Fantasia’s 30th Edition Will Open with Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Her Private Hell’ — Final Lineup

Thirty years since their respective foundings, it feels especially fitting that IndieWire be the outlet to exclusively unveil the final wave of titles for Fantasia’s landmark anniversary edition. Running July 16 through August 2 in Montreal, Canada, this year’s festival reflects a genre history every bit as rich, weird, and groundbreaking as the discovery-driven city that hosts it.

Since 1996, Fantasia has offered a uniquely communal home for some of genre cinema’s most important and transgressive sensations. With programming that’s long been gloriously unclassifiable, the annual film event has also cultivated an audience and competition jury pool that tends to embrace the unexpected as enthusiastically as its programmers. That’s made Montreal the place for the world’s strangest cinephiles to meet every summer and toast genre storytelling’s wildest impulses.

This year’s milestone edition furthers that legacy by pairing foundational film voices with the next generation of artistic troublemakers. Leading the program is Nicolas Winding Refn’s long-awaited return to feature filmmaking. “Her Private Hell” will open the fest with its Canadian premiere, following the Danish auteur’s acceptance of Fantasia’s Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award. The director of “Drive,” “Only God Forgives,” and “The Neon Demon” headlines a celebration that also honors J-horror master Takashi Shimizu. He arrives with two new films: the folk-horror mystery “Village of Eight Gravestones” and the North American debut of his supernatural chiller “The Mouths.”

Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award winners Nicolas Winding Refn and Takashi Shimizu

Just over two weeks later, Fantasia will close its 2026 edition with the world premiere of “Freaks Part II,” reuniting Canadian filmmakers Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein with the genre universe they created before following that success with the record-shattering “Final Destination: Bloodlines” at Warner Bros. The creative duo’s mutant thriller anchors a sprawling lineup that spans more than 125 features and 200 shorts, balancing major names with the kind of singular oddities you can really only find in the same room at Fantasia.

Among the final wave’s other highlights are Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s historical mystery “The Samurai and the Prisoner,” Casper Kelly’s Sundance sensation “Buddy,” Yeon Sang-ho’s virus thriller “Colony,” and “When You Open the Door,” Eriko Katagiri’s haunting, deeply unconventional werewolf story that arrives as one of the year’s buzziest genre debuts. Also, the world premiere of Ashlea Wessel’s creature feature “Junction Row,” starring Katharine Isabelle (“Backrooms”).

Elsewhere, Fantasia will continue doing what it does better than arguably any other North American genre festival: giving genuinely hard-to-classify projects the kind of prominent platform that can transform artistic curiosities into cultural moments. Nicolas Athané and Marco Nguyen’s animated queer apocalypse “Jim Queen” imagines a world where an STI transforms gay men into heterosexuals, while Angus Silver’s “Insecstasy” blends erotic obsession and insect horror into a neon-soaked tribute to Dario Argento. Brazilian gross-out nightmare “Bowels of Hell” promises to be the festival’s most outrageous endurance test, and Myanmar’s “The Last Footage” will also make history as the country’s first found-footage horror feature to hit the international genre-festival circuit.

Fantasia’s 30th anniversary celebration extends even deeper into genre history with a repertory slate that frames retro cinema as a living tradition rather than a museum piece. New restorations of Takashi Miike’s “Gozu,” Paul Morrissey’s “Forty Deuce,” and the long-lost Canadian glam-rock oddity “Metal Messiah” will screen alongside a theatrical return for anime landmark “Redline,” a special presentation of Bruce McDonald’s “Pontypool,” and an ultra-rare revival of “Studio Q,” the 1980 Mexican meta-cinematic treasure often described as a spiritual predecessor to “The Truman Show.”

Read from Fantasia’s final 2026 programming wave below. All synopses are provided by the festival, and you can find more information — including previously announced features and shorts with additional information for special events, exhibitions, and artist talks — on the fest’s official website.

Opening Night Film

“Her Private Hell“
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award Winner 2026

Nicolas Winding Refn’s audacious return to feature filmmaking is a gorgeous, mysterious act of cinema, sensorial and transgressive, that demands to be experienced on its own terms. It emerges through spectral mist like dream transcriptions from the beyond, pulsating with psychic threads to Bava, Suzuki, Argento, and Vadim by way of Hans Christian Andersen, steeped in saturated primary colors and dripping with potent surrealism and mordant wit.

