The Fantasia International Film Festival returns to Montréal this Summer to celebrate its epic 30th anniversary from July 16th to August 2nd, 2026.

In advance of May’s first wave title announcements, the festival has revealed its 30th edition poster art, painted once more by Montréal visual artist Donald Caron. It marks his 17th poster for Fantasia.

A colorful take on the Weird Sisters from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Greece’s classical Three Fates, and Gustav Klimt’s 1905 painting The Three Ages of Women, Caron’s art depicts three generations of sorceresses, one for each of Fantasia’s three decades. They gather joyously around a cauldron, summoning the festival’s iconic Cheval Noir through tendrils of mist. 

Founded in 1996, the Fantasia International Film Festival is a legendary 18-day blow-out of worldwide fantastic cinema taking place each July in the heart of Montréal.

From the second edition, which featured the World Premiere – and subsequent acquisition sale – of Satoshi Kon’s groundbreaking debut PERFECT BLUE, the festival has been celebrated as a center of genre film discovery, and among the most significant and influential festivals of its kind in the world.

Last summer, the festival’s World Premiere of Ian Tuason’s UNDERTONE led to a bidding war that closed with A24 acquiring the film within days of its launch.

Fantasia’s World 2022 Premiere of Kyle Edward Ball’s SKINAMARINK lead to the film’s acquisition and enormously successful release by IFC. NEON acquired Chris Stuckmann’s SHELBY OAKS several weeks after Fantasia announced the film’s World Premiere in 2024.

Fantasia is largely acknowledged as the place where J-horror first took hold in the West, with the festival’s 1997 screening of FUDOH marking the first time a Takashi Miike work was shown on the continent. The festival’s North American Premiere of Hideo Nakata’s RINGU in 1999 led to Dreamworks’ acquisition of the title and its blockbuster remake.

Among many other examples, Fantasia was the first festival in the world to show work from a then-19-year-old Adam Wingard when it World Premiered HOME SICK in 2007. Timur Bekmambetov’s popular series of Screenlife films was launched with the festival’s World Premiere of Levan Gabriadze’s UNFRIENDED (under its original title CYBERNATURAL), leading to Universal and Blumhouse acquiring the film. The festival’s World Premiere of Daniel Goldhaber’s debut CAM saw the film purchased by Netflix. Fantasia World Premiered Érik Canuel’s BON COP BAD COP, which went on to become the highest-grossing Canadian film domestically for many years. Fantasia also introduced Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani to their very first audience with the World Premiere of their debut short CATHARSIS and launched Toby Poser, John Adams, and Zelda Adams (The Adams Family) into cult stardom with the 2019 World Premiere of THE DEEPER YOU DIG.

Each year’s edition is focused on showcasing the most exciting and individualistic examples of contemporary international genre cinema from every corner of the globe and hosts over 100 filmmakers per summer.

Recipients of Fantasia’s career awards have included Guillermo del Toro, Ken Russell, Ray Harryhausen, Andrzej Zulawski, Mike Flanagan, John Woo, Danny Elfman, Takashi Miike, John Carpenter, David Bordwell, Joe Dante, Genndy Tartakovsky, Sheila McCarthy, Mamoru Oshii, José Mojica Marins, Tobe Hooper, Jean-Claude Lord, John Landis, Kier-La Janisse, Jean Rollin, Vincenzo Natali, Don Bluth, and Ted Kotcheff, among others.