Get Ready For Fantasia International Film Festival 2026
The 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival will kick-off on July 16 and run through to August 2, 2026. The physical festival takes place in Montreal, Canada – but Movies In Focus will be covering things remotely. Who says technology is all bad, eh?
A myriad of reasons means that I haven’t covered the festival since 2020 when it went online, but Fantasia always has an exciting line-up of films which alternate between crowd-pleasers and real mind-bending curiosities. I fully expect this 30th edition to be no different.
This year, the Fantasia International Film Festival has 125 feature films and over 200 short films – a real treat for films fans – and it’s certain to have something to satisfy all tastes. Not only that, but there’s a series of special events – so, if you’re there in person then you might one to check them out. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go along to a Masterclass with Nicolas Winding Refn or hear a conversation between Jane Schoenbrun, Hannah Einbinder, Alice Maio Mackay and Louise Weard (to name but a few events)?
Speaking of Nicolas Winding Refn, his latest opus, Her Private Hell will open the festival after causing a few waves in Cannes earlier this year, while Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s Freaks Part II will be the closing film. Other films this year include the third film in the Nazi killing franchise, The Last Temptation of Becky starring Lulu Wilson and Neil Patrick Harris and Craig Mitchell’s Los Vampires – an offbeat (and fictional) look at the making of the 1931 Spanish version of Dracula. Rubberhead is a documentary that looks at the work of practical FX maestro, Steve Johnson, while Corrin Evans’ Corpus is a 1990s-set supernatural horror.
You can find out much more – and see the whole line-up on the official website for the 2026 incarnation of the the Fantasia International Film Festival.
I’ll be posting up a slew of reviews – so keep checking Movies In Focus to see what I have to say about this very exciting line-up.
