By Eric Ortiz
The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
Sundance selection Saccharine (2026) is now heading to cinemas in the U.S. on May 22. The new flick from Natalie Erika James (Relic, Apartment 7A) stars Midori Francis as Hana, “a lovelorn medical student” who “becomes terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.” Watch here its official trailer.
Festivals
The Cannes Film Festival announced the late additions to its 2026 Official Selection, and among them there’s a genre film titled Victorian Psycho (2026), which follows “an eccentric governess (Maika Monroe),” as she “arrives at a remote gothic manor, where strange happenings stir suspicion that she’s not what she seems.” Victorian Psycho is part of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; it’ll hit U.S. theaters on September 25.
This is the lineup for the Fantastic 7 showcase at the 2026 Marché du Film: Dead Ground (Marta Medina del Valle, Spain), Last Mankind (Huh Gun, South Korea), Rock, Paper, Sea (Randa Ali, Egypt), Metalheads vs the Witnesses (Wicho Rivera and Cabe Tejeda, Mexico), The Veil (Gabriel Motta, Brazil), The Coward at Kettle Creek (Noah Stratton-Twine and Jake Kuhn, USA), and Ting (Maximilien Dejoie, Italy, UK). The showcase is scheduled for May 17 (12:00 hrs., Palais K, Palais des Festivals).
Pascal Schuh’s Interior (2025) was named Best Film (International Competition) at the 22nd Fantaspoa (April 8-26). Alper Kul was recognized as Best Actor (International Competition) for his work in Can Evrenol’s The Turkish Coffee Table (Cam Sehpa, 2025). In the Ibero-American Competition, awards were handed to movies like Alberto Sciamma’s Cielo (Best Film, Best Actor – Fernando Arze Echalar –) and Paul Urkijo Alijo’s Gaua (Best Screenplay). Gaua also earned the Méliès d’Argent for Best Fantastic Feature.
Hidari (Masashi Kawamura), Bataille (Vergine Keaton), Dog My Cats! (Alain Gagnol), Wasted Chef (Takayuki Hirao), and Insectario (Sofía Carrillo) are the works-in-progress that will be spotlighted at the 2026 Annecy Animation Showcase, happening within the Marché du Film on May 17 (10:00 hrs., Palais K, Palais des Festivals).
The 44th edition of the Brussels International Film Festival (BIFFF) took place from April 3 to 18. Never After Dark (2026) won the Golden Raven (International Competition), while Nightborn (Yön Lapsi, 2026) got the Silver Méliès (European Competition). Other award-winning films were You Are the Film (White Raven Competition, Audience Award) and Marama (Emerging Raven Competition).