Fantasia International Film Festival Getting Animated in 2026: A Preview
By Caroline Cao | July 15, 2026 | Movie Reviews
Fantasia International Film Festival is back in season! And it’s fruitful with highly anticipated titles like the buzzy Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. DivaGalsDaily writer Caroline Cao takes a look at the selection she’s looking forward to. Her fixation will be on the electric animated films in the lineup. From a wacky queer odyssey, sexual soap opera for the furries, to sci-fi anthology.
Sekiro: No Defeat
Directed by Kenichi Kutsuna
From Annecy International Film Festival 2026, this film adapts a 2019 video game by FromSoftware. The plot is as follows: a Divine Heir is kidnapped, so his protector, Sekiro, must rescue him. Although I have not checked out the video game, the visuals and story look compelling in their Sengoku brutality, with Screen Rant describing the film as “Berserk Meets Naruto,” an appealing combo.
Cherry and Virgin
Directed by Masanao Kawajiri
Cherry and Virgin has a romance plot that shouldn’t be underestimated. Two 30-year-old artists have divergent careers: Ami, a commercial illustrator and Ryo, a writer of erotic manga. Their sexual inexperience and burgeoning connection take them into serious inquiry into physical consummation.
Bliss: Beyond the Edge of Time (Ji Le)
Directed by Kevin Geiger, Leo Liao, Jo Jo Hwang, Liu Yu Shu, Jade Lien, Chiu Li Wei
As a Taiwanese anthology film, Bliss is compared to Black Mirror and Love, Death + Robots. These six shorts explore the intermingling between humans and technology. Hopefully, Bliss might have the 2D enthrallment of vintage anthologies like Memory or Robot Carnival.
Hayop Ka!
Directed by Avid Liongoren
Here come the furries! The Philippines’ Hayop Ka! was a 2021 Annecy title I once spied, but then the movie disappeared from my consciousness. So it was a pleasant surprise to see its title resurface at Fantasia Festival, which previously hosted the film. In this world of anthropomorphic animals, the cat Nimfa Dimaano falls in love with two men. Oh no! Whom shall she choose? The muscular mutt Roger or the playboy Iñigo. This melodramatic soap sounds like a fun romp.
Jim Queen
Directed by Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen
This is for the gays. There’s a dangerous STI infecting the clubs and gyms of Paris. And it’s turning gay men straight. When Jim Parfait finds himself fighting the Heterosis infection and losing his glorious buffness, he faces the challenges of queer liberation.
More information about the Fantasia Festival can be found here.
photo credit> Fasntasia Festival
