FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Genre Mecca FilmQuest Announces its Explosive 2025 Lineup
FilmQuest, one of the largest and fastest growing genre film festivals in the world celebrating the very best in sci-fi, fantasy, horror and the beyond, announced a loaded lineup for its 12th edition, taking place Oct. 23 – Nov. 1 in Downtown Provo, Utah.
This year’s festival is headlined with feature and short film projects from and featuring Ryuhei Kitamura, Lena Headey, Georgina Campbell, Jon Heder, Sean Gunn, Jimmi Simpson, David Dastmalchian, Iko Uwais, Mekhi Phifer, Andrew McCarthy, Chandler Riggs, Shane West, Chris Klein, Danny Glover, Teri Hatcher, Cameron Monaghan, Pollyanna McIntosh and more throughout the over XXX short and feature films showcased at FilmQuest. The lineup includes films from XXX nations showcasing the industry’s hottest and best up-and-coming genre filmmaking talent.
“FilmQuest continues to defy expectations and turn heads throughout the industry as it has established itself as one of the best genre film festivals in the world through its quality programming and rapidly expanding community,” said Festival Founder & Director Jonathan Martin. “The festival has become a landmark event centered in one of the most unlikely of places in our stunning home of Downtown Provo, Utah, and it shouldn’t be missed by anyone who loves discovering the best new talent and emerging voices in genre cinema today. For those who haven’t experienced the festival, there is never a better time to come and see for yourself what all the fuss is about, and to find out why many within the industry have taken notice and have come to embrace our rock n’ roll spirit in the mountains of Utah.”
Among the many highlights from a program rich in an eclectic variety of genres are World premieres for Ryuhei Kitamura’s action horror thriller “Labyrinth,” starring Mekhi Phifer, Shane West, Chris Klein, Alexxis Lemire, and Tommy Flanagan, the sci-fi thriller, “Orion,” from director Jaco Bouwer starring Andrew McCarthy, Drew Van Acker, and Debby Ryan, Donnie Hobbie’s rock n’ roll infused grind house horror flick “Jump Scare,” and Zoe Berriatúa’s Spanish dark comedy thriller “Buffet Libre.”
Regional premieres for Kurtis David Harder’s thriller “Influencers,” starring Cassandra Naud and Georgina Campbell, Chris Marrs Piliero’s dark comedy thriller ensemble “Appofeniacs,” led by Sean Gunn, Jermaine Fowler, and Aaron Holiday, Shane Brady’s revenge comedy “Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma,” starring Chandler Riggs and Katelyn Nacon, Anthony Cousin’s found footage creature feature “Frogman Returns,” Adrian Tofei’s Romanian found footage horror “We Put the World to Sleep,” the made in Utah Jon Heder led end-of-world sci-fi “I See the Demon” from director Jacob Lees Johnson, Josh Munds’ musical stalker comedy “Peeping Todd,” Kyle Misak’s comedy thriller “Bad Haircut,” Jake Myers’ darkly comedic cosmic horror “Kombucha,” and Brooke H. Cellars’ retro fueled horror comedy “The Cramps: A Period Piece.”
North American premieres include Tom Botchii’s relentless action film “Syphon,” and the Brazilian period horror “The Flesh Itself,” from director Ian SBF.
Confirmed guests presenting filmmaking labs and workshops covering a gamut of disciplines as part of the festival’s “Camp Cthulhu” includes Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (“A Quiet Place,” “Heretic,” “65″), F. Javier Gutiérrez (“Before the Fall,” “The Wait,” “Rings”), producer Julia Glausi (“Heretic”), and Slamdance co-founder and former AFI Film Festival director Jon Fitzgerald, with more set to be announced later this September.
The event will conclude with an audiovisual awards show on November 1st with the presentation of the coveted Cthulhu Trophy to winners in feature film, short film, student film, animation, and music video categories. In 2024, the festival’s Grand Prize Best Short film winner, Victoria Warmerdam’s “I’m Not a Robot,” would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
The full list of Official Selections for the 2025 festival is available at www.filmquestfest.com. Passes are available now through the website, with the full schedule of screenings and events to be released later in September.
The festival also hosts a screenplay competition, featuring some of the best un-produced genre screenplays seeking production opportunities. Films from 37 nations are represented at the festival, with 60% of all films either written, directed, and/or produced by female identifying filmmakers. It is sponsored in part by the Utah Film Commission and the City of Provo.
A regular on the MovieMaker Magazine “Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” and “Top 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” list, the festival website states “FilmQuest helps lay a foundation for new and upcoming filmmakers, furthers the careers of more established professionals, inspires its patrons, and… is one of the must-stop destinations for the best of independent genre cinema.”
For more information about the 2025 FilmQuest, visit www.filmquestfest.com. For press inquiries, sponsorship opportunities, or requests for festival access and coverage, please contact Jonathan Martin at jmartin@filmquest.com.