Meet the 2026 International Competitions
Fourteen films. Ten countries and territories. One international competition programme.
This year’s International Competitions bring together six feature films and eight short films from filmmakers across Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Canada, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Germany, Australia and Réunion.
Spanning Asia, Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean, Australia and the Indian Ocean, the selection reflects the international scope of contemporary fantastic cinema and the many different ways genre films are being made around the world.
From supernatural action and psychological horror to queer thrillers, crime and body horror, these fourteen films show how many different forms fantastic cinema can take.
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE COMPETITION
4 TIGERS
Dir. Kongkiat Komesiri — Thailand
Black magic, bullet-bending bandits and stolen Japanese gold collide in Kongkiat Komesiri’s maximalist supernatural Western. Drawing on Thai outlaw folklore, 4 Tigers mixes gun-fu, sorcery, comedy, romance and political rebellion into a spectacular genre adventure built for the big screen.
BLOOD SHINE
Dirs. Emily Bennett & Justin Brooks — USA
A horror filmmaker searching for solitude encounters a religious zealot whose rituals promise transformation through submission. Visceral, sensual and hallucinatory, Blood Shine moves between folk horror, religious obsession and body horror as belief becomes increasingly physical.
DON’T COME OUT (NO SALGAS)
Dir. Victoria Linares Villegas — Dominican Republic
Victoria Linares Villegas makes her fiction-feature debut with a tense queer thriller about grief, fear and the danger of being seen. As a weekend trip turns increasingly uneasy, suppressed desire and suspicion expose the violence beneath a community shaped by homophobia and conformity.
I LIVE HERE NOW
Dir. Julie Pacino — USA
After an impossible pregnancy throws her life into crisis, Rose retreats to a remote hotel where time, memory and identity begin to fracture. Julie Pacino’s feature debut is a psychological journey through bodily autonomy, generational trauma and selfhood, drawing on the dream logic of Bergman, Lynch and Argento.
PHREAKER
Dir. Adam Yorke — Canada
Inspired by true events, Phreaker follows a blind fifteen-year-old who discovers the hidden subculture of telephone hacking. What begins as a search for connection turns into access, status and danger in Adam Yorke’s crime thriller about loneliness, technology and the thrill of finally being heard.
BREAK FREE
Dir. Yu Nakamoto — Japan
An old-school yakuza enforcer unexpectedly becomes a viral dance sensation in Yu Nakamoto’s mix of crime, comedy, J-pop and second chances. Warm, energetic and crowd-pleasing, Break Free is a story about loyalty, reinvention and finding joy in a world that has moved on without you.
INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Eight films from eight distinct filmmaking voices make up this year’s International Short Film Competition, extending the geographical and stylistic range of the competition into short form.
DINNER
Dir. Haeji Jeong — South Korea
Love becomes part of the menu in a short, surreal take on romance and consumption.
HIDE THAT BEARD
Dir. Sophie Louÿs — Réunion
A young swimming champion desperately tries to get rid of the enormous beard that begins growing after a psychological shock, only to encounter something even more monstrous.
DUSTSCEAWUNG
Dir. Mateus Lana — Brazil
A rejected writer watches his robot vacuum turn his shredded manuscript into new poetry, setting off a strange battle over love, creativity and authorship.
MASCLOOKING
Dir. Jonathan Brandon Hammond — USA
A conversation on Grindr takes an unsettling turn when a mysterious stranger begins getting closer.
XOLO
Dir. Matthew Serrano — USA
When the Aztec god of death arrives for his owner, a small dog tries to delay the inevitable by showing him the loving moments they shared.
THE DYSPHORIA
Dir. Kylie Aoibheann — Australia
A trans woman turns to a satanic ritual to transform her body, but instead invites a demonic presence into her home.
ECLOSION
Dir. Luis Morillo — Dominican Republic
An obsessive inventor brings a mysterious creature to life, turning a miraculous creation into an unsettling experiment in perfection.
A SOIL A CULTURE A RIVER A PEOPLE
Dir. Viv Li — Germany
In a future with permanently closed borders, a replica of Hannover offers a strange substitute for experiencing another culture.
Explore A Soil A Culture A River A People →
Together, the feature and short film competitions bring together fourteen very different films from ten countries and territories.
From large-scale genre adventures to intimate and experimental stories, the selection shows the range of contemporary fantastic cinema across the world.
