The Fantasia International Film Festival is one of the largest genre festivals in the world. Taking place every mid-July to early August in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, this year marks the 29th edition the festival and the 15th edition of the Frontiéres International Co-Production Market.
This year’s edition sees the festival program genre films from much of the major film festivals from the first half of 2025, including Cannes, SXSW, and Sundance, among others. Home to numerous world premieres, the 2025 edition features 125 feature films and more than 200 short films among its programming. Opening the festival is a special screening of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival competition title Eddington, directed by Ari Aster. Meanwhile, the closing film is the Canadian premiere of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Fixed. Below are my top five most anticipated films appearing at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.
It Ends (International Premiere)
It Ends is the directorial feature debut of Alexander Ullom. Having its world premiere at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, Fantasia will be hosting its international premiere. Telling the story of a group of friends who while seeking food late at night, end up on an infinite highway with otherworldly terrors lurking beyond and must find a way out. The film features a young core of actors in its cast, such as Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Mitchell Cole. (one more sentence) As of the time of writing, It Ends has yet to find distribution with Range Media Partners handling sales.
Redux Redux (Canadian Premiere)
The third feature from brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus, Redux Redux tells the story of Irene, played by their sister, Michaela McManus. Following the murder of her daughter, Irene would find herself stuck in a time loop, travelling through parallel universes and repeatedly killing her murderer. Consumed by vengeance, her humanity is at stake. Also a selection of the SXSW Film Festival, the film also made an appearance at the Sydney Film Festival this past June. Saban Films owns the film’s North American rights.
Sugar Rot (Quebec Premiere)
Sugar Rot marks the sophomore effort of Canadian director Becca Kozak. The film is an exploitation-based horror take delivering a commentary on the idea of sweetness that society attributes to girls and women. Kozak flips this notion by applying the genre approach towards her lead character Candy (Chloë MacLeod), who becomes the host of a mutant fetus, and her body begins to transform into ice cream. Sugar Rot sees Kozak continue her experimentation on gender and sexuality, themes present across her shorts and first feature, 2022’s Girls with Guts. The film has also appeared at the 2024 FOGFEST Film Festival, 2025 Short Stock Film Festival, and the 2025 Calgary Underground Film Festival. The film is still seeking distribution.
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake (Quebec Premiere)
Argentinian folklore and ancient curses are the themes of The Virgin of the Quarry Lake (La Virgen de la Tosquera). Director Laura Casabé uses the hot 2001 summer and the internet’s popularization to set the stage for behavioral changes in local teenagers. All the girls are madly in love with Diego, a man who starts dating a thirty-year-old woman he meets on an online chat room. However, this newer relationship awakens the wrath of Natalia, who uses her grandmother’s ancient knowledge to cure her heartbreak. Having its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film has also appeared at the 2025 New Directors/New Films Film Festival, the 2025 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, and the 2025 Miami Film Festival before holding its Quebec Premiere at Fantasia. Filmax is handling sales.
Touch Me (Canadian Premiere)
In his sophomore feature film, director Addison Heimann’s Touch Me, on paper, features quite the unusual premise, telling the story of two codependent best friends who become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world. Meanwhile, the film has had quite an impressive festival run in the first third of the year, world premiering at the Sundance Film Festival before making appearances at the SXSW Film Festival, the 2025 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, and the 2025 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival before making its Canadian premiere at Fantasia. Yellow Veil Pictures is distributing the film in North America.
The 29th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festivals runs from July 16th to August 3rd. Stay tuned for our full coverage of this year’s festival 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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