The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, which will take place from July 3 to 11, 2026, celebrates its 25th edition with a particularly strong Asian presence across its programme. As one of Europe’s most important genre cinema events, NIFFF continues to place Asian fantastic cinema at the center of its international outlook, presenting works from Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The festival will close with the Swiss premiere of “Colony”, the latest film by Korean director Yeon Sang-ho, whose “Train to Busan” became one of the defining zombie films of the last decade. The inclusion of “Colony” as the closing film further underlines NIFFF’s long-standing interest in Korean genre cinema and its ability to combine spectacle, social allegory and popular entertainment.
The Asian Competition once again offers a wide view of the current state of Asian genre cinema. Indonesian director Joko Anwar returns to NIFFF with “Ghost in the Cell”, while South Korea’s Pil Kam-sung revisits the zombie genre with “My Daughter Is a Zombie”, a story about a father trying to save his daughter. From China, Xu Jingwei presents “Light Pillar”, a romance unfolding inside a virtual world, while Japanese filmmaker Makoto Ueda turns the cinema screen itself into a narrative device in “You Are the Film”.
Action cinema also occupies a central position in the selection. Hong Kong legend Yuen Woo-ping returns to wuxia with “Blades of the Guardians”, while Kenji Tanigaki brings together a cast of action stars in “The Furious”. Thailand is represented by Kongkiat Khomsiri’s “4 Tigers”, which mixes thriller, fantasy and action, while Vietnam appears with Duong Minh Chien’s “Fish, Fists and Ambergris” and Đo Quoc Trung’s “Phi Phong: The Blood Demon”.
Asian titles also appear outside the Asian Competition. In the International Competition, Japanese filmmaker Eisuke Naito presents “Blood on Snow”, while Indonesian director Edwin screens “Sleep No More”, a genre work taking aim at productivity culture. The Third Kind section includes “Dead End” by Chan Chun-hao, “Deadline” by Kiwi Chow, “I Grew an Inch When My Father Died” by P.R. Monencillo Patindol, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “The Samurai and the Prisoner”.
Meanwhile, the Ultra Movies section highlights the more excessive side of Asian genre cinema, with Eisuke Naito’s “Higuma!! The Killer Bear”, Morihito Inoue’s “Hotspring Sharkattack 2: Great Kyushu Showdown”, and Sidharta Tata’s “Ikatan Darah”. The festival will also welcome Indian filmmaker S. S. Rajamouli, director of the global phenomenon “RRR”, as one of the honorary guests of its anniversary edition.
Tickets will be available online from June 19, with the awards to be announced on July 11.
