Fantastic Fest 2026 Awards Winners List: ‘Ghost in the Cell,’ ‘Girl in the Night’ and ‘Adult Supervision’ Take Top Feature Honors (EXCLUSIVE)

Fantastic Fest, the annual Austin-based celebration of genre filmmaking, has announced top honors for its films in competition.

“Our winning films embody distinctive and powerful voices from a wide range of cultures, and the exciting new generation of talent shaping the future of genre cinema,” Annick Mahnert, director of programming, said in a statement. “It is our privilege to give these exciting filmmakers the platform and recognition they deserve, and we are so grateful for our jurors to help us celebrate the very best in genre filmmaking.”

The winning films included:

MAIN COMPETITION FEATURES

Jurors: Christopher Andrews, William Earl, Marissa Frobes

Best Director: Bertrand Mandico for “Roma Elastica”
Best Picture: “Girl in the Night,” directed by Luka Marčetić
Special Mention: “Five More Minutes,” directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera

NEXT WAVE FEATURES

Jurors: Taratoa Stappard, Tristan Scott-Behrends, Ariella Mastroianni

Best Director: Agata Trzebuchowska for “Sick”
Best Picture: “Adult Supervision” by Alex Schulman
Special Mention: “Jollyface,” directed by Justin Floyd
Best Performance Special Mentions:
-Konrad Karol and Katarzyna Lubik in “Sick”
-Cole Asher Phillips in “Phreaker”

HORROR FEATURES

Jurors: Whitney Fuller, Heidi Wong

Best Director: Nikias Chryssos for “Bloody Tennis”
Best Picture: “Ghost in the Cell,” directed by Joko Anwar
Special Mention: “The Cycle,” directed by Jordan Downey

AUDIENCE AWARD

“Five More Minutes,” directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera

SHORT FILMS

Jurors: Nicholas Lazo, Adam Piron, Tiffany Kimmel

FANTASTIC SHORTS
Best Picture: “Jimmy’s Custom Coffin,” directed by James P. Gannon
Best Actor: Richard Perez in “Richard Goes on a Date,” directed by Johnny Frohman

SHORT FUSE
Best Picture: “Bagman,” directed by Connor Gaston and Vaughn Gaston

SHORTS WITH LEGS
Best Picture: “Sinkpisser,” directed by Connor Wiles

DRAWN AND QUARTERED
Best Picture: “Pre-Parenting,” directed by Yu Yu

Best WTF Short:
“The Magician,” directed by Joe Garber

FANTASTIC PITCHES

Jurors: Gore Verbinski, Catherine Hardwicke and Nicolas Curcio

“Father Figure”
Writer/Director Connor Martin, Producer Josh Farnworth

In the second annual edition of Fantastic Pitches, the “Father Figure” team was awarded a $100,00 financing award from Chroma, a distribution deal and a premiere at next year’s Fantastic Fest. The film is described as a ’70s-set wedding folk horror movie, and the team is based out of Washington state.

Second place went to Georgia-based production “American Vermin,” which included writer/director A.K. Espada, producer Annie Jacob and director of photography Alexandra Bock. The team was awarded a BlackMagic Cinema package from Fangoria and a yearlong mentorship with all three filmmakers in the jury, as well as Curcio’s writing partner Kirby Gladstein.