Set in a fog-basked futuristic city that curves, arches, juts, and glows like pathways into the subconscious, “Her Private Hell” stars Sophie Thatcher (Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” “Companion”), Charles Melton (“May December,” The CW’s “Riverdale”), Havana Rose Liu (“Lurker,” “Bottoms”), Kristine Froseth (“Sharp Stick,” AppleTV’s “The Buccaneers”), and Dougray Scott (“My Oxford Year,” “Mission: Impossible 2”).

A hallucinatory fairy tale death trip inspired in part by its gifted maker’s own harrowing experience with death and resurrection, “Her Private Hell” is a deeply personal and obsessive film that explores memory and mortality, often through breathtakingly stylized neo-noir and giallo film coding. Canadian Premiere.

Closing Night Film

“Freaks Part II”
Directors: Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein

Following the 2018 sleeper-hit sci-fi indie “Freaks” and 2025’s critically acclaimed, record-shattering “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” celebrated Canadian filmmakers Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein return to their mutant roots with the hotly-anticipated “Freaks Part II.” Several years after a traumatic escape, we meet Mary (Amanda Crew, of HBO’s “Silicon Valley” and “Freaks”) and her daughter Chloe (Lorelei Olivia Mote, of NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” and “Riddle of Fire”) as they live on the road, hiding their powers and identities. They are hunted by the Abnormal Defense Force, paramilitary police that specialize in ruthlessly exterminating “freaks” like them. Mary is fueled by revenge, determined to find the ADF officer (Lili Taylor, of “The Conjuring” and “Outer Range”) who killed her first child. There’s great chemistry between Crew and Mote as mother and daughter. There’s also inventive gore – the most we’ve seen in a Canadian film in years – that punctuates the outstanding performances and serious subject matter. Packing dazzling action and thrills, “Freaks Part II” is a fierce anti-superhero thriller that skillfully conveys themes of police states, family, and finding your tribe. Cheval Noir Competition. World Premiere.

Celebrating Horror Master Takashi Shimizu

“Village of Eight Gravestones”
Director: Takashi Shimizu

Following the death of his mother – whom he hadn’t seen in years – young Tatsuya decides to visit the rural village where she lived. Along the way, he encounters private detective Kosuke Kindaichi, who had been searching for him at the behest of the Tajimi clan – a family burdened by a dark past. Tatsuya’s grandfather had once committed a gruesome massacre that left a deep scar on the villagers; consequently, they are now, to say the least, hostile toward Tatsuya and his family. When death strikes the locals once more, Detective Kindaichi must quickly find answers before the situation boils over. Takashi Shimizu, legendary creator of the “Ju-On” saga, delivers an entertaining, bloody horror thriller populated by eccentric characters and bizarre rituals. He brings to life the legendary Detective Kindaichi – a character created by author Seishi Yokomizo and featured in no fewer than 77 novels – while dropping visual and auditory clues for the audience to piece together the mystery behind the unfolding killing spree. “Village of Eight Gravestones” is fascinating folk-horror packed with tons of startling surprises. World Premiere.

“The Mouths”
Director: Takashi Shimizu

A rumor circulates about a cursed tree standing in the center of a supposedly haunted cemetery and a group of university students decides to tempt fate by visiting this legendary spot in the dead of night. Their courage quickly wavers in the face of the location’s eerie atmosphere and the deafening sound of cicadas. Things rapidly spiral out of control for the quartet as a waking nightmare, filled with ghostly figures and sudden disappearances, unfolds. Their recklessness comes at a price far steeper than they ever imagined. “What happened that night?” That’s the mystery the viewer must unravel in this terrifying new film by Takashi Shimizu (the “Sana” trilogy), brilliantly adapted from the novella “A Questionnaire About the Mouth” by renowned author Sesuji. Shimizu further cements his place in the pantheon of J-horror with a well-paced feature that relies more on genuinely unsettling supernatural apparitions than excessive jump scares. Fans of atmospheric horror will relish the excellent “The Mouths” and its mind-bending, nerve-jangling finale. North American Premiere.

