{"id":4189,"date":"2026-07-14T18:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4189"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:08:08","slug":"frontieres-2026-lineup-and-highlights-from-a-zombie-wedding-to-thai-folk-horror-noir-and-a-half-body-filipino-vampire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4189","title":{"rendered":"Fronti\u00e8res 2026: Lineup and Highlights from a Zombie Wedding to Thai Folk Horror Noir and a Half-Body Filipino Vampire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThailand\u2019s supernatural folk horror \u201cCher,\u201d romantic zombie comedy \u201cCold Feet\u201d and \u201cThird Wheel,\u201d a bridal party-set psychological thriller look like potential wild rides among projects at this year\u2019s Fronti\u00e8res genre pic Co-Production Market, packing one of its highest caliber lineups ever.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Christopher Nolan Fans Will Stop at Nothing to See \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 in Imax 70mm, From Cross-Country Trips to Delaying Pregnancy<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThey are joined by other potential standouts such as \u201cMy Missing Half,\u201d headed by a half-bodied Filipino vampire, and the return of multi-prized Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban and Swiss-American doc maker Alexandre O. Philippe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMany more titles also look enticing. Meanwhile, Fronti\u00e8res submissions have climbed to an all-time record of 136 for the Market and 58 for its Shorts to Features strand. Fronti\u00e8res Platform has run for years at Cannes, selling out in 2026.\u00a0 Among festivals, Berlin, TIFF and Tokyo\u2019s Tiffcom are all adding Fronti\u00e8res project showcases this year. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis strength and strength in depth is a sign of the times, argues Fronti\u00e8res executive director Annick Mahnert.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty extraordinary year for genre, to be honest,\u201d Mahnert says. \u201cA little film, \u2018Obsession,\u2019 suddenly makes millions at the box office, and \u2018Undertone\u201d acquired by A24 last year out of Fantasia, became another success story.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cStudios are starting to realize that a movie doesn\u2019t need to have a studio budget to become a crowd pleaser,\u201d she adds. \u201cI have Searchlight and Focus Features coming to Fronti\u00e8res. I never had these types of studios before. And five genre films won Oscars and the Berlinale and Cannes screened multiple genre films across all sections.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo Fronti\u00e8res is \u201cgoing back to basics,\u201d Mahnert says, focusing on \u201cthe new generation of filmmakers. We\u2019re looking for these little gems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t10 of the 20 projects in Fantasia-Fronti\u00e8res\u2019 official selection this year are first features.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever small, titles can still come loaded with stars or prizes. \u201cCher\u201d packs a powerful Thai star punch of Mim Rattanawadee Wongthong, who broke out in hit horror franchise \u201cDeath Whisperer,\u201d plus Pae Arak and Weir Sukollawat, stars of box office smash \u201c\u201c4 Tigers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAlready a buzz project in the build up to Fronti\u00e9res, \u201cMy Missing Half\u201d is now a big winner at South Korea\u2019s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), scoring its Asian Discovery Award and the Badclay VFX Innovation Award on July 9.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy Missing Half\u201d leads an ever stronger Asian presence at Fronti\u00e8res. \u201cAs the world is opening up now and opportunities are opening, more and more countries are looking for either investors or co-producers outside of Asia,\u201d says Mahnert.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, and suddenly it seems, multiple titles\u2019 creators or producers have already won recognition, often in more traditional spheres. \u201cEchoes\u201d is executive produced by Kath Shelper whose \u201cSamson and Delilah\u201d won Cannes Camera d\u2019Or for best first feature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt Takes a Circus,\u201d from Zoe Rameshu, director of \u201cThird Wheel,\u201d was nominated for the 48th Academy Awards. Her \u201cTo the Plate\u201d was shortlisted for a student BAFTA. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy Missing Half\u201d is produced by the Philippines\u2019 This Side Up which scooped a Sundance Special Jury Prize with \u201cLeonor Will Never Die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Great Canada Day Massacre\u201d marks Elza Klephart\u2019s follow-up to \u201cSlaxx,\u201d which premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature and became Shudder\u2019s No. 3 best ranked film of 2021.<\/p>\n

