Fantasia is the most “Quebec-style” international genre film festival in the world—and our favorite of the year. It takes place all over Concordia’s conference rooms after the students have left for summer break, as well as in several independent theaters that love weird, mystical, and gory films.
This year, it runs from July 16 to August 2, 2026, and there are 125 feature films and over 200 short films to watch. To avoid getting overwhelmed, we’ve planned our festival schedule a little in advance—and we’ll need to keep our eyes and ears open for the little films that stand out from the crowd (most will be screened twice).
We’ll be packing a sweater for the cool movie theaters, getting a good night’s sleep tonight, and we wish you an excellent Fantasia Festival.
Schedule for Fantasia 2026
Thursday, July 16
*A PRIVATE HELL* by Nicolas Winding Refn at 6:30 p.m. (opening film)
For the festival’s opening, one of our favorite directors, Nicolas Winding Refn, will be there in person to present his new film, *A PRIVATE HELL*, in its Canadian premiere. When you think about it, Nicolas Winding Refn and Fantasia are a perfect match. The director’s films are atmospheric and profound, straddling the line between philosophy and ultraviolence, and always featuring the most sensual cinematography of the year.
And to mark the occasion, Fantasia is honoring its favorite director with a Cheval Noir Award (to be presented on July 17 at 4 p.m. at the Cinéma du Musée following a masterclass) for his lifetime achievement.
Friday, July 17
MASTERCLASS with Nicolas Winding Refn at 4 p.m. <3
TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA by Jane Schoenbrun at 9:30 p.m.
Jane Schoenbrun’s highly controversial film—a blend of sex and horror in a psychotic reboot —is a must-see (we promise we’ll also check out some small indie films) to gradually get used to the weirdness of the Fantasia lineup. And after the movie, we’ll take a stroll under Montreal’s orange streetlights—and if there’s a thunderstorm, even better.
SHORT FILM PROGRAM: SCARE ME, FANTASIA at 9:45 p.m.
To stay up late—and not get too much sleep (it’s only the start of the festival, after all)—we’re going to watch 15 short films that are horrifying, unsettling, and gross, and that scratch at the most transgressive corners of our reptilian brains.
Saturday, July 18
ROUNDTABLE: A new generation of filmmakers in conversation, at 12 p.m.
Jane Schoenbrun, Hannah Einbinder, Alice Maio Mackay, Louise Weard, and Avalon Fast will discuss (new) genre cinema, the industry and its ups and downs, collaboration, and independent fantasy cinema. These kinds of conversations are what we love about Fantasia—cinema is weird, cinema is uninhibited and creative, and cinema is accessible to everyone.
TIGHT LETTUCE by Harrison Houde at 6:30 p.m.
Since Fantasia is in Montreal and Quebec’s renaissance of independent genre film is pretty exciting, we’re really, really looking forward to seeing this dark “dramedy” about a son’s infinite love for his fentanyl-addicted father. The real Canadian horror movie is the opioid crisis—and the real fantasy is loving each other deeply despite it all.
SLEEP NO MORE by Edwin at 10:35 p.m.
A wig factory, a murdered mother, a truly terrifying matron, and body horror that critics have compared to John Carpenter’s *The Thing* —it’s the perfect midnight movie for the festival’s first Saturday night.
Sunday, July 19
ATTACK ON PARADISE by Bob Colaers at 9:30 p.m.
An MMA champion, wearing an OM jersey as he roams the seedy streets of Antwerp’s “Paradise” complex, fresh out of a seven-year prison sentence for killing a cop—it’s the perfect setup for paradise to turn into hell. Drug lords, cinematography reminiscent of the coolest films of the 2000s, and a sortof escape movie with thrilling action scenes—to wrap up the festival’s first week, this is our top pick.
Monday, July 20
Blood Brothers FX MASTERCLASS at 5 p.m.
They’re from the Eastern Townships and they’re at the forefront of special effects, spurting blood, severed arms, zombies, and the gore of Quebec’s genre film renaissance. It’s THE masterclass you won’t want to miss—and probably the grossest one—so we’ll go for a cocktail afterward to calm our nerves.
SUMMER SCHOOL 2 (1988) by Rafal Zielinski at 9:25 p.m.
For those who loved Jane Schoenbrun’s *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma*, we recommend this Quebec film set at a summer camp featuring metalheads, an urgent need to save a forest, an evil industrialist, plenty of bare breasts and sex scenes—and a chainsaw.
Tuesday, July 21
SOMEONE’S DAUGHTER by Wiebke von Carolsfeld at 6:30 p.m.
It’s a world premiere and one of the most anticipated films at this year’s festival. A man acquitted of rape and the lawyer who defended him 10 years earlier are kidnapped and abandoned in the Canadian wilderness.Part *Weekend*,part morality tale, it stars the deeply unsettling François Arnaud and the great Quebec actress Pascale Buissières.
Wednesday, July 22
DANCE FREAK by Robby Rackleff & Alan Resnik at 1:40 p.m.
The film is horrifying, experimental, and a little funny—exactly what we’re looking for at the Fantasia Festival. A contagious virus compels people to dance, wreaking havoc. The body moves and destroys; contemporary life is anxiety-inducing and fragmented; and the black-and-white imagery is grainy, almost ugly, almost mesmerizing.