Fantasia Feature Presentations

“The Samurai and the Prisoner”
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Arioka Castle proves resilient against siege from outside, but within its walls, a succession of baffling events threatens the resolve of its defenders. Four impossible occurrences, one for each season. Signs of divine intervention – or perhaps a very human conspiracy? To unravel these puzzles, Lord Murashige (Masahiro Motoki, “Departures”) must enter into a contest of wits with a man he’s chained in his own dungeon, the brilliant strategist Kanbei Kuroda (Masaki Suda, “Don’t Call It Mystery”). With “Cure” and “Pulse,” definitive early titles in the ‘90s J-horror wave, Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa proved himself a preeminent fright-meister with a knack for psychological chills, but he’s since applied his distinctive flavor to drama, science fiction, action, romance, and espionage. With his latest film “The Samurai and the Prisoner,” adapted from Honobu Yonezawa’s prizewinning 2021 novel, Kurosawa explores the genre of jidai-geki, or the Japanese period film, and cradles within it a clever and outlandish mystery. The historical setting suits the filmmaker’s penchant for patience and precision, and its confounding intrigue keeps with his love of complex mind games. North American Premiere.

“Buddy”
Director: Casper Kelly

A brave girl (Delaney Quinn, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”) and her friends must escape a kids television show, stalked by a homicidal mascot (Keegan-Michael Key, “Keanu”) in the wickedly deranged Sundance sensation “Buddy,” the long-coming feature theatrical debut from Casper Kelly (“Too Many Cooks,” “Adult Swim Yule Log”). Inspired in part by the filmmaker’s own childhood envy of the kids who got to live in the worlds of his favorite children’s shows, before he began to question their presented realities. A remarkable achievement in gonzo world-building, inventively shot, meticulously designed, and bubbling with imaginative scenarios that frequently re-invent themselves, “Buddy” lands with singular impact, its conceptual outrageousness grounded by a terrific lead performance from the always-strong Cristin Milioti (“The Penguin”) and a sharp supporting cast that includes Topher Grace (“BlacKkKlansman”), Michael Shannon (“The Shape of Water”), and Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille”). From the producers of “Weapons” and “Companion.” International Premiere.

“When You Open the Door”
Director: Eriko Katagiri

Miki, a 27-year-old working in an architectural firm, wakes up in her small apartment, pulled out of her sleepy memory. Her world is quiet and strange, but will soon be interrupted by a transformative experience spurred by a half-remembered wolf bite. As Miki searches for answers, she soon finds herself drawn into the woods, and to the center of a ritual at a shrine cared for by elderly maidens. Director Eriko Katagiri was the recipient of the Japan Horror Award, a prize previously won by the director of “New Group” and “Best Wishes to All,” and her film tackles feminine isolation and alienation in a unique and powerful way. Viewers who allow themselves to be carried into Miki’s mind will find themselves pulled into one of the most unique werewolf stories ever put to the big screen. Cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa (“Tokyo Sonata,” “Creepy”), Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s frequent collaborator, lends the film a unique visual identity, creating images built in ephemera, silhouettes, shadows and nature. “When You Open the Door” isn’t just a great film, it’s the announcement of a bright new talent. Underground Section. World Premiere.

“Jim Queen”
Directors: Nicolas Athané and Marco Nguyen

Paris’ ultimate gay icon, Jim Parfait, reigns supreme over a world of adoring fans, fierce rivals, and impossibly sculpted bodies; until a mysterious STI begins transforming gay men into heterosexuals! As muscles disappear and social hierarchies collapse, Jim embarks on a wild, campy quest to find a cure before his life falls apart completely. The first feature from Bobbypills, Europe’s pioneering adult-animation studio, “Jim Queen” delivers a colorful, outrageous, and unapologetically Queer adventure from directors Nicolas Athané and Marco Nguyen. Beneath its gleeful barrage of kink, karaoke, and absurdist comedy lies a sharp satire of exclusion, identity, and liberation within contemporary Queer culture. Vibrant animation, infectious energy, and a killer soundtrack make this a future cult favorite. Animation Plus Section. North American Premiere.