\n\tCalabrian Rhode, behind \u201cRing Leader\u201d at Fronti\u00e8res, produced Netflix Original romantic comedy \u201cThe Royal Treatment,\u201d which bowed No. 1 worldwide on the streaming service in Jan. 2022.<\/p>\n

\n\tHorror has even become part of soft power. \u201cTrue horror reveals the heart of a culture, and as part of the new generation of storytellers in Asia, we are proud to empower Thai filmmakers to bring our local folklore onto the world\u2019s cinematic stages,\u201d\u00a0says \u201cCher\u201d producer Hans Audric Estialbo, CEO of Fearfolks, also the film\u2019s sales agent.<\/p>\n

\n\tA closer look at titles at this year\u2019s Fronti\u00e8res Co-Production Market:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAny Means Necessary\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: George Mihalka<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Cream Productions<\/p>\n

\n\tThe U.S. had Roger Corman, Canada has had, among others, Cin\u00e9pix. \u201cAny Means Necessary\u201d pays tribute, directed by Mihalka, who helmed its classic My Blood Valentine. Promising interviews with Eli Roth and Slash, the premium doc feature explores how Cin\u00e9pix launched careers \u2013 Cronenberg, Ivan Reitman, battled censorship, sparked boffo box office with its erotica and broadened the boundaries of genre. \u201c\u2018Any Means Necessary\u2019 is our opportunity to celebrate the films that changed genre cinema and the fearless visionaries who made them possible,\u201d says creator-producer Susan Curran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAurora Comes Home\u201d <\/strong>(Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Gloria Mercer<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Pink Buffalo Films<\/p>\n

\n\tProduced by Vancouver\u2019s Pink Buffalo and set in rural Northern Canada where a family unravels after the sudden, mysterious disappearance of their daughter. An eerily familiar woman arrives 18 months later. \u201cA tense, intimate take on the alien abduction story\u201d which \u201cmarries science fiction spectacle and grounded character drama to tell the story of a woman who faces immeasurable loss and finds the courage to move forward,\u201d Mercer says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cBirth,\u201d <\/strong>(Estonia)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Oskar Lehemaa<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Stellar Film\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe live action feature debut of animation star Oskar Lehemaa, selected for Sundance with \u201cBad Hair\u201d and a Fantasia winner for \u201cThe Old Man Movie.\u201d Edson Jean, behind \u201cSea Sprits, directed social realist \u201cLudi,\u201dwhich world premiered at SXSW.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom Stellar Film, behind Lehemaa\u2019s 2020 Sundance-selected \u201cBad Hair\u201d and G\u00f6teborg 2024 standout \u201cThe Missile. Desperate to have a child, a couple travels to a fertility rite deep in the Estonian forest \u2013 only to realize they\u2019ve been lured there to be sacrificed. A film that \u201cmerges the unsettling power of body horror with the intimacy of a relationship drama,\u201d says producer Evelin Pentill\u00e1 at Stellar.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cCher,\u201d<\/strong> (Thailand)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Songsak Mongkolthong<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Benetone Films, Fearfolks<\/p>\n

\n\tCop Jade investigates a vine-covered corpse near a remote mining camp encroaching sacred forestland, clashing with estranged brother Joe. As rumours build of a vengeful Thai forest spirit a mysterious young woman appears. One of Fronti\u00e8res\u2019 buzz titles, helmed by Mongkolthong (\u201cSchool Tales The Series\u201d), from Benetone (\u201cPerfect Girl\u201d) and Fearfolks, distributor in Thailand of A24\u2019s \u201cBackrooms\u201d and Neon\u2019s \u201cHokum,2 and from a screenplay by Patrick Graham, the writer behind Netflix\u2019s Indian horror series \u201cGhoul\u201d and \u201cBetaal.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cCold Feet,\u201d <\/strong>(Czech Republic, France, Poland, India)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Apoorva Satish<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Off Beat Films (Czech Republic) Telemark (Poland), Ici et L\u00e0 Productions (France), La Sutra Pictures (India)<\/p>\n

