Ten Films To See At Fantasia 2025

With dozens of premieres and restorations between both features and short films, comprising the entire spectrum of genre cinema and global filmmaking, Quebec's premiere film festival is here with a towering lineup of fascinating films to explore. This year's festival runs from July 16 - August 3, and it couldn't be more packed with exciting films to discover. We've gathered ten films we're interested in to keep an eye out for at this year's festival, and return here to Step Printed throughout the festival for more coverage.

Garo: Taiga
dir. Keita Amemiya

An undeniable legend of tokusatsu cinema, Keita Amemiya left his mark on one of Japan's most diverse and creative genre spectacles with Zëiram, Mechanical Violator Hakaider, Cyber Ninja, and Kamen Rider ZO. For the last two decades, he's been primarily focused on the GARO series, a TV series and now a cavalcade of various spinoff films. Garo: Taiga is his 20th anniversary project, a prequel film that sets the stage for the universe he's been weaving for so long. – VS

Nesting
dir. Chloé Cinq-Mars

After being disappointed by Nightbitch, I'm ready for a proper, dissociative view of motherhood. As a, still relatively young, father I am drawn to parenthood movies – especially ones that explore the psychological impact and can provide catharsis. Parenthood is amazing, it truly is, but the hidden side of it and the struggles (the tough, subjective reality) is key to capture on film. – SG

I Am Frankelda
dir. Arturo & Roy Ambriz

Stop-motion animation is such a dazzling reminder of the power of cinema and creativity, its painstaking laborious craft visible in every frame. In a world being consumed by shortcuts and the desire to remove humans from the craft of creation, films like this serve to showcase the possibilities of film. I Am Frankelda is Mexico's first stop-motion feature, directed by Guillermo del Toro protege's Arturo and Roy Ambriz. A world of dreams and pure imagination, nothing could be more worth the excitement. – VS

Blazing Fists
dir. Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike will keep making movies and I will keep watching them. It will probably be too long, it might even be bad, but there will always be something interesting in it. There's always the chance it's a masterpiece. Miike and this – about teenagers getting a better life through fights in the ring – and Sham, a legal thriller. One of them will probably be good, both will be worth watching. – SG

OBEX
dir. Albert Birney

Promising a phantasmagoric mix of Lynchian surrealism mixed with hyper-contemporary digital world sensibilities, writer/director/star Albert Birney's OBEX considers the possibility of game and reality melding into one as a dreamy, hypnotic fantasy, a descent into isolation and demonic visions informed by the ways our consciousness can become one with the things we interact with. – VS

Maya, Give Me A Title
dir. Michel Gondry

More parental cinema. I really like Gondry and this collection of vignettes for his daughter – made as stories to entertain her when he couldn't be home – sounds incredibly touching. The conceit is enough, here. I'm sure the vignettes will be full of whimsy, presented wonderfully and will be inventive and witty. The idea that ties it all together is where the resonance lies, though, and why I'm desperate to seek this one out. – SG

Reflection in a Dead Diamond
dir. Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani

Cattet and Forzani are two of the most fascinating genre stylists around, their work on Let The Corpses Tan and Amer showcasing an ability to craft visually stunning works of atmosphere and tone that throw back to genre cinema classics without getting lost in contemporary idealism. Their cinema is stripped down to the bone, evocative image work full of visceral violence and unrepentant kink. Following genre exercises in blood-drenched giallo and dusty westerns, Reflection in a Dead Diamond goes for a '70s eurospy sendup, sure to meet every expectation of unrelenting oversaturated visual style and hazy imprints of genre trappings, Bond sent through a kaleidoscopic prism of chaos. – VS

The Book of Sijjin and Illiyyin
dir. Hadrah Daeng Ratu

You say something is '[insert country name here]'s The Evil Dead' and I'm watching. This is Indonesia's The Evil Dead, apparently – and the description even cites the iconic eye related gore of Fulci. I'm also always interested in film's that pull from reference point that I'm not used to. So much of the horror we get is subtextually Christian and deals with that iconography. Islamic folk horror that comes with a content warning for the amount of grotesque gore on screen? This could really be something special. – SG

All You Need is Kill!
dir. Kenichiro Akimoto

The coveted third title for Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat is here. That's right, another adaptation of the novel that film was based on – this time with a different name! The name of the novel, what a... novel... idea. I quite like that film, I'm even more interested in the idea of throwing a third title in the mix. This will give me a chance to be even more annoying in conversations about films and I deeply covet that. It also looks pretty cool! – SG

The Battle Wizard
dir. Pao Hsueh-Li

There are a ton of brilliant and exciting restorations screening at this year's festival in Fantasia's Retro catalogue, but looking beyond the prestige of John Woo or Mamoru Oshii you can find this stunning Shaw Brothers classic, a blistering kaleidoscopic wuxia that floods the kitchen sink with more chaotic cinematic magic than you can imagine. Lasers, snakes, kung-fu, wires, fire, and romance – never before has 72 minutes contained such unbridled madness. – VS