Fantastic Fest is excited to unveil the winners of this year’s awards, celebrating a remarkable array of genre films from around the world. With an abundance of unique and captivating features and shorts, narrowing down the selections proved to be a tough challenge. Even so, our distinguished jury has risen to the occasion, selecting the most outstanding works of the festival.
Fantastic Fest was also thrilled to host the first edition of Fantastic Pitches this year, presented by Chroma. The winning pitch receives $100,000 in funding for their feature film, global distribution, and a world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026.
“To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we curated a remarkable lineup of feature and short films,” said Annick Mahnert, Director of Programming for Fantastic Fest. “Each year, our jurors face the difficult task of choosing from an extraordinary pool of talent, and this year was no exception. Despite the challenge, their selections reflect the true spirit of Fantastic Fest — a celebration of global cinema and the diverse voices that bring it to life.”
“Main Competition” Features
Jurors: Mercedes Bryce Morgan, Fred Durst, Patton Oswalt
Best Picture: “The Plague,” directed by Charlie Polinger
Best Director: Bartosz M. Kowalski – “13 Days Till Summer”
Special Mention: “Decorado,” directed by Alberto Vázquez
“Next Wave” Features
Jurors: Aaron Schimberg, Otessa Moshfegh, Lars Knudsen
Best Picture: “Camp,” directed by Avalon Fast
Best Director: Paolo Strippoli – “The Holy Boy”
Special Mention: “Luger,” directed by Bruno Martín
“Horror” Features
Jurors: Jose Cañas, Mònica García Massagué, Brandon Hill
Best Picture: “The Vile,” directed by Majid Al Ansari
Best Director: Martín Mauregui – “Crazy Old Lady”
Special Mention: Best Kill – Knife in Bed in “The Curse,” directed by Kenichi Ugan
Short Films
Jurors: Lisa Ogdie, Shams Mohajerani, Matt Pifko
Shorts “Best of Fest”
“Water Sports,” directed by Whammy Alcazaren
Shorts With Legs
Best Picture: “Water Sports,” directed by Whammy Alcazaren
Short Fuse
Best Picture: “The Dysphoria,” directed by Kylie Aoibheann
Fantastic Shorts
Best Picture: “Giant Skeleton,” directed by Austin Birtch
Drawn and Quartered
Best Picture: “A Breath of Mindfulness,” directed by Milly Cohen
Honorable Mention: “The Gnawer of Rocks,” directed by Louise Flaherty
Audience Award
“The Holy Boy,” directed by Paolo Strippoli
Fantastic Pitches
Jurors: Barbara Crampton, Toby Poser, Tim League, Matt Johnson
“Play House” director Nicolas Curcio, Producer Kirby Gladstein, Producer Ben Gojer
For more information on the films listed above, visit https://www.fantasticfest.com/film-guide.
For the latest developments, visit the Fantastic Fest official site https://www.fantasticfest.com/ and follow the festival on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
About Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. In years past, the festival has been home to the world and US premieres of “Parasite,” “Smile,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “The Black Phone,” “John Wick,” “Frankenweenie,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Apocalypto,” “Zombieland,” “Red Dawn,” “Split,” “Halloween,” “Bad Times at the El Royale,” “Mid 90s,” and “Suspiria” while the guest roster has included such talent as Tim Burton, Nicolas Winding-Refn, Lilly and Lana Wachowski, Bong Joon-Ho, Taika Waititi, Robert Rodriguez, Rian Johnson, Bill Murray, Keanu Reeves, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder, Edward Norton, Ryan Reynolds, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Karl Urban, Josh Hartnett, The RZA, Dolph Lundgren, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky, Mike Judge, Karyn Kusama, M. Night Shyamalan, James McAvoy, Vince Vaughn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jonah Hill, Barbara Crampton and Jessica Harper. Fantastic Fest also features world, national, and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films. Fantastic Fest has seen the acquisition of many titles, including “Bullhead,” “Kill List,” “Monsters,” “Klown,” “The Fp,” “Penumbra,” “Here Comes the Devil,” “No Rest for the Wicked,” “Vanishing Waves,” “Combat Girls,” “I Declare War,” “The Perfection,” and “Tigers Are Not Afraid.” Fantastic Fest is held each year at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas. Alamo Drafthouse has been named the best theater in the country by Entertainment Weekly, Wired, and TIME.
In March 2023, Fantastic Fest joined the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations) as a Competitive Specialized Feature Film Festival alongside Cannes, Berlin and Venice.
About Alamo Drafthouse
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema was founded in 1997 as a single-screen mom and pop repertory theater in Austin, TX. Twenty-eight years later, with 44 locations and counting, Alamo Drafthouse has been called “the best theater in America” by Entertainment Weekly and “the best theater in the world” by Wired. Alamo Drafthouse has built a reputation as a movie lover’s oasis not only by combining best-in-class food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star-studded special events. Alamo Drafthouse created Fantastic Fest, a world-renowned genre film festival dubbed “The Geek Telluride” by Variety featuring independents, international filmmakers, and major Hollywood studios. Alamo Drafthouse continues to expand its brand in new and exciting ways, including the American Genre Film Archive, a non-profit film archive dedicated to preserving, restoring and sharing film, and with several new theaters announced for this year and beyond.