\n\tAt their Czech\u2013Indian wedding, Jacob and Mia\u2019s tradition-hungry guests unexpectedly begin transforming into flesh-eating monsters. To make it out alive, the couple must keep choosing each other, even as everyone tries to tear them apart, literally. \u201cAt its heart [\u201cCold Feet\u201d] is an interracial couple reclaiming their relationship from everyone convinced they know what their love should look like,\u201d Satish tells Variety<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cDelivery\u201d <\/strong>(Mexico)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector:\u00a0 Isaac Ezban<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Red Elephant Films, Sin Sentido Films<\/p>\n

\n\tThe latest from multi-prized Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban (\u201cThe Incident,\u201d \u201cThe Similars,\u201d \u201cParvulos\u201d), a time travel sci-fi road movie and \u201cmy most personal project yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA lonely trucker meets an abandoned girl in a border town. Fate, or something more sinister, will set them on an unexpected road trip, with devastating consequences. \u201cMy most personal project yet. A story about the contrasts of our existence\u2026the borders we create in our relationships\u2026and the one theme that has always that has always defined my work: the passage of time,\u201d Ezban tells Variety<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cGrandmonster\u201d<\/strong> (\u201cBestemorder,\u201d Norway)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Vegard Dahle<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Syden Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhile trying to save her grandmother from dementia, an American dropout triggers a zombie outbreak at a remote Norwegian nursing home. \u201cThe scariest part of \u2018Grandmonster\u2019 isn\u2019t the zombies, it\u2019s watching someone you love gradually disappear. We use zombie horror as a metaphor for dementia, and as a vehicle for satire about a healthcare system that treats the elderly as a liability rather than a legacy,\u201d says Dahle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Big Break\u2019: In This Meta Horror Comedy, a Real-Life Sketch Group Pursues Fame and Dodges a Killer<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tA Sitges 2025 FanPitch winner.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Great Canada Day Massacre,\u201d <\/strong>(Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Elsa Kephart<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: GPA Films<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGory and entertaining\u201d but also \u201cdeeply political,\u201d says Kephart. Becca, a fierce climate activist, returns to her hometown, uncovering a secret deal to sell the protected Conservancy Forest and a string of gruesomely patriotic murders targeting those involved. What sets \u201cMassacre\u201d apart? \u201cHilariously gruesome deaths by iconic Canadian objects! Think about the damage moose antlers or a 20kg curling stone can do!\u201d Klephart argues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cGro(ceries)\u201d <\/strong>(U.K.)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Sophie King<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Five by Five Films<\/p>\n

\n\tHeadedand co-writtenby \u201cSex Education\u201d star Chinenye Ezeudu-Sterling, and billed as a dark horror comedy and a \u201cbold vision that reinvents vampire mythology through a distinctly contemporary lens,\u201d say producers Rosanna Eden-Ellis and Catherine Joy White. Gro, raised by vampires, discovers she\u2019s something far worse: human, since adopted. Her desperate attempt to transform and be like her family unleashes a blood-soaked reckoning over who she really is.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Fall,\u201d<\/strong> (U.S., France)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Alexandre O. Philippe<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Medianoche Productions (U.S.),\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the final seconds of Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s \u2018Vertigo\u2019, Judy falls to her death, but Hitchcock never shows us how, keeping his camera locked on a 57-frame close-up of Scottie\u2019s face. \u201c\u2018The Fall\u2019 is a forensic investigation into cinema\u2019s most elusive image: the missing moment at the heart of Hitchcock\u2019s greatest mystery.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not trying to solve the riddle at the end of Vertigo, I want to inhabit it, and to follow what happens when some of the greatest filmmakers alive stare into an image that refuses to resolve,\u201d says O\u2019Philippe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHumpty: American Dream,\u201d <\/strong>(U.S., Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: With Pleasure Cinemagroup (U.S.), Ghoul Nexus (Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tAn off-kilter biopic spoof with eye-catching concept art. To save his kidnapped wizard father, Humpty leaves his enchanted forest for the plague-ridden\u00a0Kingdom of Orange County, sees a meteoric rise in popularity but internal existential crisis. \u201cThough unlike Bruce Springteen, Mark Kerr and J. Robert Oppenheimer, Humpty is an alcoholic egg with no genitals. It\u2019s like if Tinto Brass directed \u2018Shrek,\u2019\u201d its directors say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cInjured Reserve,\u201d<\/strong> (Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Tyler Mckenzie Evans<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Area V5 Pictures and Still Good Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tTeresa is an 18-year-old Black basketball prodigy, raised on the court by Darius, her coach and single father. Basketball is their only language and Teresa\u2019s only identity. Then a mysterious new player and a career-threatening injury sidelines Teresa. \u201cAt the heart of \u2018Injured Reserve,\u2019 is a universal fear: What happens when the one thing that defines you is suddenly taken away?\u2019 ask its filmmakers Mckenzie Evans, Malachi Ellis and Claire Desmarais.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Mire,<\/strong>\u201d (\u201cSuonsilm\u00e4, Finland)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Marika Harjusaari<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Silva Mysterium Oy (Finland), Hobab (Sweden), Handmade Films in Norwegian Woods (Norway), Mistrus Media (Latvia)<\/p>\n

