The TOHorror Fantastic Film Fest is a long-running Italian festival dedicated to fantastic and horror cinema. It was founded in 1999 and is based in Turin, the city where Dario Argento shot his masterpiece PROFONDO ROSSO and where Italy's National Museum of Cinema is located.

The 23rd edition of TOHorror was held in October 2023, presenting Italian premieres of such extraordinary films as LES CHAMBRES ROUGES by Pascal Plante, GOOD BOY by Viljar Boe, DIVINITY by Eddie Alcazar, PERPETRATOR by Jennifer Reeder, THE SEEDING by Barnaby Clay, TIGER STRIPES by Amand Nell Eu, ABRUPTIO by Evan Marlowe, MAD CATS by Reiki Tsuno, and many many others.

One of the goals of TOHorror is to contribute to the dissemination of talented new voices in the fantastic genre scene. In addition to works by well-known filmmakers, the festival line-up is largely composed year after year of films by first-time or second-time directors. In recent years we have had the honor and pleasure of presenting in Italy alternative gems by established directors and surprising feature debuts such as SAINT MAUD by Rose Glass, THE SADNESS by Rob Jabbaz, SKINAMARINK by Kyle Ball, AMULET by Romola Garai, CLIMAX and LUX AETERNA by Gaspar Noé, ONE CUT OF THE DEAD by Shinichiro Ueda, TERRIFIER 2 by Damien Leone, A WOUNDED FAWN by Travis Stevens, IT COMES by Tetsuya Nakashima, PSYCHO GOREMAN by Steven Kostanski, AFTER BLUE by Bertrand Mandico, WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR by Jane Schoenbrun...

The SHORT FILM and ANIMATED SHORT FILM sections are one of the cornerstones of the festival: more than 40 amazing short and animated films from around the world are selected each year, bringing to light some of the best new filmmakers on the scene.

Being a transversal event, TOHorror starts from cinema and then explores all possible modern media, with the aim of analyzing contemporary society through the deforming lens of fantastic culture. Thus, through screenings, meetings with authors and guests (in recent years: DAVE McKEAN, RICHARD STANLEY, JEAN ROLLIN, DARIO ARGENTO, RUGGERO DEODATO, HELENE CATTET & BRUNO FORZANI, MIGUEL ANGEL MARTIN, LORENZO BIANCHINI, KLAUS MAECK, ANDRE BONZEL, ANDREAS MARSCHALL...) live concerts, art exhibitions, comic book presentations, talks about VR and videogames, and crazy parties, we are enabled to experience and interpret reality through the wildest imagination.

● Best Short Film
● Best Animated Short Film
● Anna Mondelli Award for the Best Feature Film
● Audience Award for the Best Short Film
● Audience Award for the Best Animated Short Film
● Audience Award for the Best Feature Film
● Antonio Margheriti Award for the most insane independent vocation and artisanal attitude
● Bloody FX Award for the best FX
● Scuola Comics Award, assigned to the best Animated Short Film by teachers and students of Turin's International School of Comics
● Special Mentions assigned by both the official juries and the festival team

-- READ CAREFULLY --

1) The festival is structured in the following categories:
● Short Films Competition (under 30 minutes)
● Animated Short Films Competition (under 30 minutes)
● Feature Films Competition (over 60 minutes)
● Mad Doc: a non-competitive section focused on documentaries (no runtime limits)
● Freakshow: a non-competitive wild section dedicated to extreme movies, in the widest sense of the word: weird, grotesque, splatter, gore, trash, bizarre... (no runtime limits)

Selected films will be included in one of these categories, according to the decision of the selection committee.

2) Eligible films must be related in any way to the following film genres and themes: horror, thriller, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, weird, grotesque, black comedy, noir, experimental.

3) Each author is responsible for the contents of its own work.

4) If the dialogues of the film are not in Italian, the film must be completed by Italian or English subtitles. If you don't have Italian subtitles, in case of selection it's mandatory to provide the festival with the .srt file of the English subtitles and/or a time-coded dialogue list + a low-res file of the film, in order to let us create the Italian subtitles.
(IMPORTANT: the low-res file of the film for subtitling purpose must be identical to the screening copy).

5) In case of selection, we'll reach out privately to ask for all required materials for marketing, subtitling and screening purpose.
The screening copy of the films must be provided to the festival at least 3 weeks in advance on the beginning of the event, via digital download or shipment. Accepted formats: DCP / ProRes / H264.
If a physical shipment is needed, the festival will cover the shipping costs both ways, unless the package has to be shipped to another festival right after TOHFFF -- in this case, the recipient must cover the shipping costs.

6) Once selected, a film can't be withdrawn from the competition.

7) Selected films that are unable to provide the requested materials and documentation, or provide them after the specified deadlines, could be dismissed from the selection.

8) The festival will not take charge of trophy and awards shipping in case winners can't attend the day of the proclamation.

9) The festival will not provide any screening fee to authors/distributors of selected films.

10) The demand for participation in the TOHORROR FANTASTIC FILM FEST 2024 - 24th EDITION constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of this regulation.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • We visited the festival in 2022 when our short "Crappy Christmas - Operation Christmas Child" was selected.
    The comunication and hospitality was exellent. We enjoyed our stay very much and also loved the special events like concerts and talks surounding the filmfest, as well as hanging out at the BlahBlah - club after the screenings.
    Thanks again to Matteo and the whole crew for having us.
    Turin and TOHORROR was a BLAST !

    October 2022
  • Paolo Gaudio

    Senza dubbio tra i migliori festival dedicati al fantastico d’Italia. Ogni anno cresce e migliora. Complimenti al direttore e a tutto il suo staff 👏👏

    October 2022
  • Thank you so much for selecting my animated short film Monster Encounters, it's been an honour. I hope I can attend the festival in person sometime, fantastic communication and quality.

    November 2021
  • Ivan Basov

    TOHorror is a major genre fest in Italy with great history and exquisite programming. If you're tapping Italy on your genre film circuit (and especially if you have a chance to go there in person), TOHorror is a must. We were honored to be selected.

    November 2021
  • Tim Luna

    We were very honored that our short film The Taxi Dead was chosen for the program 2020. Unfortunately, we couldn't be there ourselves, but felt well informed and were able to follow the course of the festival online. We had a great communication and had the feeling the festival take care for us and everyone. Thanks for the support!

    February 2021