The Lure
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Fantasia Festival, we present a film series in the image of this now-unmissable event: eclectic and exhilarating. These works, which have shaped the festival’s history over the years, reflect the variety of its programming – from cult classics to hidden gems, from masters of genre cinema to the audacious fringes of arthouse film, charting a fantastic journey across eras, styles, and cultures.
The films presented in September will be announced in August.
Winner of a Special Jury Award, 2016 Sundance
In this bold, genre-defying horror-musical mash-up – the playful and confident debut of Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska – a pair of carnivorous mermaid sisters in an alternate 1980s Poland are drawn ashore to explore the wonders and temptations of life on land. Their tantalizing siren songs and otherworldly auras make them overnight sensations as nightclub singers in the half-glam, half-decrepit fantasy world of Smoczyńska’s imagining.
Agnieszka Smoczyńska
Agnieszka Smoczyńska is a Polish film and television writer and director. She is an alumnusof the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School in Katowice. Her musical horror debut feature film, The Lure (2015), was re-released by The Criterion Collection in 2017, also including her short films Aria Diva (2007) and Viva Maria! (2010). In 2022, she won the Golden Lion award at the Gdynia Film Festival for The Silent Twins. Her latest film, Hot Spot (2026), will premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival.
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