\n\tWritten by Ilona Ahti, the scribe on Alli Haapasalo\u2019s 2022 Sundance Audience Award winner \u201cGirl Picture,\u201d and produced by Silva Mysterium Oy, behind Sundance and sales hit \u201cHatching.\u201d In a remote Finnish 19th century village, milkmaid Iiris leaves unwanted newborns to die in a nearby swamp until, torn between old-world ritual and newfound faith, when a forward-looking pastor arrives, she finally rebels. \u201cI think communities often survive by deciding who will carry what everyone else cannot\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the Mire asks what happens when that person can no longer carry it,\u201d says Harjusaari.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cMy Missing Half,\u201d <\/strong>(Philippines, Japan)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Rodiell Veloso<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: This Side Up<\/p>\n

\n\tBoldly genre bending Philippine folk horror as a manananggal \u2013 a Philippine vampire who can disengage from its lower half \u2013 becomes the heroine of a darkly comedic horror movie alongside other misfits. \u201cWhile embracing outrageous humor and supernatural adventure, the film explores universal themes of identity, body image, shame, self-acceptance, and belonging,\u201d the filmmakers said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cRing Leader,\u201d<\/strong> (U.S., Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Jason Lapeyre<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Calabrian Rhode (U.S:), Osaka Sunset Pictures (Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tA codependent and unstable bridesmaid attends her best friend\u2019s remote bachelorette party only to find herself in a claustrophobic social death match where toxic friendship and bridal performance devolve into carnage. \u201c\u2018Ring Leader\u2019 will be a wildly entertaining horror-comedy that cuts to the heart of the vicious power dynamic between female friends and the cultish roots of wedding rituals. It\u2019s \u2018Bridesmaids\u2019 meets \u2018Ready or Not\u2019 and we\u2019re out for blood,\u201d promises Lapeyre.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThey,\u201d <\/strong>(U.K.)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Faye Jackson<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: True Moon Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter renting a room to a conspiracy theorist, a skeptical gardener begins to fear he might be right as the dead colonize her home, demanding her submission to an ancient cult. \u201c\u2018They\u2019 sidesteps the politics of conspiracy theories to examine the underlying fear. What if it\u2019s not only true, but worse than you can possibly imagine? They are watching you. They do want to control you. The algorithm is ancient,\u201d says writer-director Jackson of \u201cThey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThird Wheel,<\/strong>\u201d (South Africa, the Netherlands)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Zoe Ramushu\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: (PRPL, Totem Zea)<\/p>\n

\n\tAt her white adoptive family\u2019s estate, Thina (26), a Black surgeon straddling two worlds, prepares for her wedding with a woke Black fianc\u00e9 and her white adoptive sister \u2013 her best friend. But at a boozy weekend devotion twists into possession. A wedding is \u201cthe day you\u2019re supposed to publicly declare who you are and who you belong to\u2026 and that can become a nightmare. Literally,\u201d Zamushu tells Variety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cViolent Delights\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Jack Warren<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Cellar Door Cinema Club<\/p>\n

\n\tA trans boy and a cannibal girl fall in love, then fight for survival against her homicidal family. From New York, L.A. and Dublin-based Cellar Door, \u201cfilled with cannibal kills conceived to impress the most hardened gore fiends, the film forefronts character while telling a terrifying love story about the dangerous thrill of being consumed by desire,\u201d says Warren.<\/p>\n