“Insecstasy”
Director: Angus Silver

Bathed in the glow of Dario Argento’s “Phenomena” and Lucky McKee’s “May,” Angus Silver’s “Insecstasy” is for all the lonely perverts who’ve always wanted to be annihilated by the weight of their desire. A homage to 1970s erotic thrillers with a touch of creepy-crawly, “Insecstasy” carries an offbeat, dark sense of humor and a violet-cast color scheme. Piercing the sterility of contemporary life with the disruptive transgression of eroticism, Silver’s film features dreamy fantasy sequences that interrupt and disrupt, drawing us expertly into its characters’ sensual and unusual interiority. Underground Section. World Premiere.

“The Last Footage”
Director: Arkar Soe Oo

Aside from a small handful of arthouse dramas screening at Locarno and such, the national cinema of politically isolated, conflict-plagued Myanmar remains all but invisible outside its borders. Few are aware of its lively, low-budget genre-film scene, circulating mostly online or on VCDs, but writer/director Arkar Soe Oo aims to change that with his innovative feature “The Last Footage.” Myanmar’s first found-footage horror film, shot entirely in first-person POV, is possibly the first Burmese chiller to hit the global genre-festival circuit. The events of “The Last Footage” unfold in almost-realtime, as the sun sets on the haunted Wingabar Forest and eerie howls pierce its night. That, the first-person perspective, and the absence of conventional horror gimmicks (rapid edits and bass-heavy scores, not to mention gratuitous gore and cruelty) make “The Last Footage” feel more like an immersive work of in-situ theatre. Or perhaps more accurately, like a gleeful romp with friends through a haunted-house attraction at a regional fair, with various creepy creatures leaping suddenly out of the darkness. World Premiere.

“Junction Row”
Director: Ashlea Wessel

Ashlea Wessel has directed festival-favorite shorts like 2018’s “Tick” and 2020’s “Weirdo,” and rounded them out with segments in the 2024 horror anthology “Creepy Bits.” Now, audiences can see the World Premiere of her feature debut, “Junction Row.” Canadian horror icon Katharine Isabelle (“Ginger Snaps,” “American Mary,” “Backrooms”) is Juno, a recovering addict who leaves a fringe housing compound for a better life, leaving her beloved Ruby (Natalie Brown, of FX’s “The Strain” and “The Breach”) behind. When she learns that Ruby has gone missing, Juno returns, only to find Junction Row has become a hotbed of criminal activity, but she encounters much more than menacing drug dealers on her mission to find Ruby. Isabelle continues to be a crowd-pleaser as an action star, and supporting roles by Glen Gould (Paramount+’s “Tulsa King,” “At the Place of Ghosts”) and Kyle Mac (Netflix’s “Between,” AppleTV’s “Government Cheese”) don’t disappoint. With distinct Lovecraftian dread, this creature feature, penned by Adam Cesare (“Clown in a Cornfield”), Matt Serafini, and Wessel, conjures a story where the fear of the unknown isn’t confined to what lies above, but what waits beneath. Septentrion Shadows Section. World Premiere.

“Bowels of Hell”
Directors: Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre

For those who believe they’ve seen everything cinema has to offer, here comes Brazilian madmen Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre’s “Bowels of Hell,” unquestionably the grossest film of Fantasia 2026 – and also one of its wildest, most unpredictable, and hilarious. It’s not entirely a scatological humor fest, because “Bowels” is also a surprisingly touching story about parents and children, and the struggle to focus on the people in your life that matter the most. It’s also filled with some of the most disgustingly inventive kills seen in any movie in some time, and it should come as little surprise that even the legendary Bruce LaBruce shows up at one point. When you gotta go, you gotta go… but in this film’s haunted São Paolo apartment complex, “go” means that your time is most certainly up! Produced by Rodrigo Teixeira, the Oscar-nominated producer of “The Witch,” “I’m Still Here,” “Call Me by Your Name,” and “The Lighthouse,” “Bowels of Hell” is an unexpectedly layered mix of family drama, social satire, cranked-to-eleven grossout horror, and poop jokes told with energy, wit, and style, coming to the continent after blowing minds and stomachs at the Rotterdam Film Festival. North American Premiere.

