Fantastic Futures is SLASH’s showcase that celebrates the brightest up-and-coming talents and aims to highlight the works of new filmmakers who we believe have a bright future in genre cinema ahead of them. The winner of this competition program will be chosen by a jury.

Fantastic Futures nominees:

A YEAR OF MARRIAGE (Pablo Camargo López)
A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY FOR THE LADY AVENGERS (Birdy Wei-Ting Hung)
SONG OF SILENCE (Vasilisa Kuzmina)
CUB (Sofia Rubin)
WILD ANIMAL (Tianyun Lyu)
OLD GOAT (Teddy Alvarez-Nissen)
THE SHYNESS OF TREES (Bingqing Shu, Maud Le Bras, Jiaxin Huang, Simin He, Lina Han, Loïck Du Plessis D’argentré, Sofiia Chuikovska)

Jury

Bára Anna Stejskalová

Bára Anna Stejskalová finished her MA at the TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Her graduation film The Fishermen (2017) was shortlisted for a BAFTA award. Her film Love Is Just a Death Away (2020) had its US premiere at SXSW, was on the BAFTA shortlist, and won two prizes at the Palm Springs festival among many others. She worked as the Art Director VR film Darkening (2022, Venice IFF premiere). Her next project – underwater stop-motion musical 9 Million Colors – is coming to festivals in 2025. She is also a director of animation company DIVIZE, founded in 2021.