Top 100 Horror & Fantasy Film Festivals + Submission Tips [October 2019 Update]

Check out also the newly updated Top 100 International Film Festivals + Submission Tips

Adrian Țofei, January 2015

Latest Update: October 2019

(for new updates, follow my Facebook page & select to get notified for all new posts)

While researching film festivals to submit my movie Be My Cat: A Film for Anne, I decided to make a public list to be useful to fellow filmmakers as well. It’s now reaching almost 1,000 monthly visitors on average. I am constantly researching festivals and updating the list, taking into consideration over 20 other lists (see below), the opportunities the festivals offer to indie films/filmmakers/actors (distribution offers, publicity, networking, awards, attracting reviews in relevant publications and selections/invitations to new festivals, discovering new talents, boosting the chances for getting new projects), the number of years running, their status in the film industry, the location, communication, hospitality, atmosphere and safety, how they make the selected/attending filmmakers feel, the size (the number of films selected and the number of audience, press and film industry members attending), the quality of the selected films, the quality of the information on their websites and social media, the number of Facebook likes and Twitter followers, the entry fee, submission process and selection process, plus my own experiences with my movie Be My Cat: A Film for Anne and other various recommendations.

I’ve recently added ratings from 1 to 5 stars to each feature film festival, which focus less on the quality of the festivals or how good the attending filmmakers feel (for that you have the ratings on FilmFreeway), and more on the chance the selected feature films have at getting good distribution offers, reviews in relevant publications and selections/invitations to other festivals:

5 stars – extremely important festival – selected feature films have a high chance of getting good distribution offers, reviews in top publications and selections/invitations to other top festivals
4 stars – very important festival – selected feature films have a good chance of getting good distribution offers, reviews in top publications and selections/invitations to other top festivals
3 stars – important festival – selected feature films have a small chance of getting good distribution offers, reviews in top publications and selections/invitations to other important festivals, but a good chance of getting average distribution offers, reviews in relevant indie publications and selections/invitations to other smaller festivals
2 stars – festival of smaller importance or new festival on the rise – selected feature films have no chance of getting good distribution offers, reviews in top publications and selections/invitations to important festivals, but a small chance of getting average distribution offers, reviews in relevant indie publications and selections/invitations to other smaller festivals
1 star – irrelevant festival – selected films have no chance of getting distribution offers, reviews or selections/invitations to other festivals

I’ve also added colors to mark the changes at the latest update: colored in red are the new additions to the top, colored in green are the festivals that climbed in the top, and colored in blue are the newly-added reviews.

I only included international genre film festivals with live screenings: horror, fantasy, sci-fi, found footage, underground. For all the festivals, regardless of type, check out my Top 100 International Film Festivals (some have popular sections for genre films). The number of years listed for each festival are counted till the year before the latest update of this top.

Submission Tips for Indie Filmmakers:

Keep your genre feature film below 90 minutes if possible and never above 100 minutes. Festivals are commercially oriented and don’t wanna risk boring their audiences and fade away in popularity.
Keep your genre short film below 10 minutes if possible and never above 15 minutes. Festivals prefer to screen a bigger number of shorter short films instead of a single longer short film.
Some festival programmers won’t watch your feature film entirely and might reject it based on the first 10-20 minutes. Try to have a powerful beginning or one that shows potential for a powerful development and entices the viewer to watch more.
Keep the cover letter very short – about three phrases of essential info if possible. Programmers are very busy and might not read long letters. Same for the film’s synopsis – try to synthesise it in one catchy phrase if possible.
Include in the short cover letter the best things about your movie and yourself, to catch the programmers’ interest, like known actors, past known films of yours, awards and top festivals, anything else unique or sensational about your film.
Ask for fee waivers before submitting. Unfortunately, some festivals view paid submissions mainly as a source of revenue and select/invite most of their films from other sources like contacts, recommendations, other festivals, sales agents etc. Write to festivals, mention the top attributes of your film and yourself (exemplified above), send them the trailer/teaser and ask if they could offer you a fee waiver. If they refuse, they might be either not interested in your film, or interested but principled. Try to find out which case applies and act accordingly, also considering your submission budget and how much you want that festival.
Don’t fall for partial discount offers received via email, thinking they are personalised and the festival is interested in your film. Most of the times they are not, those are discount codes listed publicly on the submission platform or mass-sent to filmmakers. When a festival is interested in your film, they offer you a 100% discount code or fee waiver. With a few exceptions, the partial discount is just a marketing strategy.
Don’t waste your money on submitting to award events listed on submission platforms. They won’t help you get (more) recognition in the film industry.
But do your online research and submit to major competitions like the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the European Film Awards and other regional or national major film awards not listed here. For a chance at the Oscars, don’t miss the Academy Awards Qualifying Festivals for documentary features, documentary shorts, and short films (including animated shorts), and the 5 festivals known to be top Oscar boosters for feature films (Toronto, Venice, Telluride, Sundance, Cannes).
For feature films, it’s very important to have the world premiere in a big festival. All the selections after the world premiere will be in smaller or similar festivals, never in bigger festivals. Plan carefully your world premiere, don’t settle for a little-known festival if you think your movie can do more than that.
The best festivals to premiere your genre feature film are actually not the ones in this list, but the top 10 general festivals in my Top 100 International Film Festivals list. A lot of them have very powerful and popular sections for genre films.
For short films, the size of the festival for the world premiere has less importance, it’s good to accept all the selections/invitations to relevant festivals, because shorts can build up momentum by going to a lot of smaller festivals before finally being accepted to a big one.
When you get accepted and/or win an award in an important festival, email the other festivals you are waiting a decision from and inform them about your success (but try not to bother them with too many emails).
And finally, if you get into festivals and distributors express interest in your film, don’t accept offers without an advance payment or minimum guarantee (MG). Chances are you will see little to no money later. Always negotiate an advance. Go without an advance only if no other distributor wants your film and that’s your only chance.

Before starting the top 100, here are the lists that helped me make mine, with codes to identify on which lists each festival is mentioned:

Moviemaker’s The World’s 5/10/15 Bloody Best Genre Fests (2017) [MMGe5/10/15]
Moviemaker’s 30 Bloody Best Genre Fests in the World (2018) [MMGe30]
Moviemaker’s Major Horror & Fantasy Film Festivals & Conventions (2016) [co/MMHoFa]
Moviemaker’s 5 Coolest Horror/Sci-Fi Film Fests + nominations (2013) [no/MMHoSF5]
Moviemaker’s 5 Coolest Underground Film Fests + nominations (2013) [no/MMUn5]
Moviemaker’s 13 Horror Film Festivals to Die For (2011) [MMHo13]
Moviemaker’s 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 lists) [MM50]
Moviemaker’s 25 Coolest Film Festivals (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 lists) [MM25]
EFFFF’s Affiliated Festivals (2019) [AfEFFFF]
EFFFF’s Adherent Festivals (2019) [AdEFFFF]
EFFFF’s Supporting Festivals (2019) [SuEFFFF]
EFFFF’s former member festivals [exEFFFF]
Horror Report‘s 3/10/20 Fests with the Most Horror Movies Screened (1996-2016) [HR3/10/20]
Raindance’s 7/20/40 Essential Horror & Fantasy Film Festivals (2013) [RHoFa7/20/40]
Raindance’s Essential 100 Film Festivals (2013) [R100]
Google’s top 50 featured results for Best/Top/Greatest Film Festivals (Oct 2019)[G50]
Google’s top 3/10 featured results for Top/Greatest Genre Film Festivals (Oct 2019) [GGe3/10]
Film Daily’s Indie horror film fests worth screaming about (2018) [FD]
Bitch Flicks’ Women-Led and Women-Centric Horror Film Festivals (2017) [BFWo]
FIAPF’s Competitive Specialised Feature Film Festivals (2018) [FIAPF]
Indiewire’s 100 Leading Film Festivals (2015) [IW100]
91st Academy Awards’ Short Film Qualifying Festivals (2018) [AASh]
FilmFreeway’s Top 5/10/25/50/100 Best Reviewed Festivals (Oct 2019) [FF5/10/25/50/100] (this includes all the film festivals on FilmFreeway with live screenings, and it’s different from their featured Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals, which includes only festivals with open submissions at the moment of accessing the list)