“Grotesqqque”
Director: Atsushi Nishigori

“Grotesqqque” is a completely original animation film from the brilliant mind of Atsushi Nishigori, known for his work as the director for “The Idolm@ster” and “Darling in the Franxx,” and Chief Animation Director behind “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time,” the smash hit that sparked a social phenomenon. This electrifying film embodies Nishigori’s ambition to create something he’s passionate about, with as much passion as he wants. Comprised of three episodes – “A(E)LIENS”, “YOROSHIKU★Girl”, and “NOCTURNE: NUIT GROTESQUE” – these distorted, uneven, yet infinitely beautiful stories melt together like a chimera, galvanized into motion by the enthralling original score accompanying the film. This poppy, edgy fusion of imagery and sound creates a unique world pulsing at the seams. Filled with aliens, gyarus (gals), and vampires… Atsushi Nishigori’s story of “Grotesqqque” girls is about to unfold! Animation Plus Section. World Premiere.

“A New Dawn”
Director: Yoshitoshi Shinomiya

Tomorrow, the Obinata family’s fireworks factory will be shuttered and demolished to make way for modern progress. Today, the two Obinata brothers and their childhood friend Kaoru are reunited after several years apart. Sentaro has asked her to help him get stubborn Keitaro to leave the premises as ordered, but Keitaro has other, very spectacular plans. An art-department veteran of films from Makoto Shinkai and Sunao Katabuchi, director Yoshitoshi Shinomiya is a traditional painter by training. In striking contrast to the slick, digital tools employed ever more frequently in Japanese anime, Shinomiya’s use of raw, hands-on techniques and remarkable lo-fi animation hacks informs and enriches his feature-film debut, “A New Dawn,” as does input from the French wing of his team in this intercontinental co-production. Together they’ve made a film of exquisite, even transcendent beauty, and turned this touching tale of ordinary lives into something truly extraordinary. “A New Dawn” premiered in official competition at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year and Fantasia is proud to bring the film to audiences on our continent. Animation Plus Section. North American Premiere.

“Colony”
Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Fresh off its recent Cannes launch, Fantasia will showcase the Canadian Premiere of “Colony,” the stunning new feature from celebrated South Korean genre auteur Yeon Sang-ho (“Train to Busan,” Fantasia 2016; “Seoul Station,” Fantasia 2016; and “The King of Pigs,” Fantasia 2011). Se-jeong (Gianna Jun, of “Assassination” and “My Sassy Girl”), a biotechnology professor, attends a biotech conference that turns into blood-soaked terror, and a fight for survival against mindless, cannibalistic attackers infected with a rapidly mutating virus. Canadian Premiere.

Editor’s Note: 29 more features were announced as part of Fantasia 2026’s third programming wave, including “Attack on Paradise,” “Permanent Damage,” “Regards Parallèles,” “Godhead,” “Junction Row,” “Unidentified Murder,” “Sicko,” “Blaise,” “La Place,” “Beasts Clutching at Straws,” “Bliss: Beyond the Edge of Time,” “Tristes Tropiques,” “Romin,” “The Galactic Ghoul,” “The Fox,” “Drag,” “Dance Freak,” “The Leader,” “Matapanki,” “Papaya,” “The Peril at Pincer Point,” “Recluse,” “The Seoul Guardians,” “We’re Nothing at All,” “After School,” “Bagworm,” “Blades of the Guardians,” “Cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood,” and “The Journey to Gyeong-Ju.” You can read more on the website.

Fantasia Retro

“Forty Deuce”
Director: Paul Morrissey

New York City, 1982. Street hustler Ricky (Kevin Bacon, reprising his Obie Award-winning role) devises a plan to shake down a wealthy john (Orson Bean, “Being John Malkovich”) in order to make a drug buy in this vivid snapshot of a pre-gentrification NYC from legendary underground director Paul Morrissey (“Flesh for Frankenstein”), adapted from Alan Bowne’s off-off-Broadway play. Bacon proves in this early performance that he was a talent to watch, and his fellow hustlers are all memorably real and convincing. Difficult to see for decades, “Forty Deuce” has been newly restored, returning in full-grime glory. World Premiere of Vinegar Syndrome’s New 4K Restoration.

