Fantasia Fest 2025 First Wave: The Genre Playground Returns with Nuclear-Powered Nightmares
Fantasia Fest 2025 first wave creates major buzz with standout films: Kurtis David Harder’s Influencers sequel starring Cassandra Naud, Hwang Wook’s psychological thriller The Woman, the live action Ya Boy Kongmin! manga adaptation, and Oscar nominee Hubert Davis’s post apocalyptic eco horror debut The Well
Eight years running as press for Fantasia Fest 2025, and my pulse still quickens when that first wave announcement drops. The Fantasia International Film Festival 2025 (July 17–August 3) has just unleashed its opening salvo, and this year’s lineup promises to be the most deliriously unhinged yet. From Hollywood veterans pushing boundaries to breakout debuts that could redefine genre cinema, the First Wave of Fantasia Fest 2025 is already shaping up to be absolutely unmissable.
Fantasia 2025: First Wave Analysis – Mother of Movies
Fantasia 2025: First Wave
Five Films That Will Define This Festival
1. I Live Here Now (Julie Pacino – World Premiere Directorial Debut)
This is the film everyone will be talking about. Julie Pacino’s feature directorial debut plunges audiences into what’s being described as a “vibrant and nightmarish psychodrama” that channels David Lynch, Dario Argento, and the Coen Brothers. Shot on vivid 16mm, the film stars Lucy Fry as Rose, a trauma-haunted woman trapped in a motel where reality completely unravels. The supporting cast is stacked: Madeline Brewer (Cam), Twin Peaks legend Sheryl Lee, Cara Seymour (Adaptation), and comedian Matt Rife in what’s promised to be an “exceptionally slimy” performance. This isn’t nepotism filmmaking, this is a bold new voice tackling generational trauma, capitalism’s stranglehold, and the pursuit of perfection through a genre lens that promises to be genuinely innovative.
2. Mother of Flies (The Adams Family – World Premiere)
When the Adams Family returns to Fantasia, you clear your schedule. This necromancy-focused horror comes from the filmmaking dynasty behind The Deeper You Dig, Hellbender, and Where the Devil Roams, each a Fantasia World Premiere that redefined independent horror. Written, directed, shot, edited, and scored by John and Zelda Adams and Toby Poser (who also star), Mother of Flies explores the “darkly shadowed, yet love-lined pathways between human life and death.” Born from the family’s own experiences battling cancer, this promises to be their most personal and powerful work yet, a poetic exploration of necromancy through two women’s intimate relationships with mortality.
3. Terrestrial (Steve Pink – World Premiere)
The Hot Tub Time Machine director’s genre pivots into psychological thriller territory, which is the kind of creative risk that either crashes spectacularly or creates something transcendent. Pink’s comedy pedigree (Accepted, About Last Night, co-writer of High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank) suggests he understands character and behavior intimately, now he’s filtering that through paranoia and fear. Jermaine Fowler (Sorry to Bother You) leads as a sci-fi writer whose reunion weekend spirals into uncanny dangers that threaten his grip on reality. With James Morosini (I Love My Dad), Pauline Chalamet (Sex Lives of College Girls), Rob Yang (Succession), and Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso) rounding out the cast, this has all the ingredients for a sleeper hit that’ll dominate genre conversations.
4. I Am Frankelda (Rodolfo & Arturo Ambriz – North American Premiere)
This is cinema history in the making, Mexico’s very first stop-motion animated feature film. From Guillermo del Toro protégés who gained recognition with Revoltoso (Fantasia 2016) and created the acclaimed Frankelda’s Book of Spooks series, this dazzling exploration of Francisca Imelda’s challenging childhood and her friendship with Herneval, prince of the dream realm, represents a milestone for Latin American animation. The craftsmanship, cultural perspective, and sheer ambition of bringing Mexico into feature-length stop-motion territory make this essential viewing for anyone who cares about animation’s evolution.
5. Chao (Yasuhiro Aoki – North American Premiere)
Studio 4°C’s latest creation is a 21st-century cyberpunk reworking of The Little Mermaid set in psychedelic Shanghai, and it sounds absolutely unhinged in the best possible way. Director Yasuhiro Aoki (Batman: Gotham Knight, Tweeny Witches) spent seven years and over 100,000 drawings crafting this “daring and dazzling burst of animated brilliance” about a shipbuilding designer who becomes engaged to a mermaid princess seeking human-merfolk peace. When Studio 4°C, the boundary-pushing animation house behind Tekkonkinkreet and Mind Game, tackles romantic comedy with cyberpunk aesthetics, you know you’re in for something visually spectacular and narratively wild.
Festival First Wave Standouts
Additional First Wave Standouts
Creating Festival Buzz
Influencers
continues Kurtis David Harder’s viral horror franchise with Cassandra Naud returning as the chameleon CW, this time setting her sights on a British influencer (Georgina Campbell from Barbarian) in the South of France. After 2022’s smash hit, expectations are stratospheric.
The Woman
sees Mash Valle director Hwang Wook completely switching genres for this character driven psychological thriller about a strawberry exchange that leads to suspicious suicide and sinister strangers. Han Hye ji’s lead performance is already generating serious buzz.
Ya Boy Kongmin! The Movie
brings the beloved manga/anime about China’s legendary military strategist reincarnated as a Tokyo J pop manager to live action cinema under director Shuhei Shibue, featuring performances by J pop icons including members of &TEAM, and a theme song by YOASOBI’s Lilas Ikuta.
The Well
marks Oscar nominated documentarian Hubert Davis’s narrative feature debut, a post apocalyptic eco thriller about families protecting water sources in a world ravaged by environmental collapse and deadly viruses. With Sheila McCarthy (Women Talking) as a steely matriarch, this promises timely environmental horror.
Why Fantasia 2025 Is Already Essential Viewing
This first wave announcement carries the electric energy that made previous years so memorable, but with a maturity and scope that suggests the festival is entering a new phase of its evolution. The blend of established filmmakers taking creative risks (Terrestrial), breakthrough directorial debuts (I Live Here Now), returning festival favorites (Mother of Flies), historic cinema milestones (I Am Frankelda), and international genre innovations (Chao, The Woman) creates the perfect storm of established craft meeting experimental boldness.
The international representation is particularly strong this year, with groundbreaking animation from Mexico and Japan, psychological thrillers from Korea, and horror innovations from Canada and the United States. This isn’t just a festival lineup, it’s a snapshot of where genre cinema is heading in 2025.
Fantasia Fest 2025 Summary
For a review of INFLUENCER, we’ve got you covered. For more informaiton direct from the Festival, keep your eyes on the official website.