For personalised filmmaking/submission/distribution advices and/or festival lists made specifically for your film project, contact me at adriantofei@yahoo.com

Both “Top 100 International Film Festivals” and “Top 100 Horror & Fantasy Film Festivals” require constant updates and a continuous extensive research. It’s a huge amount of work, I’m doing it all alone and nobody pays me, therefore I need your support to continue:

Top 10 Horror & Fantasy Film Festivals:

Sitges Film Festival / Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantastic de Catalunya – Sitges, Catalonia, Spain, 51 years – RHoFa7, AfEFFFF, R100, FIAPF, MMGe5, MMHoFa, MM25, HR3, MMGe30, AASh, G50, GGe3 – 5 stars
Fantasia International Film Festival – Montreal, Canada, 22 years – RHoFa20, SuEFFFF, R100, IW100, MMGe5, MMHoFa, MM50, MM25, noMMHoSF5, HR3, MMGe30, GGe10 – 4.5 stars
Fantastic Fest – Austin, Texas, US, 14 years – RHoFa20, SuEFFFF, R100, IW100, MMGe5, MMHoFa, MMHoSF5, MM25, HR20, MMGe30, GGe3 – 4 stars
FrightFest – London, UK, 19 years – RHoFa7, exEFFFF, MMGe5, MMHoFa, HR10, MMGe30, FD, GGe10 – 3.5 stars
Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival: BIFFF – Brussels, Belgium, 36 years – RHoFa7, AfEFFFF, MMHoFa, HR10, MMGe30, GGe3 – 3.5 stars
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival: BiFan (formerly Puchon/PiFan) (focused on Asian horror & fantasy films) – Bucheon, South Korea, 22 years – RHoFa7, SuEFFFF, R100, MMGe5, MMHoFa, GGe10 – 3.5 stars
Beyond Fest (accepts submissions for short films only, features are invitation based) – Los Angeles, California, US, 6 years – MMGe10, MMGe30 – 3.5 stars
The Overlook Film Festival (formerly Stanley Film Festival) – New Orleans, Louisiana, US, 5 years – MMGe10, MMGe30 – 3.5 stars
Screamfest Horror Film Festival – Los Angeles, California, US, 18 years – RHoFa7, SuEFFFF, MMHo13, HR20, MMGe30, FD, G50, GGe3 – 3 stars
Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival – Neuchatel, Switzerland, 18 years – RHoFa20, AfEFFFF, MMGe15, MMHoFa, HR20, GGe10 – 3 stars

Top 25 Horror & Fantasy Film Festivals:

(in alphabetical order from 11th to 25th)

Cinepocalypse (formerly Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Fest) – Chicago, Illinois, US, 5 years – MMGe30 – 3 stars
L’Etrange Festival – Paris, France, 23 years – MMGe10, HR20 – 3 stars
Fantaspoa – Porto Alegre, Brazil, 14 years – RHoFa20, SuEFFFF, MMHoFa, MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
Fantasporto: Oporto International Film Festival – Porto, Portugal, 38 years – RHoFa7, exEFFFF, HR20 – 3 stars (selected via free submission, attended, world premiere, good communication, free flights and hotel, so-so overall experience, so-so hospitality, so-so networking, so-so environment, half-full theatre, reviewed by Cineuropa, selected to Transilvania International Film Festival afterwards, one distribution offer, no distribution deal)
Fantasy FilmFest – Berlin / Nuremberg / Munich / Frankfurt / Cologne / Stuttgart / Hamburg, Germany, 32 years – HR3, MMGe30, GGe3 – 3 stars
FilmQuest – Provo, Utah, US, 5 years – MM50, FF25, MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
Horrible Imaginings Film Festival – San Diego, California, US, 8 years – RHoFa40, MM50, FF100, MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
Imagine Film Festival – Amsterdam, Netherlands, 34 years – RHoFa20, AfEFFFF, HR10, GGe10 – 3 stars
Lund International Fantastic Film Festival – Malmo/Lund, Sweden, 24 years – RHoFa20, AfEFFFF, HR10 – 3 stars
Morbido Film Fest – Mexico City, Mexico, 11 years – SuEFFFF, MMGe10, HR20, MMGe30 – 3 stars
MOTELx: Lisbon International Horror Film Festival – Lisbon, Portugal, 12 years – AfEFFFF, RHoFa40, MMGe15, HR20, FIAPF – 3 stars
New York City Horror Film Festival – New York City, New York, US, 16 years – RHoFa40, MMGe15, GGe10 – 3 stars
Nightmares Film Festival – Columbus, Ohio, US, 3 years – FF10, MMGe30 – 2.5 stars (selected via invitation to submit, not attended, no free flights or hotel, good communication, no reviews, no other festivals, with the mention that the movie was 3 years old and had distribution)
Telluride Horror Show – Telluride, Colorado, US, 9 years – RHoFa20, MMHo13, noMMHoSF5 – 3 stars
Toronto After Dark Film Festival – Toronto, Canada, 13 years – RHoFa7, MMHo13, HR20, MMGe30, GGe10 – 3 stars

