Athane & Marco Nguyen
One of the most talked-about animated films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen’s Jim Queen, a film which screened previously in the Midnight Section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film is centered around the titular character, an iconic gay man in the Paris gay scene. However, he contracts heterosis, an illness that transforms gay men into heterosexuals. Though he found himself abandoned by everyone, a closeted twink, Lucien, goes on a quest with him across the corners of the city to find a cure for this sickness and save the LGBTQIA+ community from extinction. Jim Queen will hold its North American Premiere at this year’s festival and plays in the Animation Plus section.
Tight Lettuce – Directed by Harrison House
The Les Fantastiques Week-Ends du Cinéma Québécois section in this year’s festival includes the feature debut of Canadian actor and director Harrison Houde, Tight Lettuce. Starring Dakota Daulby and Emmanuel Bilodeau, the film tells the story of a son who documents his father’s fentanyl addiction. Hoping to capture his father’s recovery process, he found himself questioning how much it is worth to risk for someone who might not want to get help. Based on a true story, like the countless other stories during the ongoing opioid epidemic, Tight Lettuce is another World Premiere.
The 30th edition of the Fantasia Film Festival begins tomorrow. Stay tuned for our coverage on keithlovesmovies.com and on our YouTube channel over the coming weeks.
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Brazilian film writer. He is also a producer and executive producer for Zariah Filmes. Member of the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA), International Documentary Association (IDA), and Gotham and Media Film Institute.
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