By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The event showcases genre fare from around the world and honors a 50-year-old horror classic.
The 22nd edition of Fantaspoa, one of the world’s biggest showcases of horror, fantasy and related cinema, takes place this year April 8-26 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The festival will present over 200 films, including 85 features, as well as lectures, masterclasses, panel discussions, and social events including its popular Costume Party Cruise. The poster seen below, created by the fest’s art director Elizabeth Schuch, highlights Fantaspoa’s anniversary tribute to Brian De Palma’s 1976 classic CARRIE. And the opening-night event will be a 100th-anniversary screening of F.W. Murnau’s German Expressionist masterpiece FAUST, with a newly composed live score by Argentinian guitarist and composer Germán Suane.
The complete lineup of features in competition at Fantaspoa this year is:
- ADORABLE HUMANS (dirs. Anders Jon, Michael Kunov, Kasper Juhl, and Michael Panduro. 2025, Denmark. Brazilian Premiere)
- ANIMALS OF THE LAND (dir. Luke Jaden. 2026, United States. World Premiere)
- APPOFENIACS (dir. Chris Marrs Piliero. 2025, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- THE ARBITER (dir. Marc Price. 2025, United Kingdom. International Premiere)
- ARMAGEDDON ROAD (dir. Karen Lam. 2026, Canada. World Premiere)
- BACKSTAGE MADNESS (dir. Amanbek Azhymat. 2025, Kyrgyzstan. Latin American Premiere)
- BAGWORM (dir. Oliver Bernsen. 2025, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- BARRIO TRISTE (dir. STILLZ. 2025, Colombia/United States. Regional Premiere)
- THE BEARDED GIRL (dir. Jody Wilson. 2025, Canada. International Premiere)
- BEYOND THE NEST (dir. Rodrigo Lages. 2026, Brazil. World Premiere)
- BLUEBIRD (dir. Jay Arden Black. 2026, United States. World Premiere)
- BODY BLOW (dir. Dean Francis. 2025, Australia. Regional Premiere)
- BUFFET LIBRE (dir. Zoe Berriatúa. 2025, Spain. Latin American Premiere)
- BULK (dir. Ben Wheatley. 2025, United Kingdom. Latin American Premiere)
- CAMP (dir. Avalon Fast. 2025, Canada. Latin American Premiere)
- CAUTIVERIO (dirs. Sebastian Jimenez Franco and Omar Calvo. 2026, Panama. World Premiere)
- CIELO (dir. Alberto Sciamma. 2025, Bolivia, United Kingdom. Regional Premiere)
- COMPLIANCE (dir. Kyle Mangione-Smith. 2026, United States. World Premiere)
- CORPORATE RETREAT (dir. Aaron Fisher. 2026, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- THE CRAMPS! A PERIOD PIECE (dir. Brooke H. Cellars. 2025, United States. International Premiere)
- THE CURSE (dir. Kenichi Ugana. 2025, Japan. Latin American Premiere)
- DEAD EYES (dir. Richard E. Williams. 2026, Australia. Latin American Premiere)
- DEATHGASM 2: GOREMAGEDDON (dir. Jason Lei Howden. 2025, New Zealand. Brazilian Premiere)
- DEATHSTALKER (dir. Steven Kostanski. 2025, Canada. Brazilian Premiere)
- THE DOLLMAKER (dir. José María Cicala. 2025, Argentina. Latin American Premiere)
- EXILE (dir. Mehdi Hmili. 2025, Luxembourg/Qatar/France/Saudi Arabia/Tunisia. Latin American Premiere)
- FABULA (dir. Michiel ten Horn. 2025, Netherlands/Belgium/Germany. Regional Premiere)
- THE FENCE (dir. Dmitry Davydov. 2025, Russia. Brazilian Premiere)
- FIFTEEN (dirs. Yossy Zagha and Jack Zagha. 2026, Mexico. Latin American Premiere)
- THE FORBIDDEN CITY (dir. Gabriele Mainetti. 2025, Italy. Latin American Premiere)
- FOREIGNER (dir. Ava Maria Safai. 2025, Canada. Latin American Premiere)
- GAUA (dir. Paul Urkijo. 2025, Spain, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- GODZILLA EN SANTA FE (dir. Alexander Duré. 2025, Argentina. Brazilian Premiere)
- GOSH!! (dir. Joe Odagiri. 2025, Japan. International Premiere)
- THE GHOST GAME (dir. Dong-wan Son. 2025, South Korea. Latin American Premiere)
- GRAVITY (dir. Leo Tabosa. 2025, Brazil. Regional Premiere)
- HEART OF DARKNESS (dir. Rogério Andrade Nunes. 2025, Brazil/France. Regional Premiere)
- THE JOURNEY TO NO END (dir. Xiang Chen. 2025, China. Latin American Premiere)
- IAI (dir. Zenzo Sakai. 2026, Japan. Latin American Premiere)
- IMPOSTERS (dir. Caleb Phillips. 2026, United States. International Premiere)
