The Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival is back, and it’s bigger than ever! This year’s festival will take place from April 13 to April 30, 2023, in four theatrical venues in Porto Alegre, Brazil. A portion of the program will also be available online, exclusively for Brazilian viewers.

The festival will open with a special tribute to the 100th anniversary of Wallace Worsley’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, featuring an all-new soundtrack by Argentinian guitar virtuoso Germán Suane. The closing night film will be the world premiere of Konstantinos Koutsoliotas’ Lovecraftian monster musical craziness Minore.

This year’s Career Achievement Award recipient is prolific American filmmaker Mark L. Lester, who will attend the festival to screen three of his classics: Commando, Class of 1984, and Showdown in Little Tokyo.

Confirmed in-person guests at this year’s Fantaspoa include a talented lineup of filmmakers, actors, and producers from around the world. From Ted Geoghegan to Richard Elfman, this year’s guests will be sure to bring their unique perspectives to the festival.

With over 800 entries received, the Fantaspoa program becomes harder and harder to lock every year. This year’s program boasts 40 feature films, including three world premieres, four international premieres, 27 Latin American premieres, and three Brazilian premieres. These films come from 25 countries and have played at some of the most prestigious festivals worldwide.

The stunning poster for this year’s festival, featuring art inspired by 1920s Expressionist films and the inky illustrations of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” was created by filmmaker Elizabeth Schuch. In her words, “We’ve been hidden away from the world, little solitary figures, and now we join together again to celebrate the joy of fantasy and imagination.”

If you’re a fan of fantasy and imagination, the Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival is the place to be in April 2023!

Below are the first 40 feature films to be announced for the 2023 edition of Fantaspoa.

ABRUPTIO (d. Evan Marlowe. 2023, United States // Latin American Premiere)

AMAZING ELISA (d. Sadrac González-Perellón. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)

ANA’S FAREWELL (d. Luciana Mazeto, Vinícius Lopes. 2022, Brazil // Regional Premiere)

BAD CITY (d. Kensuke Sonomura. 2022, Japan // Latin American Premiere)

BALLAD OF PIARGY (d. Ivo Trajkov. 2022, Slovakia, North Macedonia and Czech Republic // Latin American Premiere)

THE BASEMENT OF SCREAM STREET (d. Sabrina Greve. 2022, Brazil // Regional Premiere)

THE BEASTS (d. Rodrigo Sorogoyen. 2022, Spain // Regional Premiere)

THE BLACK SPIDER (d. Markus Fischer. 2022, Switzerland // Latin American Premiere)

BLOODY BRIDGET (d. Richard Elfman. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)

BROOKLYN 45 (d. Ted Geoghegan. 2023, United States // International Premiere)

THE COFFEE TABLE (d. Caye Casas. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)

THE ELDERLY (d. Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)

FIST OF THE CONDOR (d. Ernesto Díaz Espinoza. 2023, Chile // Latin American Premiere)

FIXATION (d. Mercedes Bryce Morgan. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)

FORBIDDEN WORLD (d. Alê Camargo and Camila Carrossine; 2022, Brazil // Regional Premiere)

HALFWAY HOME (d. Isti Madarász. 2022, Hungary // International Premiere)

HOME OWNERS (d. Pablo Aragüés. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (d. Mike Cheslik. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)

IRATI (d. Paul Urkijo Alijo. 2022, Spain, France // Latin American Premiere)

KICK ME (d. Gary Huggins. 2022, United States // International Premiere)

A LIFE ON THE FARM (d. Oscar Harding. 2022, United Kingdom // Brazilian Premiere)

LINOLEUM (d. Colin West. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)

MELTDOWN: A NUCLEAR FAMILY’S ASCENSION INTO MADNESS (d. Colton Van Til. 2023, United States // World Premiere)

MINORE (d. Konstantinos Koutsoliotas, 2023, Greece // World Premiere)

MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE (d. Michael Lukk Litwak. 2023, United States // International Premiere)

MOON GARDEN (d. Ryan Stevens Harris. 2022, United States // National Premiere)

MY GRANDFATHER’S DEMONS (d. Nuno Beato. 2022, Portugal // Latin American Premiere)

NEXT EXIT (d. Mali Elfman. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE FUTURE: 2121 (d. Serpil Altin. 2022, Turkey // Latin American Premiere)

ONE PERCENTER (d. Yûdai Yamaguchi. 2022, Japan // Latin American Premiere)

ORPHEA IN LOVE (d. Axel Ranisch. 2022, Germany // Latin American Premiere)

ROTTEN FLOWERS (d. Kasper Juhl. 2022, Denmark // Latin American Premiere)

SAFE SPACE (d. Stefan Kubicki. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)

SIREN (d. Junyong Ahn. 2022, Brazil // Latin American Premiere)

SOFT & QUIET (d. Beth de Araújo. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)

TOBACCO BARNS (d. Rocío Mesa. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)

VESPER (d. Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper. 2022, France, Lithuania, and Belgium // Latin American Premiere)

VIRUS-32 (d. Gustavo Hernández. 2022, Uruguay and Argentina // Brazilian Premiere)

WE ARE STILL HERE (d. Chantelle Burgoyne, Beck Cole, Dena Curtis, Richard Curtis, Mario Gaoa, Danielle MacLean, Miki Magasiva, Renae Maihi, Tracey Rigney, and Tim Worrall. 2022, Australia and New Zealand // Latin American Premiere)

WITCH GAME (d. Fabián Forte. 2023, Argentina // World Premiere)