\nShorts to Features<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\u201cEchoes,\u201d <\/strong>(Australia)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Gemma Lee\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Magic Hour<\/p>\n

\n\tA neural engineer trapped inside a time loop of his own creation races to save his dying wife before every memory of her is erased forever. \u201c\u2018Echoes\u2019 asks how far we would go to hold onto the person we love, knowing we must eventually let them go. It explores love not as idealised devotion, but as something raw, imperfect and profoundly human,\u201d Lee tells Variety<\/em>. Currently financing attached as exec producer with a proof of concept short.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cEternal Valley,\u201d<\/strong> (U.K.)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Jasmine De Silva<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Runner Up Films<\/p>\n

\n\tA darkly comedic body horror pic from De Silva, a makeover of proof-of-concept \u201cBeauty Sleep,\u201d described by Rue Morgue as \u201cbiting and hilarious.\u201d When the first place beauty queen commits suicide, her best friend, in order to win the pageant, starts to wear the dead friend\u2019s face. \u201cSet in a sugar coated yet sinister and retro-futuristic world, \u2018Eternal Valley\u2019 amplifies that there always has been, and always will be, an unattainable beauty standard to chase,\u201d says De Silva.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cNoodles, Our Love Was Instant and Forever,\u201d<\/strong> (Philippines)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Whammy Alczaren\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Daluyong Studios<\/p>\n

\n\tAs climate doom looms and reality becomes nightmare fantasy, a chaotic circle of queer teenage boys plan for a cosmic future laced with aliens, ghosts, and immaculate conceptions. \u201cInternet culture\u00a0 \u2013 brainrot, vines, and Tik-tok \u2014 will marry traditional\u00a0 techniques such as rear projection, practical effects, and tableau staging,\u201d promises Alczaren. \u201cThe film is a cinematic love letter to resilience, queer joy, and the small acts of care that persist amid collapse,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cReset,\u201d<\/strong> (U.S.)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Celine Tien, Jerry Hsu<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: SPL Max Productions\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom Tien, founder of Flowly, an NIH-backed VR healthtech company, and Hsu, a Yale computer science student. In a near-future where the elderly are physically reset into children to remain economically useful, a young woman becomes the reluctant caretaker of her newly reset mother. \u201cHaving built careers across AI, healthcare, and film, we set that story in a near future shaped by automation because we\u2019ve seen these systems from the inside,\u201d say Tien and Hsu.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSea Spirits,\u201d<\/strong> (\u201cLespri Lanm\u00e8,\u201d U.S., Jamaica)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Edson Jean<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Bantufy, Full Spectrum<\/p>\n

\n\tDescribed as Gothic folk horror, \u201cSea Sprits\u201d turns on a guilt-ridden mother living amid social and political upheaval, who\u00a0 haunted by her daughter lost at sea refuses to leave the country\u00a0 so as to search for her ghost. \u201cWith Sea Spirits, we return the zombie to its Haitian spiritual origins through motherhood, migration, and the horrors history leaves behind,\u201d Jean tells Variety<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cXX,\u201d<\/strong> (Netherlands)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Nina No\u00ebl Raaijmakers<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Make Way Film<\/p>\n

\n\tUp-and-coming scream queen Roxy undergoes an unauthorized uterus transplant after a freak accident on a B-horror film set. But the uterus begins to rot on the misogynistic film set, taking on a life of its own. A visceral body horror with grounded practical effects, which pictures Roxy trapped between \u201cthe exploitative film industry and the paternalistic medical system,\u201d From Monique van Kessel\u2019s Dutch genre mainstay Make Way Film, \u201cXX\u201d scored a Sitges WomanInFan\u00a0 Special Mention in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cYou Were Never Here,\u201d<\/strong> (Austria, Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Johannes Grenzfurthner<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Monochrom (Austria), Sunsmasher, Ghoul Nexus (Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a remote research facility, people from across human history briefly materialize every four minutes and 56 seconds \u2013 bamboozling scientists and officials. \u201cThe film combines hard science\u00a0fiction, institutional absurdity and existential\u00a0dread, but it is ultimately about people trapped\u00a0inside a system that can measure almost everything except its own meaning,\u201d says Johannes Grenzfurthner.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\nGenre Film Lab<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\u201cLoup-Garou,\u201d <\/strong>(Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Nathalie Therriault<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Latchkey Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom Therriault and her Vancouver-based Latchkey Pictures, a \u201cfresh, deeply personal take on a classic myth, blending historical authenticity with emotional realism,\u201d says Therrialt, talking of the loup-garou, the French version of the werewolf.\u00a0 In this folk horror, set in 1917 rural Qu\u00e9bec, during the sacred season of Lent, two farmers\u2019 wives navigate their long-hidden love as the community spirals into hysteria over a loup-garou killing sinful men.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSevered,\u201d<\/strong> (Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Lauren Marsden<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Ecstatic Time Productions<\/p>\n