- IN THE MOUTH (dir. Cory Santilli. 2025, United States. International Premiere)
- INTERIOR (dir. Pascal Schuh. 2025, Germany. Latin American Premiere)
- KARMADONNA (dir. Aleksandar Radivojevic. 2025, Serbia. Latin American Premiere)
- THE KIRLIAN FREQUENCY (dir. Cristian Ponce. 2025, Argentina. Brazilian Premiere)
- LABYRINTH OF LOST BOYS (dir. Matheus Marchetti. 2025, Brazil. Regional Premiere)
- LEVITATING (dir. Wregas Bhanuteja. 2026, Indonesia/Singapore/Taiwan/ Latin American Premiere)
- LIFE AT SANDY’S (dir. Aleksandra Hansen. 2026, Norway, United States. World Premiere)
- LUCID (dirs. Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall. 2025, Canada. Latin American Premiere)
- LUGER (dir. Bruno Martín. 2025, Spain. Brazilian Premiere)
- LUNA ROSA: THE 7TH ASCENSION OF ATABEY (dir. Omar Rodríguez-López. 2025, Puerto Rico/Mexico/Germany. Brazilian Premiere)
- MAD MASK (dir. Nagano, Katsuya Arai. 2025, Japan. Latin American Premiere)
- MAG MAG (dir. Yuriyan Retriever. 2025, Japan. Brazilian Premiere)
- MARAMA (dir. Taratoa Stappard. 2025, New Zealand/United Kingdom. Latin American Premiere)
- MATAPANKI (dir. Diego “Mapache” Fuentes Badilla. 2026, Chile. Brazilian Premiere)
- MEAT KILLS (dir. Martijn Smits. 2025, Netherlands. Latin American Premiere)
- NARCISA’S WILL (dir. Clarissa Appelt, Daniel Dias. 2025, Brazil. Regional Premiere)
- NESTING (dir. Chloé Cinq-Mars. 2025, Canada. Latin American Premiere)
- OLIVIA & THE CLOUDS (dir. Tomás Pichardo Espaillat. 2024, Dominican Republic. Regional Premiere)
- PEEPING TODD (dir. Josh Munds. 2025, United States, International Premiere)
- THE PERIL AT PINCER POINT (dirs. Jake Kuhn and Noah Stratton-Twine. 2026, United Kingdom. Latin American Premiere)
- THE RED MASK (dir. Ritesh Gupta. 2025, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- REMANENCE (pictured above; dir. Kapel Furman. 2026, Brazil. World Premiere)
- SACRIFICIOS (dir. Mauricio Chernovetzky. 2025, Mexico. Latin American Premiere)
- THE SCHOOL DUEL (dir. Todd Wiseman Jr. 2024, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- THE SERPENT’S SKIN (dir. Alice Maio Mackay. 2025, Australia. Brazilian Premiere)
- SUNSHINE EXPRESS (dir. Amirali Navaee. 2025, Iran. Latin American Premiere)
- THEATER IS DEAD (dir. Katherine Dudas. 2025, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- TONY ODYSSEY (dir. Thales Banzai. 2026, Brazil, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- THE TRAIL OF THE WOLF (dir. Ángeles Hernández. 2026, Spain. Latin American Premiere)
- THE TREK (dir. Meekaaeel Adam. 2026, South Africa. Latin American Premiere)
- THE TURKISH COFFEE TABLE (dir. Can Evrenol. 2025, Turkey. Brazilian Premiere)
- UNDER THE BURNING SUN (dir. Yun Xie. 2025, United States. Latin American Premiere)
- VIOLENCE (dir. Connor Marsden. 2025, Canada. Latin American Premiere)
- THE VILE (dir. Majid Al Ansari. 2025, United Arab Emirates. Latin American Premiere)
- VIRTUOUS WOMEN (dir. Cíntia Domit Bittar. 2025, Brazil. Regional Premiere)
- THE VOICES OF OUR MOTHER (dir. Mark O’Brien. 2026, Canada. World Premiere)
- THE WHISTLER (dir. Diego Velasco. 2026, Venezuela, United States. World Premiere)
- A WOMAN CALLED MOTHER (dir. Randolph Zaini. 2025, Indonesia. Latin American Premiere)
- WRONG HUSBAND (dir. Zacharias Kunuk. 2025, Canada. Latin American Premiere)
- YOU ARE THE FILM (dir. Makoto Ueda. 2026, Japan. Latin American Premiere)
- YOU GOTTA HAVE FAITH (dir. Tomás Fleck. 2025, Brazil. Latin American Premiere)
Filmmakers and other guests confirmed to attend the festival include Meekaaeel Adam, Clarissa Appelt, Oliver Bernsen, Jay Arden Black, Thales Banzai, Omar Calvo, Mauricio Chernovetzki, Abril Cicala, Daniel Dias, Aaron Fisher, Tomás Fleck, Diego Fuentes, Ritesh Gupta, Natasha Halevi, Karen Lam, Kate Kroll, Kapel Furman, Dean Francis, Diane Guerrero, Sean Gunn, Aleksandra Hansen, Luke Jaden, Rodrigo Lages, Sasha Lane, Kyle Mangione-Smith, Matheus Marchetti, Margaret Miller, Trevor O’Neil, Carolina Paiz, Chris Marrs Piliero, Cristian Ponce, Juan Pablo Raba, Pedro Rivero, Odeya Rush, Decker Sadowski, Pascal Schuh, Alberto Sciamma, Diego Velasco, Richard E. Williams, and James C. Williamson.