“Gozu”
Director: Takashi Miike

A gangster’s search for his boss’ missing body becomes an odyssey into deeply disturbing absurdity in this fever dream that defies deciphering. Few names are as necessary to Fantasia’s 30th anniversary as that of Takashi Miike, Japan’s innovative master of marginal, often maniacal cinema, whose work was first introduced to the West with Fantasia’s 1997 North American Premiere of “Fudoh.” His enormous filmography is full of strange and startling material, but few of his films are as delightfully confounding as 2003’s “Gozu.” World Premiere of New Wave Films’ New 4K Restoration, Courtesy of Radiance Films.

“Redline”
Director: Takeshi Koike

“Redline” isn’t just a milestone memory for Fantasia, where it first screened 15 years ago. It’s an absolute anime classic, a one-of-a-kind whirlwind of super-charged thrills and a visual overload that demands a watch on the festival’s biggest screen. Based on a story by Katsuhito Ishii, maverick of punk-surrealist cinema, it was the first full feature from Madhouse Studio’s Takeshi Koike, who’d provided animated sequences for Ishii’s live-action films “Taste of Tea” and “Funky Forest: The First Contact.” Combining Koike’s graphic style with the unleashed liberties afforded to Ishii and his co-writers by the animation medium, “Redline” is a rocking, shocking rager that stomps on the accelerator and pushes past all permissible limits. Animation Plus Section.

“Pontypool”
Director: Bruce McDonald

A brazen radio host (Stephen McHattie) and his team are besieged in their church-basement studio when their town falls victim to a language virus in Bruce McDonald’s bold and singular Canadian horror classic. Based on the acclaimed novel by Tony Burgess, “Pontypool” is a film that relies on imagination, language, and the mystery of hive mentality, much like the radio play, “War of the Worlds.” With a standout performance by the great McHattie (also on the Fantasia screen in this year’s “Permanent Damage”) sharing the frame with his real-life partner Lisa Houle, “Pontypool” embodies the spirit of independent filmmaking, exploring identity, reinventing the zombie, and signaling virality before it became a “thing.” Septentrion Shadows Section. Special Screening celebrating Bruce McDonald’s Canadian Trailblazer Award.

“Metal Messiah”
Director: Tibor Takács

The long-lost Canadian glam musical sci-fi gem returns to the screen. After learning of an evil rock promoter’s plan to use heavy metal to keep society sedated in a cycle of hedonistic pleasure, a stylish metallic alien arrives on Earth to save humanity and rock out! Running along a similar wavelength as “Phantom of the Paradise,” but with the arthouse noir flair of “Alphaville,” Tibor Takács’ retrofuturist rock opera examines the power of political capitalism and its stranglehold on freedom, true pleasure, and individualism, as the film puts a magnifying glass to what we consume, where it comes from, and the hidden agendas behind mass media. From the director of “The Gate!” World Premiere of Canadian International Pictures’ New 4K Restoration.

“Studio Q”
Director: Marcela Fernández Violante

In this meta-cinematic masterpiece from director Marcela Fernández Violante – who, at the time of its production in 1979, was just the third female feature director in the Mexican film industry since 1935 – a telenovela star (Juan Ferrara) finds himself trapped in the soap opera he acts in, with all attempts at connecting with external reality leading him back into the soap opera. An allegory about the impossibility of human agency reflected through the chaotic world of television, this ultra-rare, mind-bending treasure is often lovingly referred to as the cinematic grandmother of “The Truman Show.” World Premiere of Severin Films’ New 4K Restoration.

Editor’s Note: Fantasia Retro will showcase nine more restorations and special screenings this year, including “City War,” “Le Confessional,” “The Delinquent,” “Full Blast,” “Hayop Ka!,” “Hong Kong Godfather,” “Les Loups,” “Possible Worlds,” and “Thrilling Bloody Sword.” Read more on the website.

Select Special Events

Masterclass: Nicolas Winding Refn

Join us for a special masterclass with Danish director, screenwriter, and producer Nicolas Winding Refn, recipient of our 2026 Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award. A transformative force in world cinema since bursting out of Copenhagen at the age of 24 with the instant-classic “Pusher” (1996), which simultaneously launched the careers of Mads Mikkelsen and Zlatco Buric, Refn’s visceral, often dream-like and neon-tinged filmography across the decades largely reads like a list of landmarks: “Bleeder” (1999), “Fear X” (2003), “Pusher 2” (2004), “Pusher 3” (2005), “Bronson” (2008), “Valhalla Rising” (2009), “Drive” (2011), “Only God Forgives” (2013), “The Neon Demon” (2016), the Amazon series “Too Old To Die Young” (2019) and Netflix’s “Copenhagen Cowboy” (2023), and now, the immaculate “Her Private Hell” (2026), which celebrates its Canadian Premiere as our Opening Film.