Top 50 Horror & Fantasy Film Festivals:

(in alphabetical order from 26th to 50th)

Ax Wound Film Festival (for women’s genre films) – Brattleboro, Vermont, US, 4 years – MMGe30, FD, BFWo – 2.5 stars
Boston Underground Film Festival – Boston, Massachusetts, US, 19 years – MMUn5, MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival – New York City, New York, US, 3 years – MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre – Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18 years – RHoFa20 – 2.5 stars
Dead by Dawn: Scotland’s International Horror Film Festival – Edinburgh, UK, 26 years – exEFFFF, RHoFa40, HR20 – 2.5 stars
FANT: Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival – Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, 24 years – RHoFa40 – 2.5 stars
Freak Show Horror Film Festival – Orlando, Florida, US, 13 years – MMHo13, RHoFa40, noMMHoSF5 – 2.5 stars
GenreBlast Film Festival – Winchester, Virginia, US, 3 years – FF25 – 2.5 stars
Gerardmer International Fantastic Film Festival – Gerardmer, France, 25 years – HR10 – 2.5 stars
Grossmann Fantastic Film & Wine Festival – Ljutomer, Slovenia, 14 years – AdEFFFF, MMHoSF5, MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
Hexploitation Film Festival (formerly Fright Night Theatre Film Festival) – Hamilton, Canada, 9 years – MMGe30, FD – 2.5 stars
Macabro International Horror Film Festival – Mexico City, Mexico, 17 years – MMGe15, MMGe30, FD – 2.5 stars
Molins Horror Film Festival – Molins de Rei, Catalonia, Spain, 37 years – AdEFFFF – 2.5 stars
Monster Fest – Melbourne, Australia, 8 years – 2.5 stars
Night Visions – Helsinki, Finland, 21 years – HR10, MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
Nocturna: Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival – Madrid, Spain, 6 years – 2.5 stars
NOLA Horror Film Fest – New Orleans, Louisiana, US, 7 years – MMHo13, FF50 – 2.5 stars
Other Worlds Austin Film Festival (for sci-fi and horror films) – Austin, Texas, 5 years – 2.5 stars (selected via submission with fee waived, not attended, no free flights or hotel, good communication, reviewed by Austin Chronicle, no distribution offers, no other festivals)
Panic Fest – North Kansas City, Missouri, US, 6 years – MMGe30 – 2.5 stars
San Sebastian Horror & Fantasy Film Festival – San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain, 29 years – RHoFa20, AdEFFFF – 2.5 stars
Shriekfest: The Indie Horror/Sci-Fi Film Festival – Los Angeles, California / Orlando, Florida, US, 18 years – MMHo13, MMHoSF5, RHoFa40, FF100, GGe10 – 2.5 stars
Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival – Strasbourg, France, 11 years – AfEFFFF – 2.5 stars
Sydney Underground Film Festival – Sydney, Australia, 12 years – MMUn5 – 2.5 stars
Trieste Science+Fiction (for sci-fi films) – Trieste, Italy, 39 years – AfEFFFF – 2.5 stars
Women in Horror Film Festival – Atlanta, Georgia, US, 2 years – FF100, BFWo – 2.5 stars