NIGHTBORN by Hanna Bergholm at 9:30 p.m.
The mysteries of the Finnish forest and the horrors of motherhood intertwine for a young, estranged couple who move into the grandmother’s house, surrounded by towering trees and the shadows they cast—shadows that reach right into the eyes of Saga (played with magnificent, malevolent energy by Seidi Haarla). The ultimate horror is giving birth to a monster, and when husbands are psychologically rigid, you might as well co-parent with a very dark and very mystical forest.
Thursday, July 23
*GODHEAD* by Mark H. Rapaport at 1:15 p.m.
Rapaport’s second feature film—following HIPPO (2023)—explores prophets and delusions of divine grandeur in glorious black and white. It’s everything you’d expect from a genre film; it’s unsettling, a little funny, and a little sublime.
Friday, July 24
LECTURE: The Testament of the Mexican Mummy at 5 p.m. (FREE)
For a lesson in (horror) history, we’re heading to this lecture on folklore, Mexican cinema, and anthropology—focused on mummy films shot in Mexico—by the legendary film historian Abraham Castillo Flores.
Saturday, July 25
UNHOLY NIGHT by Michael Gabriele at 7 p.m.
For those who are absolutely dreading spending the holidays with their suffocating family, for those who want a side of gore with their little Sicilian cookies, for those who are a little scared of their grandmother… We’re going to celebrate Christmas in July with this wild movie, and we’re bringing our favorite cousin along.
Sunday, July 26
I LOVE PARIS by Nicky Murphy at 6:40 p.m.
In the tradition of the completely off-the-wall, sexy, terrifying, and almost realistic mockumentary, we’re really looking forward to seeing the Franco-Australian film *I LOVE PARIS*. It’s a little vampire-esque, a little *MTV CRIBS*-esque, and very, very cool. It’s one of our favorites and one of the films we’re most looking forward to at Fantasia this year. It’s a world premiere.
Monday, July 27
INSECTASY by Angus Silver at 2:05 p.m.
An erotic thriller full of insects, with all their hairy legs crawling over the body of Sadie, the main character. You can’t be afraid of spiders, and you can’t be afraid of being psychologically hypnotized by dreams that blur into reality. We recommend grabbing a sandwich or some really slimy noodles AFTER the movie—not before.
*SICKO* by Aitore Zholdaskali at 9:25 p.m.
For a Monday night, we’re going to see a dark, family-oriented comedy that’s deeply satirical—one that critics are comparing to a bloody version of *Parasite *. A fake cancer diagnosis, plenty of violence, and a film that’ll be perfect to wrap up the evening.
Tuesday, July 28
ANCESTRAL BEASTS by Tim Riedel at 10:45 a.m.
Mixed-race director Tim Riedel delivers a haunted house and psychological family horror film centered on the anxieties and traumas that haunt Indigenous women. It’s one of the films we’re most looking forward to seeing at Fantasia, and one of the gems of the Canadian and Indigenous genre film renaissance of recent years.
Wednesday, July 29
SOUR MINNOWS by Harrison Atkins at 1:00 p.m.
The American dream turns into an atmospheric nightmare in Atkins’ film, with a touch of surreal Hollywood film noir—we can’t wait to see it, both because it’s broken up into experimental vignettes and because the strange can actually be very reassuring, after all. If nothing makes sense, we’ve got nothing to worry about, right?
Thursday, July 30
MOTHERWITCH by Minos Papas at 6 p.m.
Ah, a touch of gothic at Fantasia! It’s kind of our favorite kind of genre film, and this film by Cypriot director Minos Papas looks just as gloomy and melancholic as we could hope for—with desolate landscapes, religion twisted in every possible way, and a mythological dimension to help us understand grief. It’s based on the Greek myth of Demeter, whose immense sorrow manifests as destructive phenomena, but reimagined through traditional Balkan folklore.
Friday, July 31
*A SAFE DISTANCE* by Gloria Mercer at 11:30 a.m.
The forest, sensuality, and danger are electrifying in this Canadian film by Gloria Mercer—a psycho-sexual thriller that will make us want to go for a walk in nature, and maybe even rob a bank.
SHORT FILM PROGRAM: HORREURS ALL-DRESSED at 9:30 p.m.
As part of Fantasia’s “Fantastic Weekends of Quebec Cinema,” you can catch 12 short films that’ll send shivers down your spine. And then, off to bed!
Saturday, August 1
BUDDY by Casper Kelly at 6:25 p.m.
We’re eagerly awaiting Casper Kelly’s absurdist film. We want to lose ourselves in his proto-nostalgic world of a kids’ TV show featuring a singing dinosaur mascot that thirsts for the blood of the children appearing on the show. It stars Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace, Patton Oswalt, and Keegan-Michael Key as Buddy.
Sunday, August 2
FREAKS PART II by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein at 6:15 p.m.
The festival’s closing film, directed by the Canadian filmmakers behind *Final Destination: Bloodlines* and *Freaks*, picks up a few years after the much-loved sci-fi thriller. A mother and her daughter are being hunted by a paramilitary faction tasked with eliminating those with supernatural powers in a violent, repressive police state. Sound familiar? It’s sure to get our blood pumping and wrap up Fantasia on a high note.
