It is July, and that means it is time for the Fantasia International Film Festival. It’s one of my favorite film events to cover, as it always introduces me to new faces in the world of speculative genres. This year’s Fantasia has films from some big names—Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse), and Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge) among them. Today, I want to dig a bit deeper into the program, including some names that I am pleasantly surprised to see. Here are five films that might be worth putting on your radar.

The 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival runs from Thursday, July 16 to Sunday, August 2 in Montreal.

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Blaise (Dimitri Planchon, Jean-Paul Guigue)

There is something about the flat, slightly off-putting art style of Blaise, which premiered in the ACID sidebar at Cannes, that has Continue reading Fantasia International Film Festival 2026 — Lineup Preview →