Jaime’s Picks

After getting the chance to attend Fantasia virtually last year, I’m more than happy to be able to cover the festival again in some capacity. Hopefully the day will come when I can attend in person, but for now, I’ll leave you with some of the films that I look forward to with great anticipation.

Castration Movie Anthology iii. Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift; a fragmentary passage (Louise Weard)

Louise Weard’s Castration Movie Anthology series has been a project that I’ve followed closely for a while, even though I’ve only seen the first entry so far. Knowing that this is only a fraction of what’s to come for the entirety of this third chapter has me wondering how far can Weard really take things. Given the many vulnerable spots she’s tapped into with the gargantuan runtime of each entry, I only sense that more wounds will open up.

Levitating (Wregas Bhanuteja)

I’ve slowly followed up on Wregas Bhanuteja after seeing his film Andragogy on Netflix. However, friends of mine from Sundance had noted that Levitating takes on a more experimental path than his past works; perhaps feeling appropriate for a film about community standing up against all odds. Admittedly, Indonesian cinema remains a major blindspot for myself – at least compared to the numerous films I’d watched from Japan, China, or South Korea. Take this as my way of catching up.

Our Effed Up World (Alice Maio Mackay)

I’ve been following Alice Maio Mackay on a count that she’s a very young filmmaker who’s already managed to establish a name, before turning 25 years old (as of this writing, Mackay is 21). That she’s already managed to make this many films at her age is impressive, but it’s also enough to put her on anyone’s radar. Given the rise of young filmmakers within the horror genre lately with Curry Barker and Kane Parsons taking the world, I think Mackay deserves a similar level of recognition.

Sekiro: No Defeat (Kenichi Kutsuna)

During the peak of the pandemic, I found myself playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice endlessly. People told me it would be the most difficult FromSoftware game, and yet I found it to be among the easier ones. Seeing that a film has been made based on this game is fascinating enough, but I’d wondered how this same narrative and mechanics could translate from one medium to another.

Tristes Tropiques (Park Hoon-jung)

If you’d seen I Saw the Devil, you probably would know how blunt Park Hoon-jung’s writing (and thus, portrait of violence) can be. Though this uncompromising attitude has always been my favourite aspects of South Korean genre fare, it’s also fairly commonplace to a point it may come across hackneyed. That’s not what Park Hoon-jung has ever felt like, and I’m always down for another film from him, especially in the director’s chair.

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Jack’s Picks

This is my first year covering Fantasia remotely. I was lucky enough to cover TIFF 2026 in person last year, but covering one of the world’s premier genre festivals from afar is no small task. Without further ado, these are the films I’m most excited to see.

City War (Sun Chung)

I’m very grateful to Shout! Studios for the restorations of the ’80s Hong Kong action films they’ve undertaken. Chow Yun-fat is, as always, the biggest reason to see this, he remains one of the most charismatic action stars of all time. But, it’s surprising that this film is so underseen, with fewer than 900 logs on Letterboxd at the time of writing. The fact that it’s also part of the Shaw Brothers catalogue makes this restoration well worth checking out.

Cherry and Virgin (Masanao Kawajiri)

Anime is a personal passion of mine, but rarely do we get productions focused on older characters instead of those of high-school age. The subject matter feels very mature, and I can honestly say I can’t think of another film in any medium involving an erotic manga artist. As the one debut feature on this list, it’s one I’m especially looking forward to watching.

The Fox (Dario Russo)

Danger 5 was one of the most absurdly funny television series I ever got the chance to watch, so seeing Dario Russo’s name immediately caught my attention. I’ve also always been intrigued whenever someone compares a film to Yorgos Lanthimos. I like films that take major risks and aren’t afraid to show it. The cast is absolutely stacked with some personal favourite actors, including Damon Herriman, Zlatko Burić, Claudia Doumit, and the exquisite Olivia Colman, who alone was enough to make me want to watch this film. It also features one of the final vocal performances from the late Sam Neill. Best known for his on-screen work throughout a remarkable career, it’s bittersweet knowing this will be one of the last new performances audiences will get to experience.

The Peril at Pincer Point (Jake Kuhn, Noah Stratton-Twine)

I like films that fully commit to an aesthetic. I want them to look, sound, and feel like they’re from another era, and looking at the poster alone, this feels like a film that wants to nail a very specific period. The fact that the program guide said fans of Monty Python would feel right at home here pretty much sealed the deal.

The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Say what you will about Kurosawa, but he never makes the same film twice, and he’s willing to dabble in many genres, including horror (Cure, Pulse), thriller (Cloud), and now a straight-up mystery set during Japan’s Sengoku period. I’m always excited whenever a film involving samurai comes out, and this one is no exception.