The Fantasia International Film Festival is upon us again, and I will be covering the festivities remotely once more. This year, the festival celebrates its 30th anniversary, and the lineup is stacked with major highlights and guests, including a visit from one of my cinematic heroes, Don Herzfeld, who hosts a retrospective of his career.
In the main lineups, Fantasia comes out guns blazing with some terrific gets from Cannes, SXSW, and Sundance, showcasing some of the best genre cinema we've had on offer this year. I've already reviewed a bunch of these, including Blades of the Guardians, Colony, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and The Samurai and the Prisoner, and they're all the bangers you'd expect from some of the biggest and best names in the industry.
Joonatan Itkonen
Joonatan Itkonen
Joonatan Itkonen
Joonatan Itkonen
I'm a sucker for good action, sci-fi, and fantasy. It's even better if these are combined, and that's precisely what God Skin, the martial arts fantasy from Thailand, promises. Elsewhere, Eiji Uchida's intense Tokyo Burst: Crime City seeks to fulfill the desire for some old-fashioned thrills in the style dominated this past decade by industry legend Don Lee.
Similarly, I'm beyond thrilled to see what the first Taiwanese kung-fu fantasy in nearly half a century has to offer, and the simply titled Kung Fu, directed by Giddens Ko, has all the makings of a new cult classic. The stacked cast features a bunch of genre-favorites, not least the great Gingle Wang, who impressed two years ago in the terrific Dead Talents Society.
Fantasia has always been a bastion of great animated features, and 2026 continues that streak beautifully. I had the pleasure of checking out Zsazsa Zaturnnah during my jury duties at BIFAN 2026, and it's a joyous queer fantasy made all the more important as a long-held passion project by its Filipino crew.
In the short films category, which admittedly is not my area of expertise, I can warmly recommend the genre-bending delights of Man Eating Pussy, and the pop-gothic beauty of Sandra Powers' Beasts of Death.
Finally, this year's documentary selection is absolutely packed with bangers. I'm particularly excited for The Seoul Guardians, a boots-on-the-ground depiction of the attempted coup in December 2024. Considering everything that's happening in the United States right now, this one couldn't be more timely.
In far more lighthearted fare, I'm thrilled to see the Japanese documentary The Origin of Ultraman grace the screens at Fantasia. An icon of Japanese pop culture, Ultraman is more of a niche figure in the West, yet still immensely fascinating. Directed by Yu Nakamura and Kazuki Yoshida, The Origin of Ultraman gathers together surviving creators, programmers, actors, and mega-fans, including Guillermo del Toro, for a heartfelt portrait of a superhero that has spellbound audiences for generations.
