FANTASIA 30 (2026)—FIVE WORLD PREMIERES FROM THE SECOND WAVE

Along with the nine World Premieres announced in early May with their First Wave titles, the Fantasia International Film Festival added eight World Premieres with their Second Wave of titles announced in early June. A Third Wave is coming up in early July when Fantasia’s full lineup will be announced. Until then, here are five World Premieres from Fantasia’s Second Wave to whet your appetite.  

Los Vampires (2026), United States; Director: Craig Mitchell—In 1930 Hollywood, a Spanish actor (Henry Ian Cusick) is cast in the night shoot of a soon-to-be-legendary vampire film, forced to imitate the English-speaking star (Thomas Kretschmann) who performs the same role by day. The two actors regularly meet at the transitory hours of their shoots, and a rivalry stirs between them. All the while, a string of murders are occurring on and around the soundstage. With names respectfully altered, Craig Mitchell’s Los Vampires (2026) is a fantastical fictionalized account of the making of George Melford’s Spanish Dracula (1931), the arguably superior version of the Universal Horror classic which had been shot overnight on the same sets Tod Browning’s landmark pictured used during the day. Cusick and Kretschmann captivate as uncanny surrogates for Carlos Villarías and Bela Lugosi, while Daniela Couso, Tony-winner Jefferson Mays, Oscar Nuñez, and Jorge Diaz round out an immaculate cast. Los Vampires is a meticulously designed, occult-tinged tribute to the dignity of performance ... and a darkly imaginative, bittersweet love letter to old Hollywood—and the forgotten struggles that made it what it was.

   

I Love Paris (2026), France / United States; Director: Nicky Murphy—In an altogether different mockumentary vein, I Love Paris is an explosive and vibrant vampire film that’s equal parts funny, dynamic, and haunting. Avoiding the traditional pitfalls of mockumentary filmmaking, I Love Paris feels real but never forgets to keep its audience entertained. The film stars an explosive and hypnotic Aminata Thiboult as Paris, an aspiring musician who gets vampirized mid-shoot, giving all new meaning to the underground nightlife. Not just a vampire movie, this is a music film where the beats actually hit. I Love Paris captures an improvisational style that blends comedy, music, and horror to draw in the audience. With obvious comparisons to What We Do In the Shadows director Nicky Murphy brings in a dash of Tony Scott’s The Hunger—creating a vampire story that’s funny, pulses with youth and ambition, and blends down-under humor with effortless French cool.  

I Love Paris is programmed into Fantasia’s dedicated Underground sidebar, which showcases bold, super-independent, outsider, and DIY cinema and features ultra-low-budget and unconventional films made outside the traditional studio system. Fantasia’s Underground sidebar highlights extreme genres, fetishism, transgressive acts, and bizarre artistic expressions from around the world that possess a pure vision and are entirely unafraid to take risks.  

God Skin (2026), Thailand; Director: Paween Purijitpanya—Desperate for money, Bangkok delivery boy Marwin discovers a clandestine arena where the wealthy wager on martial-arts matches with a high-tech twist, in the spectacular Thai action-fantasy God Skin. Panna Stunt Team (veterans of the Ong-Bak films) handle the combat choreography, so top-notch action is assured as Marwin faces off against a succession of outrageous rivals. Leading man Sutthirak Subvijitra, of the My Boo and 4 Kings series, proves equally deft at drama, comedy, romance, and high-flying, hard-hitting stunts, but director Paween Purijitpanya takes things further, as this live-action arcade game loaded with rapid-fire laughs and eye-popping visual effects takes a sharp turn into dark, dystopian techno-thriller territory. This is potent proof that Thailand’s action cinema remains among the world’s best, offering ferocious fights and fresh new ideas.  

Cherry and Virgin (2026), Japan; Director: Masanao Kawajiri—Ami and Ryo have a lot in common. They’re both around 30 years old, both draw, both prone to brutal self-criticism—and neither has ever had sex. The duo is awkward, uncertain, confused. In their own weird way, the pair have great chemistry ... but will it lead them to the bedroom—and beyond? Following his short animated mockumentary A Japanese Boy Who Draws (Fantasia 2019), Masanao Kawajiri returns with Cherry and Virgin, an understated romantic dramedy that showcases his unique specialty. Kawajiri tells stories about people who draw and presents them as they would draw themselves. The filmmaker’s skill at mimicking a multitude of styles is remarkable, and he puts it to use brilliantly in the service of surprising and insightful studies of ordinary lives. A patient and precise storyteller with a visual language as expressive as his dialogue, Kawajiri’s sardonic wit and harsh candor offset and even elevate the strong sense of compassion that permeates Cherry and Virgin.  

Cherry and Virgin’s World Premiere is slotted into Fantasia’s Animation Plus sidebar, which highlights boundary-pushing animated feature films and projects, ranging from anime to experimental works, that may not always receive mainstream distribution. The section showcases international premieres, romance, dark comedy, and fantasy.

  

Corpus (2026), United States; Director: Corrin Evans—The body becomes a different kind of temple in Corpus; a bold and visceral horror vision, and the transfixing feature debut from filmmaker Corrin Evans, whose work explores death, eroticism, and the supernatural. Co-written and produced by Lily Cowles, who also stars, Corpus is a body horror yearn-and-burn. Erotic and surreal, the film lands brilliantly as a meditation on identity, desire, and the lethal cocktail of longing, vulnerability, and control. 

It's the summer of 1998 in New York City; Sayo (Jeff Wahlberg), a soulful nightlife photographer and small-time drug dealer, is invited to a party upstate by his long-time friend and unrequited love, a movie star on the rise: Vince Marlowe (Brodie Townsend). Together with their rowdy friend Ross (Michael Vlamis), they drive to a remote, bucolic manor in hopes of some summer debauchery. But when they arrive, they discover that the promise of a party is actually three mysterious women—Billie (Lily Cowles), Wren (Nuha Jes Izman), and Cata (Ching Valdes-Aran)—whose disturbing agenda draws the boys into a dark web of seduction and terror. Corpus is competing for the Cheval Noir.