\n\tVisiting her extended family in a Caribbean village, a biracial teenager discovers a severed colonial statue head that curses the community with unrelenting sickness, forcing her to confront the island\u2019s haunted past before it destroys everything she loves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe horror unfolds amidst bubbling mud volcanos, chaotic night markets, pulsing island rhythms, and the ever-present hypnotic dread of the sea,\u201d Marsden promises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cStacy\u2019s Mom,\u201d <\/strong>(Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Marushka Jessica Almeida<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Cult Following Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tRepressed teenager Yoko discovers that the hot MILF who\u2019s just moved in next door is actually a soul-sucking succubus, pushing her to navigate a budding romance with Stacy and save herself and her father\u2019s soul. Selected for the QueerFrames 2025 Screenwriting Lab Presented by Netflix and \u201cangry, erotic and gay AF,\u201d says Almeida. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTo the North,\u201d <\/strong>(Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Jean Parsons<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: Ceroma<\/p>\n

\n\tFrancine, an isolated homesteader, lives trapped in a dead marriage. Suddenly her partner goes missing and she finds a strange man unconscious in the woods, who unleashes repressed desires \u2013 and a growing fear that her new lover might be her husband\u2019s killer.\u00a0\u201cSet in the forbidding grandeur of the subarctic Yukon,\u00a0\u201cTo The North\u201d\u00a0is about sex, nature, the messiness of desire, and how humans often pursue the things they want against all better judgment,\u201d Parsons tells Variety<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWifey,\u201d <\/strong>(Canada)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector: Cassidy Civiero<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer: True Sweetheart Films<\/p>\n

\n\tSet up at Montreal\u2019s True Sweetheart, behind fest hit \u201cThe Rebrand,\u201d \u201cWifey\u201d turns on Mara, on the cusp of transitioning female-to-male, who is seduced by a rural f*ckboy, Jack. A seemingly harmless fling turns sinister\u2026. \u201c\u2018Wifey\u2019 is a manifestation of the surreal shift that can come with transitioning FTM, and is part of the next wave of trans cinema,\u201d Civiero tells Variety<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read more Fronti\u00e8res Juicy Vampire Comedy \u2018Gro(ceries,\u2019 Starring and Co-Written by \u2018Sex Education\u2019s\u2019 Chinenye Ezeudu-Sterling, Adds French Co-Production Partners (EXCLUSIVE)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much of the carefully curated, high-caliber lineup focuses on a new generation of genre filmmakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3403,889,505,3404],"class_list":["post-4189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-alexandre-o-philippe","tag-fantasia-film-festival","tag-frontieres","tag-isaac-ezban-2"],"yoast_head":"\nFronti\u00e8res 2026: Lineup and Highlights from a Zombie Wedding to Thai Folk Horror Noir and a Half-Body Filipino Vampire - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4189\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fronti\u00e8res 2026: Lineup and Highlights from a Zombie Wedding to Thai Folk Horror Noir and a Half-Body Filipino Vampire - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Much of the carefully curated, high-caliber lineup focuses on a new generation of genre filmmakers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4189\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T18:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"16 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=4189#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=4189\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"headline\":\"Fronti\u00e8res 2026: Lineup and Highlights from a Zombie Wedding to Thai Folk Horror Noir and a Half-Body Filipino Vampire\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T18:08:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=4189\"},\"wordCount\":3295,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=4189#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/2c1c387fdc91c77325beeb65b28efc02.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Alexandre O. 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