Overview

• The festival runs Sept. 18–25 at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, opening with Johannes Roberts’s horror thriller Primate and closing with Corin Hardy’s Whistle.
• The 78-film slate blends studio tentpoles and independent premieres, highlighting sequels such as Blumhouse’s Black Phone 2, Renny Harlin’s The Strangers – Chapter 2 and Sisu: Road to Revenge.
• Fantastic Pitches debuts as a new competition offering $100,000 in funding and a global distribution deal from genre label Chroma.
• A jury chaired by industry figures including Patton Oswalt, Fred Durst and Ottessa Moshfegh will award films across main competition, horror, next wave and short film categories.
• Community programming features a fundraiser for the Transgender Film Center, a medieval drag show, panel discussions and mystery “Secret Screenings” to be announced during the festival.