The annual session of the Fantastic 7 initiative took place on Sunday 17 May in the Cannes Palais. The programme, co-organised by the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia and the Cannes Marché du Film, aims to showcase genre projects at various stages of development, and help filmmakers connect with other creatives, producers and sales agents. The seven titles presented at the 2026 rendition featured horror, sci-fi and western flicks from around the world. 

Before the presentations began, the audience was treated to a video from genre master Takashi Miike, the director of horror and crime classics such as Audition and Ichi the Killer. Miike reminisced about starting his directing career 36 years ago, when he volunteered to step in for an absent director. Despite becoming known for his genre movies, Miike confessed in his video that he does not like to separate out cinema based on genres. He said he lives for all films, and he wants to continue to reinvigorate his approach to his work by collaborating with people with different views and tastes, and by embracing the “terrifying and exciting” new developments in filmmaking.

The presentation then moved on to the seven projects, as detailed below:

Dead Ground - Marta Medina del Valle (Spain, presented by Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia)
Producers: Luis Ferrón, Alejandro Millán
Writer-director Marta Medina del Valle’s feature is anchored in the North-Central region of Spain, where she hails from. It is a folk-horror that follows Hector, a Spanish man who left his small town as a child after his parents died in a car accident, and who now lives in Paris with his pregnant partner. Hector’s work asks him to return to his homeland, where the land is toxic, the factories have been abandoned and most of the people have disappeared. Hector and his partner discover that the nearby data centres have awakened an ancient, malevolent entity that is causing the land and people to suffer. Del Valle said the story “speaks about forgotten stories and memories lost”. LaZona is the production company behind the movie.

Last Mankind - Huh Gun (South Korea, presented by the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival)
Producers: Heo Gyu-beom, Baek Si-won, Kim Dong-min
The film is described as a “one-of-a-kind post-apocalyptic sci-fi”. In a world where toxic pollution has made the Earth inhospitable, a scientist raises a daughter in an isolated bunker. She may be mankind’s last chance, but when an outsider comes into their bunker, she must risk everything to find out the truth of the world and her place in it. The minute-long trailer showcased the film’s blend of live action and animation, with an oil-painting finish. The director said that when he began the project in 2022, he felt that CGI was the best technique to use, but in the years since, he has employed various pieces of AI software to complete his vision. The film has a Loving Vincent feel to it, with its animation replicating moving paintings.

Rock, Paper, Sea - Randa Ali (Egypt/Greece, presented by the Cairo International Film Festival)
Producer: Norah Eikhateeb
Presented by Mohamed Sayed, head of Industry for the Cairo International Film Festival, writer-director Randa Ali and Cats Films producer Norah Eikhateeb, Rock, Paper, Sea is a deeply personal work for the filmmakers. The movie follows a young girl growing up in early-2000s Mediterranean Egypt, whose father must travel to Kuwait for arduous manual labour. When she is told that her dad won’t be returning, she takes it upon herself to solve the mystery and reunite with him before the summer’s end. The movie is currently in late development, and the filmmakers have received grants from the Cairo Film Festival and the Doha Film Festival. It is a Greek co-production, and the team aims to maintain the Mediterranean fingerprint by partnering with France or other countries from that region.

Metalheads vs the Witnesses - Wicho Rivera, Cabe Tejeda (Mexico, presented by the Guadalajara International Film Festival)
Producer: Hiram Chaparro
A particularly energetic presentation came from Mexico, with co-directors and writers Wicho Rivera and Cabe Tejeda dressed as Jehovah’s Witnesses. Produced by Hiram Chaparro, of Ozados Films SA, Metalheads vs the Witnesses promises to be a horror-comedy mix of Superbad and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It follows a group of misfit friends in a metal band who travel to the Mexican desert to shoot a music video, but stumble upon the land of a nefarious cult and witness them performing a human sacrifice. A trailer showed a low-budget but bombastic and high-energy montage of rock ‘n’ roll chaos. The team are seeking investors, co-producers, sales agents and festival programmers.

The Veil - Gabriel Motta (Brazil, presented by the Hong Kong International Film Festival)
Producer: Aletéia Selonk
Based on Motta’s short film of the same name that premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, The Veil follows a family that performs faked possessions for money. Son Junior hides his sexuality from his abusive father, but when a man kills himself in front of his sister Rebecca, the family must face a real-life demon for the first time. The trailer promises an A24, Ari Aster-esque possession horror tied down by its themes of family toxicity. The team is looking for sales agents and creative partners.

Ting - Maximilien Dejoie (Italy/UK, presented by the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival)
Producers: Roberto Cavallini, Wilfried Gufler, Mattia Puleo, James Heath
Presented by the Midnight Shivers section of Tallinn Black Nights, Ting appears to be a spiritual successor to Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. Set in November 1918 in Italy, during the brief period when World War I overlapped with the outbreak of Spanish flu, a young girl is left orphaned and is sent with her brother to an oppressive institution. She starts to see a creature called Ting and mistakes him for a friend; however, the entity is anything but. The trailer for this mixture of dark fantasy and historical fiction shows a film indebted to the work of del Toro. The production companies involved are Albolina Film, Cinefonie and Randan, and the team is seeking sales agents, distributors and creative partners. 

The Coward at Kettle Creek - Noah Stratton-Twine, Jake Kuhn (USA, presented by the SXSW Film & TV Festival)
Producer: Right-Off Films
The final movie was presented by SXSW senior programmer Peter Hall with a video message from British co-directors and co-writers Noah Stratton-Twine and Jake Kuhn, who could not make it to Cannes. The duo’s last movie, The Peril at Pincer Point, won SXSW’s NEON Auteur Award. Their latest project, The Coward at Kettle Creek, seeks to mock and revitalise the western genre in a story that appears to be a mix of the Coen brothers and Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West. When a local coward challenges the terrifying outlaw who is tormenting his small western town while out of his mind drunk, he is forced to muster up the courage to defend his people and the woman he loves without any of the skill or bravery required. The directors describe it as an “audience first” genre film that takes aim at the western genre and updates it for a modern audience. Stratton-Twine and Kuhn cited Boiling Point and Uncut Gems as inspirations, and want The Coward at Kettle Creek to resonate with modern audiences in its themes of standing up for one’s beliefs.