In Conversation With Jane Schoenbrun, Hannah Einbinder, Alice Maio Mackay, Louise Weard, and Avalon Fast

Join us in celebrating a new generation of groundbreaking genre auteurs with this special group discussion between filmmakers and performers whose works intersect with their friendships and creative processes.

Visionary writer-director Jane Schoenbrun (“I Saw the TV Glow,” and Fantasia 2021’s “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”) will arrive in Montreal fresh off their Cannes Premiere and Palm Queer with the extraordinary “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” starring Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) and Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”). Hannah Einbinder is a gifted, Emmy-winning performer and comedian. “Camp Miasma” is one of two feature films that she stars in this year, following Victoria Strouse’s SXSW breakout “Seekers of Infinite Love.” As part of a new vanguard of groundbreaking transgressive filmmakers, frequent Jane Schoenbrun collaborators Louise Weard (who appears in a scene-stealing performance in “Camp Miasma”) and Alice Maio Mackay will also be screening at this year’s festival. Louise Weard makes her Fantasia debut with “Castration Movie Chapter iii; A Fragmentary Passage.” The film stars Avalon Fast (who also appears in “Camp Miasma” and is the celebrated director of “Honeycomb” and “Camp”) as she does everything in her power to stop her partner (Henri Gillespi) from transitioning. Jane Schoenbrun also shows up as the producer of “Our Effed Up World” from frequent Fantasia festival darling, Alice Maio Mackay (“The Serpent’s Skin”). Inspired by the alien invasion genre and slacker hang out movies, the film is about a group of friends standing up against an alien invasion that threatens to swallow the whole world.

Artist Talk with Matt Johnson in Conversation with Grace Glowicki

As part of Fantasia’s 30th anniversary celebrations, join us for a special artist talk between two of Canada’s most brilliant and beloved new wave film talents.

Toronto-born actor, screenwriter, producer and director Matt Johnson blasted onto the scene with his radically distinctive indies “The Dirties” (2013), which won Best Narrative Feature at Slamdance and had its Canadian Premiere at Fantasia, and “Operation Avalanche” (2016), which premiered at Sundance and had its Quebec Premiere at Fantasia, in addition to the adored cult series “Nirvana The Band The Show.” His third feature, “BlackBerry” (2023), premiered in competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and went on to break all Canadian Screen Awards records with 14 wins, including Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Direction, and Performance in a Leading Role (Comedy), becoming the most awarded film in CSA history. Johnson then directed “Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie” (2025), which premiered at SXSW and was acquired by Neon, and this year’s “Tony,” which will be released by A24 on August 7. He returns to Fantasia this year as a producer on Carly Balestreri’s “The Two Year Rule” (2026).

Grace Glowicki blew minds with her feature debut “Tito” (2019), which she wrote, directed, and starred in. The film premiered at SXSW, winning the Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award, before going on to win the Audacity Award at Oldenburg. Her second feature, “The Dead Lover” (2025), premiered at Sundance and went on to play Rotterdam, SXSW, and TIFF. As an actor, Glowicki has appeared in a slew of acclaimed, singular works, including “Strawberry Mansion” (2021) and “Booger” (2023), both of which screened at Fantasia. She also appears in “The Heirloom” (2024) and “Honey Bunch” (2025), for which she won a Canadian Screen Award for Performance in a Leading Role. Glowicki returns to Fantasia this year as the star of Emily Lawson’s “Man Eating Pussy” (2026).

Editor’s Note: Fantasia’s 30th anniversary festivities include a packed slate with plenty more events. Many are free to the public, and the celebration will continue after the festival with a five-week retrospective screening series. In addition to Nicolas Winding Refn and Takashi Shimizu, other honored guests include Canadian Trailblazer Award winner, Indie Maverick Award recipient Don Hertzfeldt, and Denis-Héroux Award winners Robert Lepage and Louise Portal. Find out more on the website.